Wesley Snipes

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 had notable parts in the comedy film Major League 1989 the drama Mo Better Blues 1990 and the crime drama King of New York 1990 before gaining prominence by playing a drug lord in the crime drama New Jack City 1991 He subsequently received more attention for the drama film Jungle Fever 1991 the sports comedy White Men Cant Jump 1992 and the action film Passenger 57 1992 He has since starred in various genres such as the comedy film To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything Julie Newmar 1995 the thriller The Fan 1996 and the drama film Down in the Delta 1998 but mostly established himself as an action star portraying both heroes and villains in films such as Demolition Man 1993 Rising Sun 1993 Money Train 1995 and US Marshals 1998 Also in 1998 he was cast as Eric BrooksBBlade in the superhero film Blade based on the Marvel Comics superhero of the same name a role he went on to reprise in Blade II 2002 Blade Trinity 2004 and Deadpool Wolverine 2024 Snipes had smaller roles during the 2000s and moved to directtovideo action films before returning to the theatrical release with films such as Brooklyns Finest 2009 and The Expendables 3 2014 His television work includes multiple episodes in the drama series HELP 1990 the action thriller crime drama series The Player 2015 and the drama limited series True Story 2021 as well as the romantic drama film Disappearing Acts 2000 He formed a production company AmenRa 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 5thdan black belt in Shotokan karate and a 2nddan black belt in Hapkido He is credited with helping popularise martial arts in Hollywood and bringing martial arts to mainstream audiences as well as contributing to the representation of Black actors in action roles breaking stereotypes In 2017 Snipes made his debut as a novelist with the urban fantasy supernatural adventure Talon of God Description above from the Wikipedia article Wesley Snipes licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia