
Spike Lee
Biography
Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957 in Atlanta, Georgia) is an American filmmaker and actor. At a very young age, he moved from pre-civil rights Georgia, to Brooklyn, New York. His father was a jazz musician, and his mother, a school teacher. His mother dubbed him Spike, due to his tough nature.
He attended school in Morehouse College in Atlanta and developed his film making skills at Clark Atlanta University. After graduating, he went to the Tisch School of Arts graduate film program. He made a controversial short, The Answer (1980), a reworking of D.W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation (1915) -- a ten-minute film. Lee went on to produce a 45-minute film Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads (1983), which won a student academy award. Lee's next film, "The Messenger," in 1984, was somewhat biographical. In 1986, Spike Lee made the film, She's Gotta Have It (1986), a comedy about sexual relationships. The movie was made for 175,000 dollars, and made seven million. Since then, Lee has become a well-known, intelligent, and talented film maker. His next movie was School Daze (1988), which was set in a historically black school and focused mostly on the conflict between the school and the Fraternities, of which he was a strong critic, portraying them as materialistic, irresponsible, and uncaring.
Lee went on to do his landmark film, Do the Right Thing (1989), a movie specifically about his own town in Brooklyn, New York. The movie garnered an Oscar nomination, for Danny Aiello, for supporting actor. It also sparked a debate on racial relations. Lee went on to produce the jazz biopic Mo' Better Blues (1990) which showed his talent for directing and acting, and was the first of many Spike Lee films to feature Denzel Washington. His next film, Jungle Fever (1991), was about interracial dating. Lee's handling of the subject proved yet again highly controversial. Lee's next film was the self-titled biography of Malcolm X (1992), which had Denzel Washington portraying the civil rights leader. The movie was a success, and resulted in an Oscar nomination for Washington. His next films were the comparatively light, Crooklyn (1994), and the intense crime drama, Clockers (1995). In 1996, Lee directed two movies: the badly received comedy, Girl 6 (1996), and the politically pointed, Get on the Bus (1996), about a group of men going to the Million Man March. His next film, He Got Game (1998), proved to be another excursion into the collegiate world as he shows the darker side of recruiting college athletes. The movie, in limited release, yet again featured Denzel Washington. In 2000 came Bamboozled which made a mockery out of television and the way African-Americans are perceived by white America and the way African-Americans perceive themselves. The movie, however, was a resounding critical success. Lee also has produced films like New Jersey Drive (1995), Tales from the Hood (1995), and Drop Squad (1994). He also has produced and or directed movies about Huey P. Newton, Jim Brown, and has commented in many documentaries about varied subjects. Lee is an obsessive New York Knicks fan. He and his wife, Tonya Lewis Lee, have two children.
Acting (81 movies)

Do the Right Thing
1989

Jungle Fever
1991

When We Were Kings
1996

Malcolm X
1992

Lonely in America
1990

Crooklyn
1994

She's Gotta Have It
1986

Street Fight
2005

Mo' Better Blues
1990

Girl 6
1996

Brooklyn Boheme
2012

Bad 25
2012

The Evolution of an American Filmmaker
2003

Seen It All
2022

A Daughter's Tribute to Her Father: Souleymane Cissé
2022

Be Truly Free
2017

Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. The New York Knicks
2010

Sidney
2022

Guest
2011

By Any Means Necessary: The Making of 'Malcolm X'
2005

School Daze
1988

The Last Party
1993

MTV's 10th Anniversary Special
1991

Yo! The Story of ‘Yo! MTV Raps’
2012

40 x 15: The Forty Years of the Directors' Fortnight
2008

Sous les marches du palais
1991

Denzel Washington: A Model American
2022

Champs
2015

Be A Part of It
2024

Red Hook Summer
2012

Michael Jordan to the Max
2000

French Cinema Mon Amour
2015

3 A.M.
2001

4 Little Girls
1997

How to Eat Your Watermelon in White Company (and Enjoy It)
2005

Number 4
2006

Birth of a Movement
2017

Life O' The Party: On the Road with Prince and the New Power Generation
2005

Lisa Picard Is Famous
2000

The Fine Art of Separating People from Their Money
1996

Clockers
1995

Best Sellers or: Peter Sellers and 'Dr. Strangelove'
2004

Pixote In Memoriam
2007

Seven Songs for Malcolm X
1993

A Man's Story
2011

First Works
1989

Summer of Sam
1999

Breslin and Hamill: Deadline Artists
2018

PoliWood
2009

It's Black Entertainment
2002

Do the Right Thing: 20 Years Later
2009

No Fighting in the War Room Or: 'Dr Strangelove' and the Nuclear Threat
2004

The Making of 'Bamboozled'
2001

Kobe Doin' Work
2009

Decade
1989

Spike & Co. Do It a-Cappella
1990

Farewell, Babylon!
1993

Unbanned: The Legend of AJ1
2018

We the People: From Crispus Attucks to President Barack Obama
2014

Below the Rim
1995

Through the Fire
2005

Lights, Action, Music
2007

Life's Essentials with Ruby Dee
2014

Branford Marsalis: Steep
1991

The Universal Story
1996

On the Shoulders of Giants
2011

Hoop Dreams
1994

A Century of Cinema
1994

Ray Allen/AKA- Jesus Shuttlesworth
2015

The Making and Meaning of 'We Are Family'
2002

Chadwick Boseman: Portrait of an Artist
2021

A Choice of Weapons: Inspired by Gordon Parks
2021

Public Enemy: Fight the Power... Live!
1989

Five Directors On The Battle of Algiers
2004

Four Days in October
2010

Samuel L. Jackson: Did I Stutter?
2023

Michael Jackson's Journey from Motown to Off the Wall
2016

Ladies & Gentlemen... 50 Years of SNL Music
2025

Drop Squad
1994

Gold Blooded
2022

Plankton Salesmen
2017
Directing (69 movies)

Inside Man
2006

Be Truly Free
2017

25th Hour
2002

Summer of Sam
1999

Jungle Fever
1991

Malcolm X
1992

She Hate Me
2004

Kobe Doin' Work
2009

HIStory on Film, Volume II
1997

Clockers
1995

The Original Kings of Comedy
2000

Passing Strange
2009

Ten Minutes Older: The Trumpet
2002

All the Invisible Children
2005

A Huey P. Newton Story
2001

Bamboozled
2000

Miracle at St. Anna
2008

He Got Game
1998

Jim Brown: All-American
2002

4 Little Girls
1997

Crooklyn
1994

She's Gotta Have It
1986

Mo' Better Blues
1990

School Daze
1988

John Leguizamo: Freak
1998

Girl 6
1996

Sucker Free City
2004

Lumière & Company
1995

Get on the Bus
1996

Red Hook Summer
2012

Oldboy
2013

Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads
1983

Bad 25
2012

Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth
2013

Seen It All
2022

Da Sweet Blood of Jesus
2015

Jerrod Carmichael: Love at the Store
2014
Throw Like A Girl
2014

Katt Williams: Priceless: Afterlife
2014

Chi-Raq
2015

Michael Jackson's Journey from Motown to Off the Wall
2016

Highest 2 Lowest
2025

Prince and the N.P.G.: Diamonds and Pearls Video Collection
1992

Rodney King
2017
I Can't Breathe
2014

BlacKkKlansman
2018

Pass Over
2018

One Morning All Over the World
2000

2 Fists Up
2016

The Concert for New York City
2001

Bernie Mac: Live from Charlotte
2000
Spike Lee Presents Mike Tyson
1990

Land of the Free
2019

Da 5 Bloods
2020

Do the Right Thing: 20 Years Later
2009

Come Rain or Come Shine
2001

David Byrne's American Utopia
2020

Pavarotti & Friends - For the Children of Liberia
1998

Pavarotti & Friends 99 for Guatemala and Kosovo
1999

Do the Right Thing
1989

New York New York
2020

The Answer
1980
Sarah
1981

Horn of Plenty
1986

The Making of 'Bamboozled'
2001

Jesus Children of America
2005
Amex Unstaged Pharrell Williams Live at the Apollo
2014

Ray Allen/AKA- Jesus Shuttlesworth
2015

3 Brothers - Radio Raheem, Eric Garner and George Floyd
2020
| Title | Year | Job |
|---|---|---|
| Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads | 1983 | Producer |
| Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads | 1983 | Writer |
| She's Gotta Have It | 1986 | Writer |
| She's Gotta Have It | 1986 | Producer |
| Horn of Plenty | 1986 | Writer |
| School Daze | 1988 | Writer |
| School Daze | 1988 | Producer |
| Do the Right Thing | 1989 | Producer |
| Do the Right Thing | 1989 | Screenplay |
| Mo' Better Blues | 1990 | Writer |
| Mo' Better Blues | 1990 | Producer |
| Jungle Fever | 1991 | Producer |
| Jungle Fever | 1991 | Writer |
| Malcolm X | 1992 | Screenplay |
| Malcolm X | 1992 | Producer |
| Crooklyn | 1994 | Producer |
| Crooklyn | 1994 | Screenplay |
| Drop Squad | 1994 | Executive Producer |
| New Jersey Drive | 1995 | Executive Producer |
| Tales from the Hood | 1995 | Executive Producer |
| Clockers | 1995 | Screenplay |
| Clockers | 1995 | Producer |
| Girl 6 | 1996 | Producer |
| Get on the Bus | 1996 | Executive Producer |
| 4 Little Girls | 1997 | Producer |
| 4 Little Girls | 1997 | Writer |
| He Got Game | 1998 | Screenplay |
| He Got Game | 1998 | Producer |
| Summer of Sam | 1999 | Writer |
| Summer of Sam | 1999 | Producer |
| The Best Man | 1999 | Producer |
| Love & Basketball | 2000 | Producer |
| The Original Kings of Comedy | 2000 | Producer |
| Bamboozled | 2000 | Screenplay |
| Bamboozled | 2000 | Producer |
| 3 A.M. | 2001 | Producer |
| Home Invaders | 2001 | Executive Producer |
| Jim Brown: All-American | 2002 | Producer |
| Ten Minutes Older: The Trumpet | 2002 | Producer |
| 25th Hour | 2002 | Producer |
| Good Fences | 2003 | Executive Producer |
| She Hate Me | 2004 | Screenplay |
| She Hate Me | 2004 | Producer |
| All the Invisible Children | 2005 | Producer |
| Miracle at St. Anna | 2008 | Producer |
| Kobe Doin' Work | 2009 | Producer |
| Saint John of Las Vegas | 2010 | Executive Producer |
| Doubles with Slight Pepper | 2011 | Executive Producer |
| Pariah | 2011 | Executive Producer |
| You're Nobody 'til Somebody Kills You | 2012 | Executive Producer |
| Red Hook Summer | 2012 | Screenplay |
| Red Hook Summer | 2012 | Producer |
| Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth | 2013 | Executive Producer |
| I Can't Breathe | 2014 | Writer |
| Evolution of a Criminal | 2014 | Executive Producer |
| Dirty Hands | 2014 | Executive Producer |
| Katt Williams: Priceless: Afterlife | 2014 | Producer |
| Cronies | 2015 | Executive Producer |
| Da Sweet Blood of Jesus | 2015 | Screenplay |
| Da Sweet Blood of Jesus | 2015 | Producer |
| The Girl Is in Trouble | 2015 | Executive Producer |
| Chi-Raq | 2015 | Writer |
| Chi-Raq | 2015 | Producer |
| Touched with Fire | 2016 | Executive Producer |
| 2 Fists Up | 2016 | Producer |
| Rodney King | 2017 | Producer |
| Pass Over | 2018 | Producer |
| The Black 14 | 2018 | Executive Producer |
| Nigerian Prince | 2018 | Executive Producer |
| Time 2 Surrender | 2018 | Executive Producer |
| Tales from the Hood 2 | 2018 | Executive Producer |
| BlacKkKlansman | 2018 | Writer |
| BlacKkKlansman | 2018 | Producer |
| Cherish | 2018 | Executive Producer |
| Amazing Grace | 2018 | Producer |
| See You Yesterday | 2019 | Producer |
| Da 5 Bloods | 2020 | Writer |
| Da 5 Bloods | 2020 | Producer |
| David Byrne's American Utopia | 2020 | Executive Producer |
| Tales from the Hood 3 | 2020 | Executive Producer |
| Son of the South | 2021 | Executive Producer |
| You Resemble Me | 2022 | Executive Producer |
| In Freedom | 2023 | Executive Producer |
| F*ck That Guy | 2024 | Executive Producer |
| PUNTER | 2024 | Executive Producer |
| Brownies | 2024 | Executive Producer |
| Nervous Energy | 2025 | Executive Producer |
| In Between Storms | 2025 | Executive Producer |
| Talk Me | 2025 | Executive Producer |
| How I Learned to Die | 2025 | Executive Producer |
| Highest 2 Lowest | 2025 | Executive Producer |
| From Sidney, with Love | 2025 | Executive Producer |