Wesley Snipes

Wesley Trent Snipes is an American actor, martial artist, film producer, and author whose career spans over four decades. Born on July 31, 1962, in Orlando, Florida, he spent his childhood in the Bronx borough of New York City. His father worked as an aircraft engineer and his mother was a teacher's assistant. Snipes studied at the High School of Performing Arts in New York before returning to Florida to graduate from Jones High School. He subsequently earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the State University of New York at Purchase and also attended Southwestern College in California.

Discovered by an agent at age twenty-three during a talent competition, Snipes made his feature debut in the 1986 comedy Wildcats and appeared on television in Miami Vice the same year. He achieved wider notice after being featured in Martin Scorsese's 1987 music video for Michael Jackson's song Bad. This appearance attracted the attention of director Spike Lee, who cast Snipes in Mo' Better Blues and Jungle Fever. His portrayal of a drug kingpin in the 1991 crime drama New Jack City, along with roles in Major League and King of New York, firmly established his standing in the film industry.

Throughout the 1990s, Snipes built a high-profile screen career across multiple genres. He starred in popular titles such as White Men Can't Jump, Passenger 57, Demolition Man, Rising Sun, and To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar. His performance in the drama The Waterdance garnered an Independent Spirit Award nomination, and he received the Volpi Cup for Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival for One Night Stand. In 1998, Snipes took on his most famous role as the Marvel Comics character Eric Brooks in Blade, a commercial success that launched a franchise with sequels in 2002 and 2004, followed by a reprise in 2024's Deadpool & Wolverine.

Beyond his acting roles, Snipes launched the production outfit Amen-Ra Films in 1991, along with its subsidiary Black Dot Media, and co-founded a security firm in the late 1990s. He has co-created comic book series including After Dark and The Exiled, and published his debut novel, Talon of God, in 2017. Having trained in combat arts since age twelve, Snipes holds advanced black belts in Shotokan karate and Hapkido, and his on-screen martial arts expertise helped broaden mainstream appreciation for the genre.

In the mid-2000s, Snipes headlined several direct-to-video projects before making a return to theatrical films with Brooklyn's Finest, The Expendables 3, and Dolemite Is My Name. Following a 2008 conviction for misdemeanor counts of failing to file federal income tax returns, he served twenty-eight months in federal prison between December 2010 and April 2013. Over the course of his career, films featuring Snipes have earned over $3.6 billion worldwide, and he has been honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.