The action-packed Fast and Furious franchise has made Vin Diesel a household name throughout the world. He starred in the first two films but was absent from the third, and he will return in Furious 8 in 2017.
Beyond his reputation as a tough-guy actor with a deep voice, The Hollywood Reporter looks at five things about Diesel that you probably didn’t know.
True identity: Mark Sinclair
Mark Sinclair, a native of California, was given that name at birth by his single mother Delora Sherleen (Sinclair), but he changed it when he was in his mid-teens and started working as a bouncer in New York nightclubs.
A twin, he
Unbeknownst to many, Diesel and Paul Vincent, who is Diesel’s brother and a film editor and sound mixer, are fraternal twins.
Race is a mystery.
Diesel is of English, German, Irish, and Scottish descent, but he never knew his father or his background. However, the actor is aware of his mother’s origin. He declared, “I am actually multi-racial,” according to IMDB. I had no contact with my biological father. I’ve never had as much information as I would have liked to. I only know that I have ties to many other cultures because of my mother.
Diesel was desired by Steven Spielberg for Saving Private Ryan.
Diesel took acting into his own hands after experiencing a lack of professional breaks and wrote and performed in the short film Multi-Facial, which was screened at the Cannes Film Festival. Diesel’s three-page letter to Spielberg expressing his enthusiasm for the filmmaker’s work and the short film both made an impression on the director, who then called Diesel for a part in Saving Private Ryan, which later led to the beginning of Diesel’s successful Hollywood career.
a three-time father
With fiancée Paloma Jimenez, Diesel is the father of three kids: two girls and a boy. His first child, Hania Riley, was born in 2008, and a boy, Vincent Sinclair, was born two years later in 2010.Pauline, his third child, was given the actor’s late Fast and Furious franchise co-star Paul Walker’s name.