Diesel, Vin (1967- )

US actor, screenwriter, director, and producer. After releasing his own critically-acclaimed though less commercially successful independent films during the mid-1990s, he featured in Steven Spielberg's World War II film Saving Private Ryan (1998), which firmly established his acting career. Known for his muscular physique, his characters are usually strong, aggressive types, for example a dangerous convict in Pitch Black (2000), and a gang leader in The Fast and the Furious (2001).

He debuted in the short film Multi-Facial (1994), which he wrote based on his experience in Hollywood as a fledgling actor. This film brought the attention of Spielberg, who cast him in Saving Private Ryan. Other early films include the animated feature The Iron Giant (1999), Boiler Room (2000), and Knockaround Guys (2001). He was star and producer of xXx (2002), A Man Apart (2003), and the Pitch Black sequel The Chronicles of Riddick (2004).

He was born in New York and grew up in a Greenwich Village artists' housing project. As a child he acted at the Theater for the New City, and, later, became a bouncer at downtown clubs. He studied English at Hunter College in New York, but left before graduation to pursue an acting career in Hollywood. After struggling for a year to break into film, he returned to New York and wrote the short film Multi-Facial about his experience. The film was an unexpected hit at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival. Diesel's first feature length film, Strays (1997), was well received at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival.