Mark Sinclair Vincent (born July 18, 1967), known professionally as Vin Diesel, is an American actor and filmmaker. One of the world's highest-grossing actors, he gained prominence for portraying Dominic "Dom" Toretto in the Fast & Furious franchise.
Diesel attended Hunter College in New York City, where studies in creative writing led him to begin screenwriting. He wrote, directed, produced, and starred in the short drama film Multi-Facial (1995) and his debut feature Strays (1997). He came to prominence in the late 1990s and first became known for appearing in Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan in 1998. He followed up with commercially successful films such as Boiler Room (2000) and The Pacifier (2005). He gained stardom as a leading action star headlining numerous franchises, including Fast & Furious, XXX, and The Chronicles of Riddick.
His voice acting work includes The Iron Giant (1999), the video games The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay (2004) and The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena (2009), and the voices of Groot I and Groot II in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU); he portrayed the characters in six superhero films, beginning with Guardians of the Galaxy (2014). Diesel has reprised his role as Groot for the Disney+ animated shorts series I Am Groot (2022–2023), the television special The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (2022), and the animated film Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018).
He founded the production company One Race Films, where he has also served as a producer or executive producer for his star vehicles. Diesel also founded the record label Racetrack Records and video game developer Tigon Studios, providing his voice and motion capture for all of Tigon's releases.
Mark Sinclair Vincent was born on July 18, 1967. His mother, Delora Sherleen Vincent (née Sinclair), is an astrologer. He was raised by his white mother and adoptive African-American father, Irving H. Vincent, an acting instructor and theater manager. Diesel has stated that he is "of ambiguous ethnicity." His mother has Scottish roots. He has never met his biological father, and has said that "all I know from my mother is that I have connections to many different cultures"; Diesel believes that his parents' relationship would have been illegal in parts of the United States due to anti-miscegenation laws.
Diesel made his stage debut at age seven when he appeared in the children's play Dinosaur Door, written by Barbara Garson. The play was produced at Theater for the New City in New York's Greenwich Village. His involvement in the play came about when he, his brother and some friends had broken into the Theater for the New City space on Jane Street with the intent to vandalize it. They were confronted by the theater's artistic director, Crystal Field, who offered them roles in the upcoming show instead of calling the police. Diesel remained involved with the theater throughout adolescence, going on to attend Hunter College in New York City, where studies in creative writing led him to begin screenwriting. He dropped out of Hunter to pursue acting. He has identified himself as a "multi-faceted" actor.
Sinclair began going by his stage name "Vin Diesel" while working as a bouncer at the New York nightclub Tunnel, wanting a tougher sounding name for his occupation. Vin comes from his mother's married last name Vincent, while the surname Diesel came from his friends due to his tendency to be energetic.
1990–1999: Early struggle and debut
Diesel's first film role was as an uncredited extra in the drama film Awakenings in 1990. After several years of struggle to gain acting roles, Diesel decided to make his own short film to secure funds for his feature film debut. In 1994, he wrote, directed, produced, and starred in the short drama film Multi-Facial, a semi-autobiographical film which follows a struggling multiracial actor stuck in the audition process. The film was selected for screening at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival. As well as acting, Vin Diesel supported himself by working as a bouncer and telemarketer selling lightbulbs.
In 1997, Diesel secured funds to make his first feature-length film, Strays, an urban drama in which he played a gang leader whose love for a woman inspires him to try to change his ways. Written, directed, and produced by Diesel, the film was selected for competition at the 1997 Sundance Festival, leading to an MTV deal to turn it into a series which never came to fruition. Director Steven Spielberg took notice of Diesel after seeing him in Multi-Facial and cast him in a small role as a soldier in his 1998 Oscar-winning war film Saving Private Ryan. This marked Diesel's first major Hollywood film role. In 1999, he provided the voice of the title character in the animated film The Iron Giant.
2000–2008: Breakthrough and setbacks
In 2000, Diesel had a supporting role in the drama thriller Boiler Room, where he appeared alongside Giovanni Ribisi and Ben Affleck. He got his breakthrough leading role as the anti-hero Riddick in the science-fiction film Pitch Black later that year.
Diesel attained action hero stardom with his portrayal of Dominic Toretto in the street racing action film The Fast and the Furious (2001) and as Xander Cage in the action thriller XXX (2002). He turned down the chance to reprise his roles in the sequels 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003) and XXX: State of the Union (2005). Instead he chose to reprise his role as Riddick in The Chronicles of Riddick (2004), which was a box office failure considering the large budget. He also voiced the character in two spin-off video games and the anime film The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury.
In a departure from his previous tough guy action hero persona, in 2005, he played a lighthearted role in the action comedy film The Pacifier, which was a box office success.
In 2006, he chose a dramatic role playing real-life mobster Jack DiNorscio in Find Me Guilty. Although he received critical acclaim for his performance, the film did poorly at the box office grossing only $2 million against a budget of $13 million. Later that year, Diesel made a cameo appearance in The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, reprising his role from The Fast and the Furious.
In 2007, Diesel was set to produce and star as Agent 47 in the film adaptation of the video game Hitman, but eventually pulled back and served as executive producer on the film instead. In 2008, he starred in the science-fiction action thriller Babylon A.D. which was a critical and box office failure.
Diesel returned to the Fast & Furious series, alongside most of the principal cast from the original 2001 film, in Fast & Furious, which was released in April 2009.
Diesel reprised his role as Dominic Toretto in later installments of the Fast & Furious franchise, Fast Five (2011), Fast & Furious 6 (2013), Furious 7 (2015), The Fate of the Furious (2017), F9 (2021) and the most recent entry, Fast X (2023). He reprised his role as Riddick in the third film of The Chronicles of Riddick series, simply titled Riddick (2013). In August 2013, Diesel received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He voiced Groot in the 2014 Marvel Cinematic Universe film Guardians of the Galaxy.