Vin Diesel

Mark Sinclair Vincent, a.k.a. Vin Diesel, is a film actor, writer, director, and producer who used his muscles and imposing persona to rise to Hollywood stardom in the late ’90s and early 2000s in films like Saving Private Ryan, The Fast and the Furious, and The Chronicles of Riddick series. The actor, who says he changed his name to Vin Diesel while employed as a bouncer in a bar, first worked in Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway New York City theater while still a kid. He eventually took up writing -- and soon screenwriting -- at Hunter College, and was making short films by the early ’90s. His short “Multi-Facial,” which he wrote, starred in, directed, and produced, was screened at the 1995 Cannes Festival and his first feature, Strays, was selected for competition at the 1997 Sundance Festival. None other than Steven Spielberg took notice of Diesel as a result of these projects and cast him in Saving Private Ryan, which soon led the actor to a series of high-profile film roles including starring turns in The Iron Giant, The Fast and the Furious, xXx, and The Chronicles of Riddick. Diesel is also the founder of the production companies OneRace Films, Tigon Studios, and Racetrack Records.