Early life

Diesel was born in Alameda County, California, along with his twin brother, Paul. His mother, Delora Sherleen (Sinclair) Vincent, is an astrologer. Diesel has stated that he is "of ambiguous ethnicity". His mother's background includes English, German, and Scottish. He has never met his biological father, and has stated that "all I know from my mother is that I have connections to many different cultures". Diesel has self-identified as "definitely a person of colour", and has stated that his parents' relationship would have been illegal in some parts of the United States due to anti-miscegenation laws. He was raised in New York City by his Caucasian mother and African-American stepfather, Irving H. Vincent, an acting instructor and theater manager.

Diesel made his stage debut at age seven when he appeared in the children's play Dinosaur Door, written by Barbara Garson. The play was produced at Theater for the New City in New York's Greenwich Village. His involvement in the play came about when he, his brother, and some friends had broken into the Theater for the New City's space on Jane Street with the intent to vandalize it. They were confronted by the theater's artistic director, Crystal Field, who offered them roles in the upcoming show instead of calling the police. Diesel remained involved with the theater throughout adolescence, going on to attend the city's Hunter College, where his creative writing studies led him to begin screenwriting. He has identified himself as a "multi-faceted" actor as a result of early difficulties finding roles due to his mixed heritage.

Career

1990s

Diesel's first film role was a brief uncredited appearance in Awakenings (1990). He then wrote, directed, produced, and starred in the short film Multi-Facial (1994), a short semi-autobiographical film which follows a struggling actor stuck in the audition process. The film was selected for screening at the 1995 Cannes Festival. He made his first feature-length film, Strays (1997), an urban drama in which he played a gang leader whose love for a woman inspires him to try to change his ways. Written, directed, and produced by Diesel, the film was selected for competition at the 1997 Sundance Festival, leading to an MTV deal to turn it into a series. He was then cast in Steven Spielberg's 1998 Oscar-winning film Saving Private Ryan on the poignancy of his performance in Multi-Facial. In 1999, he provided the voice of the title character in the animated film The Iron Giant.

2000s

Diesel had a major role in the drama thriller Boiler Room (2000) appearing alongside Giovanni Ribisi and Ben Affleck. He got his breakthrough leading role as the anti-hero Riddick in the science-fiction film Pitch Black later that year. Diesel attained action hero stardom with two box office hits: the street racing action film The Fast and the Furious (2001), and the action thriller xXx (2002). In 2004, Diesel reprised his role as Riddick in The Chronicles of Riddick, which was a box office failure considering the large budget. He also voiced the character in two spin-off video games. In 2005, he played a lighthearted role in the comedy film The Pacifier, which became a box office success.

In 2006, he chose a dramatic role playing real-life mobster Jack DiNorscio in Find Me Guilty. Although he received critical acclaim for his performance, the film did poorly at the box office. Later that year, Diesel made a cameo appearance in The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, reprising his role from The Fast and the Furious.

In 2007, Diesel was set to produce and star as Agent 47 in the film adaptation of the video game Hitman, but eventually pulled back and served as executive producer on the film instead. In 2008, he starred in the science-fiction action thriller Babylon A.D.. Diesel returned to the The Fast and the Furious series, alongside all the actors from the original film, in Fast & Furious, which was released in April 2009.

2010s

Diesel reprised his role as Dominic Toretto in the fifth, sixth and seventh installments in The Fast and the Furious franchise, Fast Five (2011), Fast & Furious 6 (2013) and Furious 7 (2015). He reprised his role as Riddick in the third film of the Riddick series, simply titled Riddick (2013). In August 2013, Diesel received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He voiced Groot in the 2014 Marvel Cinematic Universe film Guardians of the Galaxy. Diesel is the star of The Last Witch Hunter. He is also set to appear in an updated version of Kojak. In addition, Diesel is stated to return to the starring role in a third xXx movie; as well as reprise his role as Dominic Toretto in Fast & Furious 8, which is scheduled to be released on April 14, 2017; and as the role of Groot in Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 (2017). Over the course of several years, Diesel has discussed playing two separate roles within the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Personal life

Diesel is noted for his recognizably deep voice; he has said that his voice broke at around age 15, giving him a mature sounding voice on the telephone. Around 2001, he dated his Fast and the Furious co-star, Michelle Rodriguez.

Diesel and his girlfriend, Mexican model Paloma Jimenez, have three children: daughter Hania Riley (born April 2008), son Vincent Sinclair (born 2010), and daughter Pauline, whose undated arrival he announced in March 2015. She is named in honor of his friend and Fast & Furious franchise co-star, Paul Walker, who died in November 2013. He is also the godfather of Walker's daughter, Meadow Rain Walker. His daughter Hania has an orange belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and judo.

Diesel said in 2006 that he prefers to maintain his privacy regarding his personal life, stating: "I'm not gonna put it out there on a magazine cover like some other actors ... I come from the Harrison Ford, Marlon Brando, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino code of silence." He has expressed his love for the Dominican Republic, and how he relates to its multicultural facets. He is acquainted with its former president, Leonel Fernández, and appeared in one of Fernández's earlier campaign ads. Los Bandoleros, a short film directed by Diesel, was filmed in the Dominican Republic.

Diesel has played Dungeons & Dragons for over 20 years, and wrote the foreword for the commemorative book 30 Years of Adventure: A Celebration of Dungeons & Dragons. In the 30th anniversary issue of Dragon magazine, it was revealed that Diesel had a fake tattoo of his character's name, Melkor, on his stomach while filming xXx.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1990	Awakenings	Orderly	Uncredited
1994	Multi-Facial	Mike	Short film Writer, director, producer
1997	Strays	Rick	Writer, director, producer
1998	Saving Private Ryan	Private Adrian Caparzo
1999	Iron Giant, TheThe Iron Giant	The Iron Giant	Voice
2000	Boiler Room	Chris Varick
	Pitch Black	Richard B. Riddick
2001	Fast and the Furious, TheThe Fast and the Furious	Dominic Toretto
	Knockaround Guys	Taylor Reese
2002	xXx	Xander Cage	Executive producer
2003	Man Apart, AA Man Apart	Sean Vetter	Producer
2004	Chronicles of Riddick, TheThe Chronicles of Riddick	Richard B. Riddick	Producer
	Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury, TheThe Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury	Richard B. Riddick	Voice
2005	Pacifier, TheThe Pacifier	Lieutenant Shane Wolfe
2006	Find Me Guilty	Jack DiNorscio
	Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, TheThe Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift	Dominic Toretto	Uncredited
2008	Babylon A.D.	Hugo Cornelius Toorop
2009	Los Bandoleros	Dominic Toretto	Short film Writer, director, producer
	Fast & Furious		Producer
2011	Fast Five		Producer
2013	Fast & Furious 6		Producer
	Riddick: Blindsided	Richard B. Riddick	Short film Voice
	Riddick	Richard B. Riddick	Producer
2014	Guardians of the Galaxy	Groot	Voice
	Life is a Dream		Executive producer
2015	Furious 7	Dominic Toretto	Producer
	The Last Witch Hunter	Kaulder	Producer
2016	Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk	Shroom
2017	xXx: The Return of Xander Cage	Xander Cage	Producer
	Fast 8	Dominic Toretto	Producer
	Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2	Groot	Voice

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2004	Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, TheThe Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay	Richard B. Riddick	Voice
2009	Wheelman	Milo Burik	Voice
	Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, TheThe Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena	Richard B. Riddick	Voice

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result
1999	Screen Actors Guild Award	Outstanding Performance by a Cast	Saving Private Ryan	Nominated
	Online Film Critics Society Award	Best Cast	Saving Private Ryan	Won
2001	Blockbuster Entertainment Award	Favorite Actor	Pitch Black	Nominated
2002	MTV Movie Award	Best Male Performance	The Fast and the Furious	Nominated
	MTV Movie Award	Best On-Screen Team	The Fast and the Furious	Won
	Black Reel Award	Best Actor	The Fast and the Furious	Nominated
2003	MTV Movie Award	Best Male Performance	xXx	Nominated
	Teen Choice Award	Choice Movie Actor: Drama/Action Adventure	xXx A Man Apart	Nominated
2004	Spike Video Game Award	Best Performance by a Human Male	The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay	Won
2005	Teen Choice Award	Choice Movie Actor: Comedy	The Pacifier	Nominated
	Golden Raspberry Award	Worst Actor	The Chronicles of Riddick	Nominated
	Video Software Dealers Association Award	Male Star of the Year	The Chronicles of Riddick	Won
2009	Spike Video Game Award	Best Performance by a Human Male	The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena	Nominated
	MTV Movie Award	Best Male Performance	Fast & Furious	Nominated
2010	People's Choice Award	Favorite Action Star	Fast & Furious	Nominated
2011	CinemaCon Award	Action Star of the Year	Fast Five	Won
	Teen Choice Award	Choice Movie Actor	Fast Five	Nominated
2012	Image Award	Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture	Fast Five	Nominated
	Black Reel Award	Best Cast Ensemble	Fast Five	Nominated
	People's Choice Award	Favorite Action Star	Fast Five	Nominated
2013	Teen Choice Award	Choice Movie: Chemistry	Fast & Furious 6	Nominated
2014	People's Choice Award	Favorite Action Movie Actor	Fast & Furious 6	Nominated
	MTV Movie Award	Best On-Screen Duo	Fast & Furious 6	Won
2015	Phoenix Film Critics Society	Best Cast	Guardians of the Galaxy	Pending
	Teen Choice Award	Choice Movie Actor: Action	Furious 7	Won
	Teen Choice Award	Choice Movie: Chemistry	Furious 7	Nominated
2016	People's Choice Awards	Favorite Movie	Furious 7	Pending
	People's Choice Awards	Favorite Action Movie	Furious 7	Pending
	People's Choice Awards	Favorite Action Movie Actor	Himself	Pending

Charities

Vin Diesel supports the following charitable cause: ALS (amyrotrophic lateral sclerosis).

[ Source: Wikipedia ]