Vin Diesel grew up in an acting family. His stepfather taught acting, and his brother and half-sister worked in the film industry. From the age of seven, Vin performed on the stage. In his youth, he dabbled in music but chose the career of an actor. To become famous, he decided to make his films. Steven Spielberg liked his low-budget films, and the director invited Diesel to play a role in Saving Private Ryan.
Vin Diesel’s childhood
Not much is known about the actor’s childhood. He was born into an incomplete family. His biological father broke up with his mother even before the sons were born. Vin Diesel has a brother named Paul. They were born on the same day, but they are fraternal twins, so they do not look alike.
Vin Diesel, whose real name is Mark Sinclair, lived with his mother and brother in California until the age of three. Then the mother met Irwin Vincent, married him and the family moved to New York. Thanks to his stepfather, Mark got involved in art in childhood. Irwin was an acting teacher at a New York university. He had two children of his own. Three of the four children of the family of Delora Sinclair and Irwin Vincent have linked their lives with cinema. So, Vin’s brother Paul became a film editor and sound engineer, and his half-sister Samantha heads the One Race Film company, which Vin founded.
But the future actor got on the stage without the help of his stepfather. At the age of seven, Mark and his friends entered one of the theaters. The director caught the hooligans, but set a condition: he does not turn them over to the police if they read the script. Mark Sinclair spent the next ten years of his life playing in the theater.
Vin Diesel in his youth
Vin Diesel, whose biography and work are inextricably linked, went to college in his youth and recorded music videos. To be successful with girls, Mark went in for sports and began to shave his head. Some critics believe that the actor was never able to overcome adolescent complexes, so he plays mostly brutal macho, and expensive cars and beautiful girls certainly appear in his paintings.
Having pumped up, he moonlighted as a bouncer in one of the nightclubs. Then the nickname Vin Diesel appeared, with which he became known as an actor and producer. Vin dropped out of college to pursue an acting career. In the second half of the 1980s, he moved to Hollywood.
In the first half of the 1990s, the professional growth of the actor Vin Diesel left much to be desired. He was offered only minor roles. His mother came to his aid. She gave Vin the book “How to Make Feature Films for the Price of Used Cars” by Rick Schmidt and gave her advice: if no one is filming you, start filming yourself.
Vin liked the idea, he wrote the script for a full-length film and shot the short film “Many Faces” (1994), which he managed to send to the Festival de Cannes with the help of his adoptive father. The critics liked the picture and even went to American cinemas in the late 1990s.
Diesel got a job as a salesperson in a TV shop, earned money, and directed the first feature-length film, The Tramp (1997). The production of the film cost Win $ 50 thousand. The tape took part in the Sundance Film Festival.
Diesel’s acting career
Actor Vin Diesel, whose biography is full of interesting twists and turns, despite the success of the film at the Sundance Festival, was forced to return to New York, lacking funds. But his efforts were not in vain. Steven Spielberg watched both the short film and the film “The Tramp”. He invited the aspiring actor to work in the film “Saving Private Ryan” (1998). Even though Vin’s role in the film was insignificant, it became an important milestone in his future career. The producers saw the actor as a potential action star.
In 2000, the actor played in two successful films at once. In the fantastic film “Black Hole” he first appeared in the role of Riddick. The film marked the beginning of a successful franchise with three feature films and a cartoon. The painting “Boiler Room” with Vin’s participation, despite the mixed reviews from critics, paid off at the box office and gained fans.
A year later, another film appeared in which Vin Diesel played. “Fast and Furious” not only contributed to the growth of the actor’s popularity but also turned into a successful film franchise. Diesel himself was initially opposed to the film having sequels, so “Double Fast and the Furious” (2003) came out without his character.
In the next film, “The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift” (2006), Vin’s hero appeared only as a cameo and only because the actor agreed with the studio to start the production of another film about Riddick. In the next part, the actor starred on the condition that the studio would give him control of the franchise. Therefore, in the movie “Fast and Furious 4” (2009) Vin Diesel is no longer only an actor, but also a producer. The actor continued to play a character named Dominic Toretto in subsequent years. The premiere of the ninth film in the franchise is scheduled for 2021.
Interestingly, Fast and Furious is not the only franchise that Diesel returned to after a long hiatus. Vin returned to the “Three X’s” project in 2017, 15 years after the premiere of the first film.
