Spike Lee

Spike Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American movie director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. He also teaches movie at New York University and Columbia University. Lee has acted in many of his own movies.

Spike Lee at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival

Early life

Lee was born Shelton Jackson Lee in 1957 in Atlanta, Georgia. His mother was a teacher, and his father was a jazz musician.^[1] When Lee was very young, the family moved to live in Brooklyn, New York City. His mother gave him the nickname "Spike".

Career

The first movie Lee directed was She's Gotta Have It. Lee directed the two music videos for Michael Jackson's single "They Don't Care About Us". In 2002 Lee won the Special Award at the BAFTAs.

Lee's movies Do the Right Thing, Malcolm X, 4 Little Girls, and She's Gotta Have It were picked by the Library of Congress to be remembered forever in the National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".^[2][3][4]

Films

Acting roles

Year	Film	Role
1986	She's Gotta Have It	Mars Blackmon
1988	School Daze	Half-Pint
1989	Do the Right Thing	Mookie
1990	Mo' Better Blues	Giant
	Lonely in America	Himself
1991	Jungle Fever	Cyrus
1992	Malcolm X	Shorty
1994	Crooklyn	Snuffy
	Drop Squad	Himself
1995	Clockers	Chucky
1996	Girl 6	Jimmy
1999	Summer of Sam	John Jeffries
2000	Lisa Picard Is Famous	Himself
2001	3 A.M.	Filmmaker
2012	Red Hook Summer	Mookie