Spike Lee

Biography

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.

Known For

Mookie

Do the Right Thing

Cyrus

Jungle Fever

Self

When We Were Kings

Shorty

Malcolm X

Spike Lee

Lonely in America

Snuffy

Crooklyn

Mars Blackmon

She's Gotta Have It

Self

Street Fight

Giant

Mo' Better Blues

Jimmy

Girl 6

Self

Brooklyn Boheme

Self

Bad 25

Self

The Evolution of an American Filmmaker

Self

New York at the Movies

Mars Blackmon

Seen It All

Self

Hommage d’une fille à son père

Narrator (voice)

Be Truly Free

Self

Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. The New York Knicks

Self

Sidney

Self

Guest

Self (archive footage)

Axé: Canto do Povo de um Lugar

Self

By Any Means Necessary: The Making of 'Malcolm X'

Darrell 'Half-Pint' Dunlap

School Daze

Self

The Last Party

Self

MTV's 10th Anniversary Special

Self

Yo! The Story of ‘Yo! MTV Raps’

Self

40 x 15: The Forty Years of the Directors' Fortnight

Spike Lee

Do The Right Thing 25 Year Anniversary A Beats Music Experience

Self

Sous les marches du palais

Self

Denzel Washington : Un modèle américain

Self (archive footage)

Продавцы планктона

Self

Champs

Self

Be A Part of It

Mr. Mookie

Red Hook Summer

Self

Michael Jordan to the Max

Self

French Cinema Mon Amour

Filmmaker

3 A.M.

Interviewer (voice) (uncredited)

4 Little Girls

How to Eat Your Watermelon in White Company (and Enjoy It)

Self

Making 'Do the Right Thing'

Self

Number 4

Self (archive footage)

Yusuf Hawkins: Storm Over Brooklyn

Self

Birth of a Movement

Self

Life O' The Party: On the Road with Prince and the New Power Generation

Spike Lee

Lisa Picard Is Famous

Self

The Fine Art of Separating People from Their Money

Chucky

Clockers

Self

Best Sellers or: Peter Sellers and 'Dr. Strangelove'

Self

Pixote In Memoriam

Seven Songs for Malcolm X

Self

A Man's Story

Self

First Works

John Jeffries

Summer of Sam

Self

Breslin and Hamill: Deadline Artists

Self

PoliWood

Self

It's Black Entertainment

Self

Do the Right Thing: 20 Years Later

Self

No Fighting in the War Room Or: 'Dr Strangelove' and the Nuclear Threat

Self

The Making of 'Bamboozled'

Self

Kobe Doin' Work

Self

Decade

Self

Spike Lee & Company: Do It a Cappella

Self

Adieu, Babylone!

Self

Unbanned: The Legend of AJ1

Below the Rim

We the People: From Crispus Attucks to President Barack Obama

Self

Director Spike Lee's New York City

Through the Fire

Self

Lights, Action, Music

Beyond Wiseguys: Italian Americans & the Movies

On the Shoulders of Giants

Self

Life's Essentials with Ruby Dee

Self

Branford Marsalis: Steep

Self

Our Hollywood Education

Self

Hoop Dreams

Self

A Century of Cinema

Self (archive footage)

The Universal Story

Ray Allen/AKA- Jesus Shuttlesworth

Self

The Making and Meaning of 'We Are Family'

Self

Chadwick Boseman: Portrait of an Artist

Self

A Choice of Weapons: Inspired by Gordon Parks

Public Enemy: Fight the Power... Live!

Self

Five Directors On The Battle of Algiers

Self (archive footage)

Four Days in October

self

Samuel L. Jackson: Did I Stutter?

Self

Megadoc

Self

Michael Jackson's Journey from Motown to Off the Wall

Self (archive footage)

BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions

Self

Ladies & Gentlemen... 50 Years of SNL Music

Himself

Drop Squad