Spike Lee
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.
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Movies 92
Do the Right Thing
as Mookie
1989
Malcolm X
as Shorty
1992
Jungle Fever
as Cyrus
1991
She's Gotta Have It
as Mars Blackmon
1986
Clockers
as Chucky
1995
Summer of Sam
as John Jeffries
1999
When We Were Kings
as Self
1996
Crooklyn
as Snuffy
1994
Ladies & Gentlemen... 50 Years of SNL Music
as Self (archive footage)
2025
Girl 6
as Jimmy
1996
School Daze
as Darrell 'Half-Pint' Dunlap
1988
Mo' Better Blues
as Giant
1990
Sidney
as Self
2022
Michael Jordan to the Max
as Self
2000
AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to Eddie Murphy
as Self
2026
Michael Jackson's Journey from Motown to Off the Wall
as Self
2016
3 A.M.
as Filmmaker
2001
Sophie Marceau, à voix haute
as Self (archive footage)
2026
Bad 25
as Self
2012
It's Black Entertainment
as Self
2002
Red Hook Summer
as Mr. Mookie
2012
4 Little Girls
as Interviewer (voice) (uncredited)
1997
Lumière & Company
as Self (segment "Sarah Moon")
1995
Life's Essentials with Ruby Dee
as Self
2014
Plankton Salesmen
as Self (archive footage)
2017
Breslin and Hamill: Deadline Artists
as Self
2018
Making 'Do the Right Thing'
as Self
1989
The Fine Art of Separating People from Their Money
as Self
1996
A Choice of Weapons: Inspired by Gordon Parks
as Self
2021
Do The Right Thing 25 Year Anniversary A Beats Music Experience
as self
2014
Lisa Picard Is Famous
as Spike Lee
2000
Chadwick Boseman: Portrait of an Artist
as Self
2021
Spike Lee's Lil' Joints: The Greatest Catch Ever
as self
2015
A Man's Story
as Self
2011
Hoop Dreams
as Self - Film Director
1994
Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. The New York Knicks
as Self
2010
Do the Right Thing: 20 Years Later
as Self
2009
Decade
as Self
1989
PoliWood
as Self
2009
By Any Means Necessary: The Making of 'Malcolm X'
as Self
2005
French Cinema Mon Amour
as Self
2015
A Century of Cinema
as Self
1994
The Making and Meaning of 'We Are Family'
as Self
2002
No Fighting in the War Room Or: 'Dr Strangelove' and the Nuclear Threat
as Self
2004
First Works
as Self
1989
The Evolution of an American Filmmaker
as Self
2003
On the Shoulders of Giants
2011
Denzel Washington: A Model American
as Self
2022
Best Sellers or: Peter Sellers and 'Dr. Strangelove'
as Self
2004
40 x 15: The Forty Years of the Directors' Fortnight
as Self
2008
Birth of a Movement
as Self
2017
Yo! The Story of ‘Yo! MTV Raps’
as Self
2012
Four Days in October
as Self (archive footage)
2010
New York at the Movies
as Self
2002
A Daughter's Tribute to Her Father: Souleymane Cissé
as Self
2022
Five Directors On The Battle of Algiers
as Self
2004
Lights, Action, Music
as Self
2007
How to Eat Your Watermelon in White Company (and Enjoy It)
2005
Spike & Co.: Do It a Cappella
1990
Pixote In Memoriam
as Self
2007
MTV's 10th Anniversary Special
as Self
1991
Public Enemy: Fight the Power... Live!
1989
Spike & Co. Do It a-Cappella
as Self
1990
Drop Squad
as Himself
1994
Brooklyn Boheme
as Self
2012
Samuel L. Jackson: Did I Stutter?
as self
2023
Street Fight
as Self
2005
Life O' The Party: On the Road with Prince and the New Power Generation
as Self
2005
Unbanned: The Legend of AJ1
as Self
2018
The Last Party
as Self
1993
The Universal Story
as Self (archive footage)
1996
Guest
as Self
2011
We the People: From Crispus Attucks to President Barack Obama
as Self
2014
Seven Songs for Malcolm X
1993
The Making of 'Bamboozled'
as Self
2001
Champs
as Self
2015
Director Spike Lee's New York City
as Self
2015
13 Steps - Die unglaubliche Karriere von Edwin Moses
2024
Ray Allen/AKA- Jesus Shuttlesworth
2015
Beyond Wiseguys: Italian Americans & the Movies
2008
Kobe Doin' Work
as Self
2009
The Moviemakers: Spike Lee
as Self
2023
Gold Blooded
as Self
2022
Branford Marsalis: Steep
as Self
1991
Through the Fire
2005
Sous les marches du palais
as Self
1991
Below the Rim
1995
Farewell, Babylon!
as Self
1993
Lonely in America
as Spike Lee (Newsstand Customer) (uncredited)
1990
Be Truly Free
as Narrator (voice)
2017
Spike Lee Presents Mike Tyson
as Self
1990
Our Hollywood Education
as Self
1992TV Shows 42
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
as Self
2014
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
as Self - Guest
2014
The Daily Show
as Self - Guest
1996
Late Show with David Letterman
as Self - Guest
1993
Late Night with Seth Meyers
as Self - Guest
2014
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
as Self - Guest
2015
Saturday Night Live
as Mars Blackmon
1975
Saturday Night Live
as Self (uncredited)
1975
The View
as Self
1997
Real Time with Bill Maher
as Self
2003
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
as Self - Guest
2003
The Tamron Hall Show
as Self - Guest
2019
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
as Self - Guest
1993
The Ellen DeGeneres Show
as Self
2003
Great Performances
as Self
1971
The South Bank Show
1978
Film '72
as Self
1971
Close Up with The Hollywood Reporter
as Self
2015
Desus & Mero
as Self - Illustrious Guest
2019
In Living Color
1990
The Oscars
as Self
1953
The Oscars
as Self - Audience Member
1953
Basketball: A Love Story
as Self (archive footage)
2018
Who Do You Think You Are?
as Self
2010
The Men in Blazers Show
as Self
2014
The Chris Rock Show
as Self
1997
Ghostwriter
as Special Agent Pete (archive footage)
1992
Ghostwriter
as Special Agent Pete
1992
Yo! MTV Raps
as Self
1988
The Early Show
as Self
1999
The American Film Institute Salute to ...
as Self
1973
Directors on Directors
as Self
2021
Dear...
as Self
2020
Pretend It's a City
as Self
2021
Mr. Scorsese
as Self
2025
She's Gotta Have It
as Drum Major
2017
Johnny Vaughan Tonight
as Self
2002
Hollywood Black
as Self (archive footage)
2024
This Is Pop
as Self (archive footage)
2021
They Call Me Magic
as Self
2022
It's the Shoes
as Self
2005
Inside the Actors Studio
as Self
1994