Vin Diesel

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Vin Diesel's journey began in New York City, where he attended Hunter College studying creative writing before dropping out to pursue acting. He started his career as an uncredited extra in Awakenings (1990) but struggled for years until he funded and created the short film Multi-Facial (1995). This semi-autobiographical work, which followed a struggling multiracial actor at auditions, was selected for the 1995 Cannes Film Festival. His breakthrough came when director Steven Spielberg cast him in Saving Private Ryan (1998) after seeing his short film. Following this, Diesel secured funds to make his debut feature, Strays (1997), an urban drama about a gang leader trying to change his ways, which competed at the 1997 Sundance Festival. His voice acting career also began early with The Iron Giant in 1999.

In Their Own Story

In 2001, Diesel attained action hero stardom by portraying Dominic Toretto in The Fast and the Furious. He followed this with a supporting role in Boiler Room (2000) and a leading role as Riddick in Pitch Black (2000). Although he turned down sequels for 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003) and XXX: State of the Union (2005), he returned to the franchise in 2009 with Fast & Furious, reuniting with the original cast. He continued as Dom Toretto through Fast Five (2011), Fast & Furious 6 (2013), Furious 7 (2015), The Fate of the Furious (2017), F9 (2021), and Fast X (2023). Diesel also starred in XXX: Return of Xander Cage (2017) and reprised his role as Riddick in Riddick (2013). His voice work includes Groot in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) through Avengers: Endgame (2019), plus animated shorts I Am Groot (2022–2023) and The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (2022).

Reader's Guide

Vin Diesel founded One Race Films to produce his star vehicles, along with Racetrack Records and Tigon Studios. At Tigon, he provided voice and motion capture for all releases, including The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay (2004) and Assault on Dark Athena (2009). In 2013, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. His career has seen both massive successes like The Pacifier (2005) and box office failures such as Babylon A.D. (2008) and Find Me Guilty (2006), which grossed only $2 million against a $13 million budget. In September 2020, he ventured into music with the Kygo-produced single "Feel Like I Do." Looking ahead, Diesel is set to star in Riddick: Furya, announced in February 2023.

Did You Know?

• Vin Diesel started his stage career at age seven in Dinosaur Door after breaking into a theater with friends to vandalize it.
• He chose his stage name while working as a bouncer: 'Vin' from his mother's married surname Vincent, and 'Diesel' because friends called him that for being energetic.
• Steven Spielberg cast Diesel in Saving Private Ryan (1998) specifically after seeing his self-made short film Multi-Facial at Cannes.
• He turned down roles in 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003) and XXX: State of the Union (2005) to focus on The Chronicles of Riddick (2004).
• Diesel voiced Groot in six superhero films, starting with Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), and continued in animated shorts through 2023.