Wesley Snipes

Biography

Wesley Trent Snipes (born July 31, 1962) is an American actor and martial artist. Snipes has made films in a variety of genres, such as numerous thrillers, dramatic feature films, and comedies, though he is best known for his action films. He was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male for his work in The Waterdance (1992) and won the Volpi Cup for Best Actor for his performance in the film One Night Stand (1997). Born in Florida, Snipes had notable parts in the comedy film Major League (1989), the drama Mo' Better Blues (1990), and the crime drama King of New York (1990) before gaining prominence by playing a drug lord in the crime drama New Jack City (1991). He subsequently received more attention for the drama film Jungle Fever (1991), the sports comedy White Men Can't Jump (1992), and the action film Passenger 57 (1992). He has since starred in various genres, such as the comedy film To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar (1995), the thriller The Fan (1996), and the drama film Down in the Delta (1998), but mostly established himself as an action star, portraying both heroes and villains in films such as Demolition Man (1993), Rising Sun (1993), Money Train (1995), and U.S. Marshals (1998). Also in 1998, he was cast as Eric Brooks/BBlade in the superhero film Blade, based on the Marvel Comics superhero of the same name, a role he went on to reprise in Blade II (2002), Blade: Trinity (2004), and Deadpool & Wolverine (2024). Snipes had smaller roles during the 2000s and moved to direct-to-video action films before returning to the theatrical release with films such as Brooklyn's Finest (2009) and The Expendables 3 (2014). His television work includes multiple episodes in the drama series H.E.L.P. (1990), the action thriller crime drama series The Player (2015), and the drama limited series True Story (2021), as well as the romantic drama film Disappearing Acts (2000). He formed a production company, Amen-Ra Films, in 1991, and a subsidiary, Black Dot Media, to develop projects for film and television. Snipes has been training in martial arts since the age of 12, earning a 5thdan black belt in Shotokan karate and a 2nddan black belt in Hapkido. He is credited with helping popularise martial arts in Hollywood and bringing martial arts to mainstream audiences, as well as contributing to the representation of Black actors in action roles, breaking stereotypes. In 2017, Snipes made his debut as a novelist with the urban fantasy supernatural adventure Talon of God. Description above from the Wikipedia article Wesley Snipes, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Known For

Sidney Deane

White Men Can't Jump

Joe

Liberty Stands Still

John Cutter

Passenger 57

Flipper Purify

Jungle Fever

Nino Brown

New Jack City

Lorenz / Jason York

Chaos

Pete Nessip

Drop Zone

Wesley Snipes (Ringside Fan)

Play It to the Bone

John

Money Train

Painter

The Marksman

Neil Shaw

The Art of War

Jimmy Mercer

Boiling Point

Sheridan

U.S. Marshals

Dean Cage

Unstoppable

Sonni Griffith

The Detonator

Lt. Webster Smith

Rising Sun

Detective Harlan Regis

Murder at 1600

Noxeema Jackson

To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar

Casanova 'Caz' Phillips

Brooklyn's Finest

Jack Tuliver

7 Seconds

Simon Phoenix

Demolition Man

Max Carlyle

One Night Stand

Thomas Flanigan

King of New York

Bobby Rayburn

The Fan

Willie Mays Hayes

Major League

Lucky

Hard Luck

Neil Shaw

The Art of War II: Betrayal

Blade

Blade II

Trumaine

Wildcats

Shadow Henderson (Sax)

Mo' Better Blues

Blade

Blade

Eric Brooks / Blade

Blade: Trinity

Roland Jenkins

Streets of Gold

Monroe Hutchen

Undisputed

James Dial

The Contractor

Raymond Hill

The Waterdance

Franklin Swift

Disappearing Acts

Obike Fixx

Futuresport

Aman

Gallowwalkers

Agent Marcus

Game of Death

Romello Skuggs

Sugar Hill

Luther 'Mr. Big'

Back on the Strip

Will Sinclair

Down in the Delta

Doc

The Expendables 3

Dave Fletcher

Zig Zag

Leslie Snipes

Where’s Usher?

Self

Sous les marches du palais

Self

The Making of The Expendables 3

Self

Masters of the Martial Arts Presented by Wesley Snipes

Sean 'Cyclops' Andrews

Chi-Raq

James Wheeler (uncredited)

Waiting to Exhale

(archive footage)

2Everything2Terrible2: Tokyo Drift

George Du Vaul (segment "The Boy Who Painted Christ Black")

America's Dream

Blade

Deadpool & Wolverine

Isaac

Armed Response

Ambulance Driver

Critical Condition

The Hunter

The Recall

Narrator

Hardwood Dreams

Self

Jackie Chan - From Stuntman to Superstar

Lawrence

Cut Throat City

D’Urville Martin

Dolemite Is My Name

Narrator

John Henrik Clarke: A Great and Mighty Walk

Outbreak Z

General Izzi

Coming 2 America

Self

Nightstalkers, Daywalkers, and Familiars: Inside the World of 'Blade: Trinity'

Self - Blade

Marvel Studios Assembled: The Making of Deadpool & Wolverine

Self

The Blood Pact: The Making of 'Blade II'

The Real Malcolm X