Vin Diesel
Vin Diesel (born Mark Vincent on July 18th, 1967), is an American actor, writer, director, and producer. Diesel is also the founder of the production companies OneRace Films and Tigon Studios. Diesel is distinguished by a bald head, muscular physique, and deep, textured baritone voice.
Biography
Born in New York City to Delora Vincent and an unknown father, Diesel is considered to be of Irish, African-American, Scottish and Italian descent. The 1994 short film Multifacial starred Vin, and aimed to tell the story of Mike, a struggling actor whose multi-ethnic appearance proves problematic in auditions. Diesel also reportedly claimed that his mother is descended from the Sinclairs of Scotland. He has had major roles in a number of films including Saving Private Ryan, The Fast and the Furious, Pitch Black, and The Chronicles of Riddick.
Portfolio
Diesel was cast in 1998's Saving Private Ryan on the strength of his performance in Multi-Facial, and followed it up with Boiler Room (2000). He broke through to mainstream audiences with the 2001 film The Fast and the Furious and the 2002 film xXx. In 2004 he reprised his role as Pitch Black's Riddick in The Chronicles of Riddick, and afterwards took on the titular role in Hannibal, as the Carthaginian general who crossed the Alps by elephant to attack Rome.
Diesel is a long time fan and player of Dungeons & Dragons and other role playing games, a fact that he proudly states in various interviews. He occasionally makces reference to D&D in his films, such as in XXX where one of the tattoos on Xander Cage (Diesel's character) reads "Melkor," the name of one of Diesel's old player characters. (Melkor is also the original name of the Satan-like character in The Silmarillion and other Tolkien stories.) It has been said that his portrayal of Richard Riddick in the Pitch Black series of movies and games is based somewhat on this favorite character, a Drow "witch-hunter" who was a loner, and that Diesel has the character's image tattooed on his leg. He has also written the foreword to the commemorative book 30 Years of Adventure: A Celebration of D&D, a collection of stories and essays which chronicles the history of D&D. It is also rumored (though never confirmed) that Diesel plays the popular game World of Warcraft under the alias "Dish".
Diesel has been rumored to be dating many celebrity women. Currently, he is rumored to be dating British model Lucy Clarkson but the actor has never confirmed this. He added that he plans to concentrate on his career until the age of 40 at which time he will consider marriage and family life. He owns a mastiff by the name of Roman.
Filmography
| Year | Movie | Role | Other notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Hitman | Agent 47 | Announced |
| 2006 | Rockfish | voiceover | Announced; animated |
| 2006 | Hannibal | Hannibal Barca | Announced |
| 2006 | Find Me Guilty | Jack DiNorscio | Post-Production |
| 2005 | The Pacifier | Shane Wolfe | |
| 2004 | The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury | Richard B. Riddick | |
| 2004 | The Chronicles of Riddick | Richard B. Riddick | |
| 2003 | A Man Apart | Sean Vetter | |
| 2002 | XXX | Xander Cage | |
| 2001 | Knockaround Guys | Taylor Reese | |
| 2001 | The Fast and the Furious | Dominic Toretto | |
| 2000 | Pitch Black | Richard B. Riddick | |
| 2000 | Boiler Room | Chris Varick | |
| 1999 | The Iron Giant | The Iron Giant Voice | |
| 1998 | Saving Private Ryan | Private Caparzo | |
| 1997 | Strays | Rick | |
| 1994 | Multi-Facial | Mike | |
| 1990 | Awakenings | Hospital Orderly |
The Vin Diesel "Fact" Generator
There is a meme growing around Vin Diesel, where the joke is to suggest superhuman feats supposedly accomplished by him, akin to Chuck Norris. They are always focused into his (alleged) greatness, prowess and "awesomeness," in a humorous way. 800 or so of the original facts come from a thread in the SomethingAwful forums [1]. They have been cited in forum signatures and small compilations. Examples include "In an average living room there are 1,242 objects Vin Diesel could use to kill you, including the room itself." This, however, is not an entirely original fact as it has been done with other people in the past (Shaq is a fine example) and all of these are predated by a Saturday Night Live sketch about Bill Brasky. The growing popularity has caused Chuck Norris, Mr. T, and Bob Saget generators to be created, however even with all the commotion, it seems Vin Diesel has yet to find out about his fact generator as Chuck Norris has. Vin, however, is a big Internet buff, rumored to have played (or is still playing) World of Warcraft under the moniker Joana, and may very well know about his fact site.
Examples of "Vin Diesel Facts"
- Vin Diesel does not make threats, he makes predictions.
- Crop circles are Vin's way of telling the world that sometimes corn needs to lie the fuck down.
- If you rearrange the letters in Vin Diesel it reveals his credo: "I End Lives."
- Vin Diesel singly handidly re-aligns the sun depending on which country he is in so that he can always order from the breakfast menu at McDonalds.
- Vin Diesel once walked down the street with a massive erection. There were no survivors.
- Vin Diesel irons his shirts while he's wearing them.
- Crosswalks were invented to reduce the damage resulting from vehicles running into Vin Diesel.
- Vin Diesel doesn't have a computer. Just a basement full of Asian kids that memorize numbers.
- Once during a routine yoga workout, Vin Diesel decapitated a koala.
- Vin Diesel can predict the shuffle on his iPod.
- Walking on water is an easy feat for Vin Diesel. What he really has difficulty with is climbing on fog.
- Vin Diesel can speak in Wingdings.
- Vin Diesel can simply walk into Mordor.
- Vin Diesel puts his pants on two legs at a time.
- Vin Diesel always asks for the same Christmas gift: A box of Smurfs and a sledgehammer.