Wesley Trent Snipes (born July 31, 1962) is an American actor and martial artist. Snipes has made films in a variety of genres, such as numerous thrillers, dramatic feature films, and comedies, though he is best known for his action films. He was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male for his work in The Waterdance (1992) and won the Volpi Cup for Best Actor for his performance in the film One Night Stand (1997).
Born in Florida, Snipes started his acting career in the 1980s with a one episode appearance on the soap opera All My Children (1984). His first film roles were both in 1986 in Wildcats and Streets of Gold. He had prominent roles in the 1990s, starring in the films New Jack City with Ice-T (1991), White Men Can't Jump with Woody Harrelson (1992), Passenger 57 with Bruce Payne (1992), Rising Sun with Sean Connery (1993), Demolition Man with Sylvester Stallone (1993), To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar with Patrick Swayze and John Leguizamo (1995), and U.S. Marshals with Tommy Lee Jones (1998). Also in 1998, he was cast as Eric Brooks / Blade in the superhero horror film Blade, based on the Marvel Comics superhero of the same name, a role he went on to reprise in Blade II (2002) and Blade: Trinity (2004).
Snipes had smaller roles during the 2000s, most of them being direct-to-video before returning to the theatrical release, cast as Doctor "Doc" Death in the 2014 action film The Expendables 3 where he was reunited working with Sylvester Stallone. His television work includes multiple episodes in drama series H.E.L.P. (1990), action thriller crime drama series The Player (2015), and drama limited series True Story (2021), opposite Kevin Hart.
He formed a production company, Amen-Ra Films, in 1991, and a subsidiary, Black Dot Media, to develop projects for film and television. Snipes has been training in martial arts since the age of 12, earning a 5th dan black belt in Shotokan Karate and 2nd dan black belt in Hapkido. Many of his action films have featured martial arts. In 2017, Snipes made his debut as a novelist with the urban fantasy supernatural adventure Talon of God. (Via Wikipedia)
Born in Florida, Snipes started his acting career in the 1980s with a one episode appearance on the soap opera All My Children (1984). His first film roles were both in 1986 in Wildcats and Streets of Gold. He had prominent roles in the 1990s, starring in the films New Jack City with Ice-T (1991), White Men Can't Jump with Woody Harrelson (1992), Passenger 57 with Bruce Payne (1992), Rising Sun with Sean Connery (1993), Demolition Man with Sylvester Stallone (1993), To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar with Patrick Swayze and John Leguizamo (1995), and U.S. Marshals with Tommy Lee Jones (1998). Also in 1998, he was cast as Eric Brooks / Blade in the superhero horror film Blade, based on the Marvel Comics superhero of the same name, a role he went on to reprise in Blade II (2002) and Blade: Trinity (2004).
Snipes had smaller roles during the 2000s, most of them being direct-to-video before returning to the theatrical release, cast as Doctor "Doc" Death in the 2014 action film The Expendables 3 where he was reunited working with Sylvester Stallone. His television work includes multiple episodes in drama series H.E.L.P. (1990), action thriller crime drama series The Player (2015), and drama limited series True Story (2021), opposite Kevin Hart.
He formed a production company, Amen-Ra Films, in 1991, and a subsidiary, Black Dot Media, to develop projects for film and television. Snipes has been training in martial arts since the age of 12, earning a 5th dan black belt in Shotokan Karate and 2nd dan black belt in Hapkido. Many of his action films have featured martial arts. In 2017, Snipes made his debut as a novelist with the urban fantasy supernatural adventure Talon of God. (Via Wikipedia)
- Origin
- Orlando, Florida, USA
- Born
- July 31, 1962
- Age
- 62