History Creator / VinDiesel

Vin has spent most of his film career playing bald, brawny badass guys who sound like they use mint-flavoured gravel and whiskey for mouthwash (which is the basis of his appeal for some). However, unlike most action stars, Vin has a huge advantage that helps to get him fanboys: [[JustForFun/OneOfUs he is a massive geek]]. A massive geek who could break your spine. Seriously, the guy loves ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' so much, he wrote his own campaigns, got a temp tattoo of the name of his ''D&D'' character in ''Film/{{XXX}}'' (it's "[[Literature/TheSilmarillion Melkor]]", if you're wondering), and even [[StartMyOwn started his own]] [[RunningTheAsylum video game company]] because he was tired of people making [[TheProblemWithLicensedGames crappy video games out of his movies]]. Their first project (although not for long) was teaming up with Starbreeze Studios to make ''Franchise/TheChroniclesOfRiddick: VideoGame/EscapeFromButcherBay'', which many people named as actually being better than the accompanying film, and was named as being the best action game on the UsefulNotes/{{Xbox}} at the time. When they released the sequel, a large percentage of its sales were just because it included the original levels. So yeah, it was pretty good.

Vin has spent most of his film career playing bald, brawny badass guys who [[GutturalGrowler sound like they use mint-flavoured gravel and whiskey for mouthwash]] (which is the basis of his appeal for some). However, unlike most action stars, Vin has a huge advantage that helps to get him fanboys: [[JustForFun/OneOfUs he is a massive geek]]. A massive geek who could break your spine. Seriously, the guy loves ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' so much, he wrote his own campaigns, got a temp tattoo of the name of his ''D&D'' character in ''Film/{{XXX}}'' (it's "[[Literature/TheSilmarillion Melkor]]", if you're wondering), and even [[StartMyOwn started his own]] [[RunningTheAsylum video game company]] because he was tired of people making [[TheProblemWithLicensedGames crappy video games out of his movies]]. Their first project (although not for long) was teaming up with Starbreeze Studios to make ''Franchise/TheChroniclesOfRiddick: VideoGame/EscapeFromButcherBay'', which many people named as actually being better than the accompanying film, and was named as being the best action game on the UsefulNotes/{{Xbox}} at the time. When they released the sequel, a large percentage of its sales were just because it included the original levels. So yeah, it was pretty good.

* GutturalGrowler: His deep voice shines through in all his roles, particularly as Riddick, who sounds even deeper and more guttural than usual in his internal monologue, and in ''The Iron Giant'', where his voice work had less computer assistance than you'd think.

* ''Multi-Facial'' (1995) - Mike

* ''WesternAnimation/TheIronGiant'' (1999) - The Iron Giant

* Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse (2014 – present) as [[Characters/MCUGroot Groot]] (voice):

* ChewingTheScenery: When he raises the voice in dramatic scenes, he does it in an extremely hammy manner. Especially in Film/AManApart.

* AntiHero / AntiVillain: He's played criminals, murderers, and mercenaries in most of his roles, but all have some redeeming qualities and few are genuinely malevolent.

* NiceGuy: He constantly posts inspirational quotes to help people get through the hard times in their lives and is a very kind-hearted and friendly person.

* TrueCompanions: With Creator/PaulWalker. Walker's death left him so horribly devastated, that production on ''[[Film/Furious7 Furious 7]]'' was frequently delayed because Diesel couldn't bear to be on set without Walker at his side. The film was [[InMemoriam dedicated to Paul]]. He later named his daughter [[DeadGuyJunior Pauline]] after him, and even revealed a tattoo showing Paul's eyes.

* NiceGuy: He constantly posts inspiration quotes to help people get through the hard times in their lives and is a very kind-hearted and friendly person.

* Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse (2014 – present) as [[ComicBook/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy Groot]] (voice):

* ''Film/AvatarTheWayOfWater'' (2022)

** ''Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3'' (2023)

** ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'' (2014)

** ''The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special'' (2022)

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** ''Thor: Love and Thunder'' (2022)

* AmbiguouslyBrown: Not even ''he'' is sure what ethnicity he is. His mother has mixed English, German, and Scottish roots, but he's never met with his biological father, and he's stated his parents' relationship would have been illegal thanks to laws against racial mixing. However, he identifies as "definitely a person of color". The only other indication of this besides his skin tone is that when his hair is grown out, he has a [[https://www.menshealth.com/grooming/a35384711/vin-diesel-with-hair/ distinctly African-style afro]].
** His short film ''Multi-Facial'' is based on his struggles finding work as an actor due to his multi-racial background. Aside from starring in it, he also wrote and directed the short.
** He was able to portray an Italian-American soldier in ''Film/SavingPrivateRyan'', a movie set in World War II, where American units were segregated. And he was in a clearly white army unit.

* DoingItForTheArt: You'd think being cast as [[Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy a sentient tree who only speaks one phrase]] would be an invitation to phone it in, but Diesel recorded the line "I am Groot" over a ''thousand times'' in a half-dozen different languages at full intensity every time (while wearing ''stilts''... his idea).