Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957 in Atlanta, Georgia) is an American filmmaker and actor. 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.
Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957 in Atlanta, Georgia) is an American filmmaker and actor. 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.
External links
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/nm0000490
Wikipedia: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q51566
Facebook: No data
Instagram: https://instagram.com/officialspikelee
Filmography (Movies)
Ladies & Gentlemen... 50 Years of SNL Music
Character:Self (archive footage)
Release Date:27/01/2025
Be A Part of It
Character:Self
Release Date:04/04/2024
Samuel L. Jackson: Did I Stutter?
Character:self
Release Date:08/07/2023
Denzel Washington: A Model American
Character:Self
Release Date:15/10/2022
Gold Blooded
Character:Self
Release Date:27/09/2022
Sidney
Character:Self
Release Date:10/09/2022
A Daughter's Tribute to Her Father: Souleymane Cissé
Character:Self
Release Date:17/05/2022
Seen It All
Character:Mars Blackmon
Release Date:16/05/2022
A Choice of Weapons: Inspired by Gordon Parks
Character:Self
Release Date:18/06/2021
Chadwick Boseman: Portrait of an Artist
Character:Self
Release Date:17/04/2021
Breslin and Hamill: Deadline Artists
Character:Self
Release Date:15/11/2018
Unbanned: The Legend of AJ1
Character:Self
Release Date:22/04/2018
Plankton Salesmen
Character:Self (archive footage)
Release Date:29/10/2017
Be Truly Free
Character:Narrator (voice)
Release Date:01/03/2017
Birth of a Movement
Character:Self
Release Date:06/02/2017
Michael Jackson's Journey from Motown to Off the Wall
Character:Self
Release Date:06/02/2016
French Cinema Mon Amour
Character:Self
Release Date:06/07/2015
Director Spike Lee's New York City
Character:Self
Release Date:10/04/2015
Champs
Character:Self
Release Date:13/03/2015
Ray Allen/AKA- Jesus Shuttlesworth
Character:
Release Date:06/02/2015
Life's Essentials with Ruby Dee
Character:Self
Release Date:22/06/2014
We the People: From Crispus Attucks to President Barack Obama
Character:
Release Date:11/02/2014
Bad 25
Character:Self
Release Date:22/11/2012
Red Hook Summer
Character:Mr. Mookie
Release Date:10/08/2012
Yo! The Story of ‘Yo! MTV Raps’
Character:Self
Release Date:07/06/2012
Brooklyn Boheme
Character:Self
Release Date:27/02/2012
A Man's Story
Character:Self
Release Date:08/10/2011
Guest
Character:Self
Release Date:25/03/2011
On the Shoulders of Giants
Character:
Release Date:11/02/2011
Four Days in October
Character:Self (archive footage)
Release Date:05/10/2010
Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. The New York Knicks
Character:Self
Release Date:14/03/2010
PoliWood
Character:Self
Release Date:03/07/2009
Do the Right Thing: 20 Years Later
Character:Self
Release Date:30/06/2009
Kobe Doin' Work
Character:Self
Release Date:16/05/2009
40 x 15: The Forty Years of the Directors' Fortnight
Character:Self
Release Date:18/05/2008
Beyond Wiseguys: Italian Americans & the Movies
Character:
Release Date:20/01/2008
Pixote In Memoriam
Character:Self
Release Date:30/10/2007
Lights, Action, Music
Character:Self
Release Date:06/08/2007
Number 4
Character:Self
Release Date:08/08/2006
Life O' The Party: On the Road with Prince and the New Power Generation
Character:Self
Release Date:07/06/2005
Street Fight
Character:Self
Release Date:23/04/2005
How to Eat Your Watermelon in White Company (and Enjoy It)
Character:
Release Date:07/04/2005
By Any Means Necessary: The Making of 'Malcolm X'
Character:Self
Release Date:08/02/2005
Through the Fire
Character:
Release Date:01/01/2005
Best Sellers or: Peter Sellers and 'Dr. Strangelove'
Character:Self
Release Date:28/10/2004
No Fighting in the War Room Or: 'Dr Strangelove' and the Nuclear Threat
Character:Self
Release Date:28/10/2004
Five Directors On The Battle of Algiers
Character:Self
Release Date:01/08/2004
The Evolution of an American Filmmaker
Character:Self
Release Date:20/05/2003
New York at the Movies
Character:Self
Release Date:07/07/2002
It's Black Entertainment
Character:Self
Release Date:08/02/2002
The Making and Meaning of 'We Are Family'
Character:Self
Release Date:09/01/2002
3 A.M.
Character:Filmmaker
Release Date:01/07/2001
The Making of 'Bamboozled'
Character:Self
Release Date:17/04/2001
Lisa Picard Is Famous
Character:Spike Lee
Release Date:14/05/2000
Michael Jordan to the Max
Character:Self
Release Date:05/05/2000
Summer of Sam
Character:John Jeffries
Release Date:28/06/1999
4 Little Girls
Character:Interviewer (voice) (uncredited)
Release Date:09/07/1997
The Fine Art of Separating People from Their Money
Character:Self
Release Date:17/11/1996
When We Were Kings
Character:Self
Release Date:25/10/1996
The Universal Story
Character:Self (archive footage)
Release Date:21/04/1996
Girl 6
Character:Jimmy
Release Date:22/03/1996
Lumière & Company
Character:Self (segment "Sarah Moon")
Release Date:20/12/1995
Clockers
Character:Chucky
Release Date:15/09/1995
Below the Rim
Character:
Release Date:01/01/1995
Drop Squad
Character:Himself
Release Date:28/10/1994
Hoop Dreams
Character:Self
Release Date:12/09/1994
Crooklyn
Character:Snuffy
Release Date:13/05/1994
A Century of Cinema
Character:Self
Release Date:01/01/1994
Seven Songs for Malcolm X
Character:
Release Date:01/10/1993
Farewell, Babylon!
Character:Self
Release Date:28/08/1993
The Last Party
Character:Self
Release Date:27/08/1993
Malcolm X
Character:Shorty
Release Date:18/11/1992
Our Hollywood Education
Character:Self
Release Date:28/05/1992
Sous les marches du palais
Character:Self
Release Date:14/09/1991
Jungle Fever
Character:Cyrus
Release Date:07/06/1991
MTV's 10th Anniversary Special
Character:Self
Release Date:06/06/1991
Branford Marsalis: Steep
Character:Self
Release Date:04/01/1991
Lonely in America
Character:Spike Lee (Newsstand Customer) (uncredited)
Release Date:30/09/1990
Mo' Better Blues
Character:Giant
Release Date:03/08/1990
Spike & Co. Do It a-Cappella
Character:Self
Release Date:01/01/1990
Decade
Character:Self
Release Date:09/12/1989
Making 'Do the Right Thing'
Character:Self
Release Date:03/11/1989
First Works
Character:Self
Release Date:10/10/1989
Do the Right Thing
Character:Mookie
Release Date:14/06/1989
Public Enemy: Fight the Power... Live!
Character:
Release Date:01/01/1989
School Daze
Character:Darrell 'Half-Pint' Dunlap
Release Date:12/02/1988
She's Gotta Have It
Character:Mars Blackmon
Release Date:08/08/1986
Television Appearances
Mr. Scorsese
Character:Self
They Call Me Magic
Character:Self
This Is Pop
Character:Self (archive footage)
Directors on Directors
Character:Self
Pretend It's a City
Character:Self
Dear...
Character:Self
Tamron Hall
Character:Self - Guest
Desus & Mero
Character:Self - Illustrious Guest
Basketball: A Love Story
Character:Self (archive footage)
She's Gotta Have It
Character:Drum Major
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
Character:Self
Close Up with The Hollywood Reporter
Character:Self
Late Night with Seth Meyers
Character:Self - Guest
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
Character:Self
Who Do You Think You Are?
Character:Self
It's the Shoes
Character:Self
The Ellen DeGeneres Show
Character:Self
Real Time with Bill Maher
Character:Self
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Character:Self - Guest
Johnny Vaughan Tonight
Character:Self
The Early Show
Character:Self
The View
Character:Self
The Chris Rock Show
Character:Self
The Daily Show
Character:Self
Inside the Actors Studio
Character:Self
Ghostwriter
Character:Special Agent Pete (archive footage)
Ghostwriter
Character:Special Agent Pete
In Living Color
Character:
Yo! MTV Raps
Character:Self
Saturday Night Live
Character:Mars Blackmon
Saturday Night Live
Character:Self (uncredited)
The American Film Institute Salute to ...
Character:Self
Great Performances
Character:Self
The Oscars
Character:Self
Images
