Mixed Race Celebrity Mondays: Vin Diesel

Actor Vin Diesel

Vin Diesel, as he is known professionally, is an American actor, writer, director and producer who became known to moviegoers in the late 1990s and early 2000s. He was born to an Italian-American mother, Delora, and a father of Black descent. His mother is a psychiatrist and astrologer. He never knew his biological father and was raised by his African-American stepfather, Irving, an acting instructor and theater manager. He was born Mark Sinclair Vincent on July 18, 1967, in New York City.

Like others before him, he made his stage debut at the age of seven, having a role in the children's play, "Dinosaur Doors" written by Barbara Garson. This was staged at the Theater for the New City located in New York's Greenwich Village. He landed the part when discovered, along with his brother and some friends, of breaking an entering the property with the intent to vandalize. The theater's artistic director, Crystal Field, gave them scripts to read rather than summon the police. He remained involved in live theater from then on. He attended Hunter College in New York City.

Vin in shirt

His major Hollywood break happened in the early years of the 21st century when he landed major parts in the successful films, "The Fast and the Furious," and "xXx." His well-defined physique and deep voice made him an instant hit among millions of fans throughout the world. He made his first feature-length movie, "Strays" in 1997. He portrayed an urban gang-leader who's love of a woman caused him to try to change his life. He was self-cast as the male lead and wrote, directed and produced this film. It was selected for competition at the 1997 Sundance Festival.

In 1998, he was cast in the Steven Spielberg Oscar-winning production of "Saving Private Ryan." This was followed by success in the trilogy, "The Chronicles of Riddick." Since then, his film career has soared with box office hits in succession. He is both starring and producing in the upcoming 2011 movie: "Fast Five."  The majority of his leading roles have him cast as the action-thriller hero, frequently without his shirt much to the delight of his public following. Mr. Diesel has also founded the production companies, One Race Films, Tigon Studios and Racetrach Records. In addition to "Strays" in 1997, he also wrote and produced the 1994 film, "Multi-Facial." Vin has a daughter, Hania Riley, born April 2, 2008, with his girlfriend, model Paloma Jiminez. He has been an avid player of the game, Dungeons and Dragons, for more than twenty years.

Shirtless Vin Diesel

Like many people of mixed-race heritage, Vin Diesel has often commented on the predicament of frequently being identified as "too-black for white audiences and too-white for black audiences." He self-describes himself as "definately a person of color." He labels himself as "multi-faceted" due to his early difficulties in finding roles due to his mixed-racial background, despite his enormous sex appeal.
He changed his name to Vin Diesel while employed as bouncer at the NYC nightclub, Tunnel. One's real name is never used in that particular line of work; "Vin" is a shortened version of Vincent, his surname, and "Diesel" is a nickname used by friends because of his excessive energy.

Personally, I find his shaved head and diesel body too fine and too sexy!