Spike Lee
Born March 20, 1957 (Age: 69)
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Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Biography
Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American filmmaker and actor. His work has continually explored race relations, issues within the black community, the role of media in contemporary life, urban crime and poverty, and other political issues. Lee received numerous accolades for his work, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and two Peabody Awards as well as nominations for three Golden Globe Awards and a Grammy Award. Lee studied filmmaking at both Morehouse College and the New York University Tisch School of the Arts, where he directed his student film Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads (1983), which won a Student Academy Award. He later founded the production company 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, where he has produced more than 35 films. He made his directorial debut with the comedy She's Gotta Have It (1986). He received widespread critical acclaim for the drama Do the Right Thing (1989), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. He directed the historical epic Malcolm X (1992), earning the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival. With the biographical crime dramedy BlacKkKlansman (2018), he won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and the Cannes Film Festival Grand Prix Award. He has also written and directed films such as School Daze (1988), Mo' Better Blues (1990), Jungle Fever (1991), Crooklyn (1994), Clockers (1995), Bamboozled (2000), 25th Hour (2002), Inside Man (2006), Chi-Raq (2015), Da 5 Bloods (2020), and Highest 2 Lowest (2025). Lee has also acted in eleven of his feature films. He is also known for directing numerous documentary projects, including 4 Little Girls (1997), which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film. He directed the HBO series When the Levees Broke (2006), which won two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Directing for a Documentary/Nonfiction Program and Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking. He also directed the HBO documentary If God Is Willing and da Creek Don't Rise (2010) and the David Byrne concert film American Utopia (2020). Lee has received several honours, including the Honorary BAFTA Award in 2002, an Honorary César in 2003, the Academy Honorary Award in 2015, and the National Medal of Arts in 2023. Five of his films have been selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". He has received a Gala Tribute from the Film Society of Lincoln Center as well as the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize. His films have featured breakthrough performances from actors such as Denzel Washington, Laurence Fishburne, Samuel L. Jackson, Giancarlo Esposito, Rosie Perez, Delroy Lindo, John Turturro, and John David Washington. Description above from the Wikipedia article Spike Lee, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American filmmaker and actor. His work has continually explored race relations, issues within the black community, the role of media in contemporary life, urban crime and poverty, and other political issues. Lee received numerous accolades for his work, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and two Peabody Awards as well as nominations for three Golden Globe Awards and a Grammy Award.
Lee studied filmmaking at both Morehouse College and the New York University Tisch School of the Arts, where he directed his student film Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads (1983), which won a Student Academy Award. He later founded the production company 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, where he has produced more than 35 films. He made his directorial debut with the comedy She's Gotta Have It (1986). He received widespread critical acclaim for the drama Do the Right Thing (1989), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. He directed the historical epic Malcolm X (1992), earning the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival. With the biographical crime dramedy BlacKkKlansman (2018), he won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and the Cannes Film Festival Grand Prix Award.
He has also written and directed films such as School Daze (1988), Mo' Better Blues (1990), Jungle Fever (1991), Crooklyn (1994), Clockers (1995), Bamboozled (2000), 25th Hour (2002), Inside Man (2006), Chi-Raq (2015), Da 5 Bloods (2020), and Highest 2 Lowest (2025). Lee has also acted in eleven of his feature films. He is also known for directing numerous documentary projects, including 4 Little Girls (1997), which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film. He directed the HBO series When the Levees Broke (2006), which won two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Directing for a Documentary/Nonfiction Program and Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking. He also directed the HBO documentary If God Is Willing and da Creek Don't Rise (2010) and the David Byrne concert film American Utopia (2020).
Lee has received several honours, including the Honorary BAFTA Award in 2002, an Honorary César in 2003, the Academy Honorary Award in 2015, and the National Medal of Arts in 2023. Five of his films have been selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". He has received a Gala Tribute from the Film Society of Lincoln Center as well as the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize. His films have featured breakthrough performances from actors such as Denzel Washington, Laurence Fishburne, Samuel L. Jackson, Giancarlo Esposito, Rosie Perez, Delroy Lindo, John Turturro, and John David Washington.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Spike Lee, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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Filmography
Ladies & Gentlemen... 50 Years of SNL Music
2025
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as Self (archive footage)
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Age: 67
Gold Blooded
2022
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as Self
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Age: 65
Sidney
2022
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as Self
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Age: 65
Plankton Salesmen
2017
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as Self (archive footage)
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Age: 60
Spike Lee's Lil' Joints: The Greatest Catch Ever
2015
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as self
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Age: 58
No Image
Director Spike Lee's New York City
2015
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as Self
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Age: 58
Ray Allen/AKA- Jesus Shuttlesworth
2015
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as
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Age: 57
Red Hook Summer
2012
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as Mr. Mookie
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Age: 55
A Man's Story
2011
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as Self
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Age: 54
Do the Right Thing: 20 Years Later
2009
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as Self
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Age: 52
Pixote In Memoriam
2007
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as Self
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Age: 50
Lights, Action, Music
2007
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as Self
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Age: 50
Number 4
2006
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as Self
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Age: 49
Life O' The Party: On the Road with Prince and the New Power Generation
2005
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as Self
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Age: 48
By Any Means Necessary: The Making of 'Malcolm X'
2005
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as Self
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Age: 47
Best Sellers or: Peter Sellers and 'Dr. Strangelove'
2004
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as Self
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Age: 47
No Fighting in the War Room Or: 'Dr Strangelove' and the Nuclear Threat
2004
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as Self
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Age: 47
Five Directors On The Battle of Algiers
2004
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as Self
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Age: 47
The Evolution of an American Filmmaker
2003
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as Self
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Age: 46
No Image
New York at the Movies
2002
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as Self
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Age: 45
It's Black Entertainment
2002
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as Self
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Age: 44
The Making and Meaning of 'We Are Family'
2002
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as Self
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Age: 44
Lisa Picard Is Famous
2000
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as Spike Lee
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Age: 43
Michael Jordan to the Max
2000
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as Self
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Age: 43
Summer of Sam
1999
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as John Jeffries
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Age: 42
4 Little Girls
1997
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as Interviewer (voice) (uncredited)
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Age: 40
The Fine Art of Separating People from Their Money
1996
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as Self
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Age: 39
When We Were Kings
1996
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as Self
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Age: 39
The Universal Story
1996
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as Self (archive footage)
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Age: 39
Girl 6
1996
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as Jimmy
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Age: 39
Clockers
1995
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as Chucky
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Age: 38
Drop Squad
1994
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as Himself
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Age: 37
Hoop Dreams
1994
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as Self
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Age: 37
A Century of Cinema
1994
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as Self
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Age: 36
Seven Songs for Malcolm X
1993
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as
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Age: 36
Farewell, Babylon!
1993
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as Self
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Age: 36
The Last Party
1993
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as Self
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Age: 36
Malcolm X
1992
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as Shorty
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Age: 35
No Image
Our Hollywood Education
1992
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as Self
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Age: 35
Sous les marches du palais
1991
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as Self
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Age: 34
Jungle Fever
1991
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as Cyrus
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Age: 34
MTV's 10th Anniversary Special
1991
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as Self
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Age: 34
Branford Marsalis: Steep
1991
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as Self
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Age: 33
Lonely in America
1990
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as Spike Lee (Newsstand Customer) (uncredited)
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Age: 33
Mo' Better Blues
1990
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as Giant
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Age: 33
Spike & Co. Do It a-Cappella
1990
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as Self
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Age: 32
Decade
1989
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as Self
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Age: 32
No Image
Making 'Do the Right Thing'
1989
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as Self
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Age: 32
Do the Right Thing
1989
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as Mookie
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Age: 32
School Daze
1988
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as Darrell 'Half-Pint' Dunlap
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Age: 30
She's Gotta Have It
1986
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as Mars Blackmon
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Age: 29