Mark Sinclair (born July 18, 1967), better known as Vin Diesel, is an American actor, producer, director and screenwriter. He is the Scary Black Man, only (mostly) white.
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: he is a massive geek. A massive geek who could break your spine. Seriously, the guy loves Dungeons & Dragons so much, he wrote his own campaigns, got a temp tattoo of the name of his D&D character in XXX (it's "Melkor", if you're wondering), and even started his own video game company because he was tired of people making crappy video games out of his movies. Their first project (although not for long) was teaming up with Starbreeze Studios to make The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, which many people named as actually being better than the accompanying film, and was named as being the best action game on the 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.
He also pushed to have Judi Dench appear in the aforementioned Riddick just so that she could DM for him in a game of D&D, like she did for her grandchildren. He sent her lots of fresh flowers throughout the production in gratitude.
It gets better: one of the upcoming games is about his player character. Penny Arcade is actually attempting (kind of) to get him to join them in one of their podcasted D&D campaigns (despite the very real possibility that putting both Riddick and Wesley Crusher in the same room would destroy the universe).note
Vin's probably most known for his work on the The Chronicles of Riddick and The Fast and the Furious franchises, but he's done many things, from big budget action flicks like XXX and Saving Private Ryan, to writing, directing, and starring in indie docu-dramas. He also voiced the title character in The Iron Giant. While Riddick is a murderer, Vin Diesel is reportedly a very sweet, polite guy. And by the way, it turns out that He Really Can Act, as evidenced by his acclaimed performances in Find Me Guilty and Boiler Room, as well as the aforementioned voice acting role in The Iron Giant.
Also, you know that "Chuck Norris Facts" fad that you may have heard of? Originally, those were all Vin facts. The best one of the lot? "Rearranging the letters in Vin Diesel's name reveals his credo: I End Lives."
Filmography:
- Awakenings (1990) - Hospital Orderly (uncredited)
- Saving Private Ryan (1998) - Pvt. Caparzo
- The Iron Giant (1999) - The Iron Giant (voice)
- Boiler Room (2000) - Chris Varick
- The Chronicles of Riddick - Richard B. Riddick
- Pitch Black (2000)
- The Chronicles of Riddick (2004)
- Dark Fury (2004)
- Escape from Butcher Bay (2004)
- Assault on Dark Athena (2009)
- Riddick (2013)
- The Fast and the Furious (2001 – present) - Dominic Toretto
- The Fast and the Furious (2001) (2001)
- The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006)
- Fast & Furious (2009)
- Fast Five (2011)
- Fast & Furious 6 (2013)
- Furious 7 (2015)
- The Fate of the Furious (2017)
- Fast & Furious: Spy Racers (2019) (voice)
- F9: The Fast Saga (2021)
- Fast X (2023)
- Knockaround Guys (2001)
- xXx (2002) - Xander Cage
- XXX Return Of Xander Cage (2017)
- A Man Apart (2003) - Sean Vetter
- The Pacifier (2005) - Shane Wolfe
- Find Me Guilty (2006) - Jack DiNorscio
- Babylon A.D. (2008) - Toorop
- Marvel Cinematic Universe (2014 – present) as Groot (voice and motion capture):
- Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)
- Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
- Avengers: Endgame (2019)
- Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)
- I Am Groot (2022)
- The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (2022)
- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)
- The Last Witch Hunter (2015) - Kaulder
- Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk (2016) - Shroom
- Bloodshot (2020) as Raymond "Ray" Garrison / Bloodshot
This actor's roles provide examples of:
- Action Genre Hero Guy: Textbook example.
- Anti-Hero: He's played criminals, murderers, and mercenaries in most of his roles, but all have some redeeming qualities and few are genuinely malevolent.
- Chewing the Scenery: When he raises the voice in dramatic scenes, he does it in an extremely hammy manner. Especially in A Man Apart.
- Guttural Growler: 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.
- He Also Did: There's a clip circulating around the Internet from the video Breakin' in the USA. Yes, folks, that is a very young Vin Diesel (with hair!) break-dancing.
- So My Kids Can Watch: He starred in the The Pacifier for the sole reason of his niece and nephew being allowed to watch "Uncle Vin" on screen in a Disney movie.
