Spike Lee was born Shelton Lee in 1957, in Atlanta Georgia. At a very young age he moved from pre-civil rights Georgia, to Brooklyn, New York. Lee came from a proud and intelligent background. 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, where he developed his film making skills. After graduating from Morehouse, to go to the Tisch School of arts graduate film program. He made a controversial short, The Answer, a reworking of D.W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation - a ten minute film. Lee went on to produce a 45 minute film Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads, which won a student academy award. However success did not mean money, and Lee's next film, 'The Messenger', in 1984, was somewhat biographical.

In 1986 Spike Lee made the film, She's Gotta Have It, 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, 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. With School Daze in profit, Lee went on to do his landmark film, Do the Right Thing, a movie specifically about his own town in Brooklyn, New York. The movie portrayed a neighborhood (Bed-Stuy, to be exact) on a very hot day, and the racial tensions that emerge. The movie garnered an Oscar nomination, for Danny Aiello, for supporting actor. It also sparked a debate on racial relations, and exactly where Lee was taking the film.

Lee went on to produce the jazz biopic Mo' Better Blues, which is often considered heavy handed, but still good, and did not seem to be as controversial as his previous efforts, but 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, was about interracial dating. Lee's handling of the subject proved yet again highly controversial although it did not quite arouse the debate that similar earlier films did, such as Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. Lee's next film was the self-titled biography of Malcolm X, 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, and the intense crime drama, Clockers. In 1996, Lee directed two movies: the badly-received comedy, Girl 6, and the politically pointed, Get on the Bus, about a group of men going to the Million Man March. His next film, He Got Game, 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. It was well received and well liked, if for nothing else than the fine quality of acting and directing the film showed its audience.

Bamboozled, proved so over the top and too much for Hollywood. The movie made a near 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, Tales from the Hood, and Drop Squad. He also has produced and or directed movies about Huey P. Newton, Jim Brown and has commented in many documentaries about varied subjects.

His personal life has become somewhat well known, too. He had a relationship with Halle Berry, and started a family with Tonya Lewis Lee, with whom he has two children. Lee is also known to have an obsessive love of the New York Knicks.

With pointed political messages, insightful, different and intelligent films, Spike Lee has become a well known political presence. He looks likely to have further success in the film business.


Malcolm X (1992): $3,000,000

Cousin of Malcolm D. Lee. His production company is 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks. Brother of Joie Lee, Cinqué Lee and David Lee. After the Columbine high school shootings Spike said that National Rifle Association president Charlton Heston should be shot. Heston replied that if Spike wanted to take a shot at him he should go ahead and try it. Lee later apologized for the comments. Graduated from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts in 1982. Children, with Tonya Lewis Lee, Satchel (b. 1994) and Jackson (b. 1997). His grandmother, Zimmie Shelton, an alumna of Spelman College (class of 1929), sent him to Morehouse College, the historically black all-male institution affiliated with the all-female Spelman College. He has never learned how to drive an automobile. Between the making of his award-winning student short, Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads (1983), and his debut feature, She's Gotta Have It (1986), Lee attempted to make a featured called "Messenger". Over $100,000 was raised, but the film never materialized. Was a Visiting Lecturer in Afro-American Studies and Visual and Environmental Studies at Harvard University in the early 1990s. Is now (2002) the Artistic Director of the graduate division of the Kanbar Institute of Film and Television at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. The position gives Lee an advisory position, allowing him to teach and advise third year students, as well as aid with industry networking. Has been trying for more than ten years to direct his dream project: a film about the life and times of Jackie Robinson. Says that he personally promised to Robinson's widow, Rachel Isum, to make the film. Another as-of-yet (2003) project he has often spoke of but has yet to do is a film on the boxing match between Joe Louis and Max Schmeling. Often casts real-life family members in his films. In Do the Right Thing (1989) , for example, he cast Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee (real-life husband and wife), himself and Joie Lee (real-life siblings), and Danny Aiello and Rick Aiello (real-life father and son). Other films he does this in include School Daze (1988), Mo' Better Blues (1990), Jungle Fever (1991) and Malcolm X (1992). Is a fan of Michael Moore's films. Bowling for Columbine (2002) was his favorite film of 2002. When Norman Jewison was originally hired to direct Malcolm X (1992), Lee met with him and convinced him he needed to "sit this one out". Feeling that only a black director was qualified and would bring the necessary perspective, Lee then stepped in as director with Jewison's blessing. Made the introduction of the song "The Church" on De La Soul's album "The Grind Date". Is a huge Arsenal fan and personal friend of team ex-captain Theirry Henry, who now plays for FC Barcelona. Is often known to wear Arsenal Jersey's while on set. Is a big fan of musicals from Hollywood's Golden Age. Nephew of Consuela Lee Morehead.