1957-03-20 ( 68 years old ) in Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Spike Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American filmmaker and actor. He was born Shelton Lee in Atlanta, Georgia. At a very young age, he moved from pre-civil rights Georgia, to Brooklyn, New York. His father was a jazz musician, and his mother, a school teacher. His mother dubbed him Spike, due to his tough nature.
He attended school in Morehouse College in Atlanta and developed his film making skills at Clark Atlanta University. After graduating, he went to the Tisch School of Arts graduate film program. He made a controversial short, The Answer (1980), a reworking of D.W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation (1915) -- a ten-minute film. Lee went on to produce a 45-minute film Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads (1983), which won a student academy award. Lee's next film, "The Messenger," in 1984, was somewhat biographical. In 1986, Spike Lee made the film, She's Gotta Have It (1986), a comedy about sexual relationships. The movie was made for 175,000 dollars, and made seven million. Since then, Lee has become a well-known, intelligent, and talented film maker. His next movie was School Daze (1988), which was set in a historically black school and focused mostly on the conflict between the school and the Fraternities, of which he was a strong critic, portraying them as materialistic, irresponsible, and uncaring.
Lee went on to do his landmark film, Do the Right Thing (1989), a movie specifically about his own town in Brooklyn, New York. The movie garnered an Oscar nomination, for Danny Aiello, for supporting actor. It also sparked a debate on racial relations. Lee went on to produce the jazz biopic Mo' Better Blues (1990) which showed his talent for directing and acting, and was the first of many Spike Lee films to feature Denzel Washington. His next film, Jungle Fever (1991), was about interracial dating. Lee's handling of the subject proved yet again highly controversial. Lee's next film was the self-titled biography of Malcolm X (1992), which had Denzel Washington portraying the civil rights leader. The movie was a success, and resulted in an Oscar nomination for Washington. His next films were the comparatively light, Crooklyn (1994), and the intense crime drama, Clockers (1995). In 1996, Lee directed two movies: the badly received comedy, Girl 6 (1996), and the politically pointed, Get on the Bus (1996), about a group of men going to the Million Man March. His next film, He Got Game (1998), proved to be another excursion into the collegiate world as he shows the darker side of recruiting college athletes. The movie, in limited release, yet again featured Denzel Washington. In 2000 came Bamboozled which made a mockery out of television and the way African-Americans are perceived by white America and the way African-Americans perceive themselves. The movie, however, was a resounding critical success. Lee also has produced films like New Jersey Drive (1995), Tales from the Hood (1995), and Drop Squad (1994). He also has produced and or directed movies about Huey P. Newton, Jim Brown, and has commented in many documentaries about varied subjects. Lee is an obsessive New York Knicks fan. He and his wife, Tonya Lewis Lee, have two children.
Movies
BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions
2025-01-27
Ladies & Gentlemen... 50 Years of SNL Music
2025-01-27
Be A Part of It
2024-04-04
Samuel L. Jackson: Did I Stutter?
2023-07-08
Denzel Washington : Un modèle américain
2022-10-15
Sidney
2022-09-10
Seen It All
2022-05-16
Chadwick Boseman: Portrait of an Artist
2021-04-17
Yusuf Hawkins: Storm Over Brooklyn
2020-08-12
Breslin and Hamill: Deadline Artists
2018-11-15
Unbanned: The Legend of AJ1
2018-04-22
Plankton Salesmen
2017-10-29
Be Truly Free
2017-03-01
Birth of a Movement
2017-02-06
Axé: Music of a People
2017-01-19
French Cinema Mon Amour
2015-07-06
Director Spike Lee's New York City
2015-04-10
Champs
2015-03-13
Ray Allen/AKA- Jesus Shuttlesworth
2015-02-06
Life's Essentials with Ruby Dee
2014-06-22
Bad 25
2012-11-22
Red Hook Summer
2012-08-10
Yo! The Story of ‘Yo! MTV Raps’
2012-06-07
Brooklyn Boheme
2012-02-27
A Man's Story
2011-10-08
Guest
2011-03-25
On the Shoulders of Giants
2011-02-11
Four Days in October
2010-10-05
PoliWood
2009-07-03
Do the Right Thing: 20 Years Later
2009-06-30
Kobe Doin' Work
2009-05-16
Pixote In Memoriam
2007-10-30
Lights, Action, Music
2007-08-06
Street Fight
2005-04-23
Through the Fire
2005-01-01
Five Directors On The Battle of Algiers
2004-08-01
The Evolution of an American Filmmaker
2003-05-20
New York at the Movies
2002-07-07
It's Black Entertainment
2002-02-08
The Making and Meaning of 'We Are Family'
2002-01-09
3 A.M.
2001-07-01
The Making of 'Bamboozled'
2001-04-17
Lisa Picard Is Famous
2000-05-14
Michael Jordan to the Max
2000-05-05
Summer of Sam
1999-06-28
4 Little Girls
1997-07-09
When We Were Kings
1996-10-25
The Universal Story
1996-04-21
Girl 6
1996-03-22
Clockers
1995-09-15
Below the Rim
1995-01-01
Drop Squad
1994-10-28
Hoop Dreams
1994-09-12
Crooklyn
1994-05-13
A Century of Cinema
1994-01-01
Seven Songs for Malcolm X
1993-10-01
Farewell, Babylon!
1993-08-28
The Last Party
1993-08-27
Malcolm X
1992-11-18
Our Hollywood Education
1992-05-28
Sous les marches du palais
1991-09-14
Jungle Fever
1991-06-07
MTV's 10th Anniversary Special
1991-06-06
Branford Marsalis: Steep
1991-01-04
Lonely in America
1990-09-30
Mo' Better Blues
1990-08-03
Spike Lee & Company: Do It a Cappella
1990-01-01
Decade
1989-12-09
Making 'Do the Right Thing'
1989-11-03
First Works
1989-10-10
Do the Right Thing
1989-06-14
Public Enemy: Fight the Power... Live!
1989-01-01
School Daze
1988-02-12
She's Gotta Have It
1986-08-08
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