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Wesley Trent Snipes (born July 31, 1962, in Orlando, Florida) is an American actor, martial artist and producer. He is known for his role as the eponymous vampire hunter in the Blade trilogy of movies.

Biography

Snipes distinguished himself as one of the most talented and respected leading men in the entertainment industry, with numerous starring roles in action-adventures, thrillers, comedy and dramatic feature films. He has starred opposite such noted actors as Robert De Niro and Sean Connery and is regarded as one of the most prolific producers of 1998. Snipes has successfully ventured into the creative aspects of filmmaking while steadily building his resume with a cache of box-office hits. In 1991, he formed his own independent production company, Amen Ra Films, and its subsidiary Black Dot Media, to develop projects for film and television.

1998 was especially rewarding for Snipes with the successful opening of the year's cult hit Blade, for New Line Cinema, which has grossed over $150 million worldwide. He was also honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and received an honorary doctorate from his alma mater, SUNY/Purchase, for his outstanding achievements in film.

Snipes produced The Big Hit, starring Mark Wahlberg and executive produced by John Woo and Terrence Chang, and the critically acclaimed feature Down in the Delta, which marked Dr. Maya Angelou's directorial debut and garnered several awards including a Christopher Prism and nominations in multiple categories for the Acapulco Black Film Festival, as well as an NAACP Image Award for Best Motion Picture.

Additionally, television projects distinguished Snipes as a creative force with ABC's Futuresport, in which he starred with Dean Cain and Vanessa L. Williams. Snipes also produced the highest rated cable special of all time, TNT's "The First Tribute to the Martial Arts Masters of the 20th Century," which showcased some of the greatest innovators of the martial arts.

Born in Orlando, Florida, Snipes moved to the South Bronx as an infant and attended the High School for the Performing Arts. Much to his dismay, his mother decided to move the family back to Orlando, where he completed high school and teamed up with friends to form Struttin' Street Stuff, a traveling puppet troupe that performed in public parks and schools. In 1980, Snipes returned to New York to attend SUNY/Purchase, where he prepared for a career on the stage. He subsequently landed roles on Broadway in such productions as Boys of Winter, Execution of Justice and Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka's Death and the King's Horseman.

In 1985, while working the audition circuit in New York in between installing public telephones, Snipes auditioned for a role in the Warner Bros. Pictures comedy Wildcats, starring Goldie Hawn. The distinct impression he made on the casting agent earned him a call back to fill the role in the film.

In 1987, Snipes appeared as Michael Jackson's rival gang leader in the Martin Scorsese-directed music video Bad and the feature film Streets of Gold, which brought him to the attention of director Spike Lee. He turned down a small role in Lee's Do the Right Thing for the larger part of Willie Mays Hays in Major League, beginning a succession of box-office hits for Snipes. Lee would later cast Snipes as the jazz saxophonist Shadow Handerson in Mo' Better Blues and as the lead in the interracial romance drama Jungle Fever. Snipes' most recognizable role is the brilliant drug lord Nino Brown in New Jack City, which was written specifically for him by Barry Michael Cooper.

Snipes continued to showcase his broad range in such films as the comedy White Men Can't Jump, the critically acclaimed The Waterdance, and the action/adventure Passenger 57 (which featured his martial arts expertise), Rising Sun, Demolition Man, Sugar Hill, Drop Zone, "To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar, Money Train and The Fan."

In 1997 he won the Best Actor Volpi Cup at the Venice Film Festival for his performance in New Line Cinema's dramatic tale of infidelity, One Night Stand. Snipes was also lauded by critics worldwide for his uncompromising performance in U.S. Marshals, the sequel to Warner Bros. Pictures' box-office hit, The Fugitive.

Snipes also served as executive producer of a series of documentaries that he personally financed through now defunct Black Dot Media. Acting as a forum for some of the most illustrious minds and creative thinkers from the African and Afro-Caribbean culture, Black Dot Media provided a myriad of educational information, paying homage to visionaries around the world, including historians, poets, anthropologists and academically esteemed scholars, while maintaining the integrity and fundamental principles of the true African and Afro-Caribbean experience. The first in the series, John Henrik Clarke: A Great and Mighty Walk, chronicled the life of Dr. John Henrik Clarke, a pre-eminent voice and authority on African and Afro-Caribbean studies, won critical acclaim at the Sundance Film Festival in 1997 and won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary at the Urbanworld Film Festival in New York. Snipes grew up in The Bronx and he decided early on that he wanted to be a dancer--until he took some acting classes. He started at the High School for the Performing Arts, but his mother divorced and they moved back to Orlando. Snipes would eventually graduate from Jones High School in 1980. While in Florida, Snipes did puppet theater, mime and musical theater in competitions and festivals. He then attended the State University of New York College at Purchase and graduated with a Bachelors of Fine Arts in 1985.

He also played a cliche tough guy role in the Michael Jackson music video "Bad" released in September of 1987. He often played tough characters in action movies, and has demonstrated considerable athletic and fighting ability. He is interested in martial arts, including Karate, Kung Fu, and Capoeira. This interest is reflected in the fact that many of his movies make reference to Sun Tzu's The Art of War.

Snipes was married from 1985 to 1990 and has a son from this marriage. He later married a Korean painter in 2003. They have three children.

In 1991, Snipes formed the independent production company Amen Ra Films. It co-produced the first two Blade films and other titles that Snipes has starred in. In 2004 Snipes went on to star in his third Blade movie "Blade Trinity."

Snipes played a drug kingpin Nino Brown in New Jack City, which was a contrast to his role as a New York City Detective in King of New York a year earlier. Another film in which his character was involved in drugs was the hauntingly somber movie Sugar Hill.

Honors

Enstoolment

On September 10, 2005 in the capital city of Anambra State in Nigeria, the highly respected producer and gifted actor was honored by being enstooled as a chieftain with the title, Chief Ikemba Mbaukwu. This singular honor places Wesley Snipes in a unique category since no other American film actor has received such official status from the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the nation with the largest Black population. Snipes is the first actor to be enstooled in Nigeria in 147 years. The government cited his achievements in the film industry, but indicated that Snipes had done a great deal of work as a humanitarian and philanthropist in the United States and Africa. Wesley Snipes has maintained this noble tradition of providing entertainment and at the same time working to improve the condition of people of African descent in Africa and in the diaspora. His activities in the film industry have been to provide expertise and support to several projects like the John Henrik Clarke documentary “The Great and Mighty Walk;” he was a financial underwriter of Spike Lee’s “Get on the Bus” and also, Maya Angelou’s “Down in the Delta.” The TBS Network broadcast his “Tribute to the Masters,” a documentary on fifty Martial Arts Grandmasters. Snipes considers his work in communications to serve as an educational instrument in revealing the true image of Africa and African people on the continent and throughout the world.

The importance of the generous act of the Nigerian government to enstool him as a member of African nobility is as important as the Aldridge knighthood given to him by a European country two centuries ago. Nigeria has been an independent nation since 1964. It is the most populous country in Africa containing one out of every five Black people in the world and one out of every fourteen people on the planet. The enstoolment took place on the 35th anniversary of the reign on His Royal Highness, Igwe Peter Anugwu, King of the Mbaukwu. Snipes (Chief Ikemba) was asked to suggest ways to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina. The ideas he proposed that were quite favorably received are: tourism incentives; time-share villages; student and cultural exchange programs. Wesley Snipes an African American as a Nigerian chief, Chief Ikemba Mbaukwu, is the symbol of the progress and the bright future for Africa and Africans in the diaspora.

Legal Issues

Tax Evasion

In 2002 a lawsuit in Florida was brought against Douglas Rosile, who allegedly helped 174 clients evade at least $29 million USD in taxes. One of his clients is the actor Wesley Snipes, who filed an amended return listing zero income and asking for a $7.4 million dollar refund. Snipes' original return reported $19.3 million in income.

There is currently no record of any related legal action against Snipes on this issue.

Sources:

Abuse

In 2004, Christopher Williams was suspected of having beaten actress Halle Berry so badly that she became nearly deaf in one ear. Williams claimed that it was actually Snipes who physically abused Berry. [1]

Paternity Dispute

In 2004, Snipes was named as the defendant in a paternity suit brought by an Indiana woman named Lanise Pettis. Pettis alleged that she had sex with Snipes in a Chicago crack house in 2000 and that Snipes had fathered a child with her. Snipes denied the allegations and reportedly twice refused to submit to a paternity test requested by Pettis. On July 25, 2004, a Manhattan Family Court judge issued an arrest warrant for Snipes' failure to submit to the paternity test. The judge also set bail at $250,000. *[2] Snipes subsequently sued New York City, charging that it had no jurisdiction to arrest him as part of an Indiana paternity case. However, on January 27, 2005, Snipes' bid to have a federal judge cancel the arrest warrant was denied. *[3] It was eventually determined that, as Pettis claims to have many unlikely celebrity connections, *[4] Snipes was not the father and the case was dismissed accordingly.

Fake Documents

In 2005, Snipes was detained at Johannesburg International Airport for allegedly trying to pass through the airport with a fake South African passport. Snipes later told South African officials that he had applied for the South African papers not only for himself but for his family. During the interview, it was established that Snipes did indeed have fraudulent South African documentation in his possession. Snipes and his attorney agreed to cooperate with the South African Inspectorate of the National Immigration Branch in their investigation. Snipes was allowed to return home because he had a valid U.S. passport, but the South African authorities reduced his immigration status to undesirable as a result of the incident. To date, no explanation has been offered as to exactly why Snipes entered South Africa on forged papers. [5]

Trivia

In the game Tekken 5, the character known as Raven closely resembles Wesley Snipes.

Wesley Snipes' dark complexion was poked fun at in a segment of Charlie Murphy's True Hollywood Stories on Chappelle's Show. While Charlie Murphy discussed how the lighter-skinned Rick James teased him for his complexion, calling him "Darkness," Murphy explained, "See, this is long before Wesley Snipes. Back then...we was the blackest niggas on the planet according to Rick James."

Selected filmography

Wildcats (1986)
Major League (1989)
King of New York (1990)
Mo' Better Blues (1990)
New Jack City (1991)
Jungle Fever (1991)
White Men Can't Jump (1992)
Passenger 57 (1992)
Rising Sun (1993)
Demolition Man (1993)
Drop Zone (1994)
Sugar Hill (1994)
To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar (1995)
Money Train (1995)
Waiting to Exhale (1995)
The Fan (1996)
Murder at 1600 (1997)
One Night Stand (1997)
Blade (1998)
U.S. Marshals (1998)
The Art of War (2000)
Disappearing Acts (2000)
Liberty Stands Still (2002)
Blade II (2002)
Undisputed (2002)
Blade: Trinity (2004)
Unstoppable (2004)
The Marksman (2004)
7 Seconds (2005)
Hard Luck (2006)
Chaos (2006)
The Detonator (2006)
Chasing The Dragon (2006)

External links

@@ Line 41: / Line 41: @@
 ==Legal Issues==
-===Tax Evasion: ===
+===Tax Evasion===
 In 2002 a lawsuit in Florida was brought against [[Douglas Rosile]], who allegedly helped 174 clients [[evasion|evade]] at least $29 million [[USD]] in [[taxes]]. One of his clients is the actor Wesley Snipes, who filed an amended return listing zero income and asking for a $7.4 million dollar refund. Snipes' original return reported $19.3 million in income.