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 |