Wesley Snipes grew up on the streets of the South Bronx in New York City, where he very early decided that the theater was to be his career. He attended the High School for the Performing Arts (popularized in Fame). But dreams of the musical theater (and maybe a few commercials) faded when his mother moved to Orlando, Florida before he could graduate from high school. But after graduation from a Florida high school he appeared in local dinner theaters and regional productions. An agent saw him in a competition and got him his first movie role with Goldie Hawn in Wildcats. Athletic roles such as that gave way to tough guy roles as in New Jack City, and to the action hero in Passenger 57. Wesley feels that at least with the Hollywood heavyweights he must be doing something right - Sylvester Stallone, Robert De Niro, Dennis Hopper and Sean Connery all had veto power over casting and all approved his role.


Blade: Trinity (2004): $13,000,000
Blade (1998): $8,000,000
Murder at 1600 (1997): $10,000,000
The Fan (1996): $7,000,000
Money Train (1995): $5,500,000
Drop Zone (1994): $7,000,000
Demolition Man (1993): $4,000,000
Wildcats (1986): $30,000

Listed as one of twelve "Promising New Actors of 1990" in John Willis' Screen World, Vol. 42. He appeared in Michael Jackson's Bad (1987) (V) music video. You can only see him in the full length, 16-minute, black & white/color music video. It is usually shortened down to just the color segment for television. He is a 5th degree black belt in Shotokan karate. He also studies a few forms of Kung Fu. Publicly blasted John Singleton for not casting him in the title role of the updated version of Shaft (2000). Snipes claims the film would have made twice its $60 million+ earnings had he been cast. Father of son Jelani Asar Snipes (born 1988) with first wife, April. In his big action film, Passenger 57 (1992) you see him reading a book on the plane. The book is The Art of War which is the same title as a movie that he starred in years later, though unrelated to it. His apartment was destroyed by the collapse of the World Trade Center's Twin Towers. He happened to have been delayed at the gym where he was working out, otherwise he would have been home at that moment. Father retired from United States Air Force Reserve's 315AW Charleston Air Force Base April 1998 with the rank of MSGT. On April 18, 2005, Snipes filed a suit against New Line Cinema for more then $5 million, claiming that the studio failed to pay the balance of his fixed rate for Blade: Trinity, and that he wasn't allowed to approve the director, per his contract stipulations. On October 17, 2006, he was indicted on eight counts of tax fraud. He was ultimately found guilty and sentenced on April 24, 2008, to three years imprisonment. It was determined that he had not filed federal income tax returns from 1999 to 2007 and owed the IRS approximately $20,000,000 in back taxes. On the day he was sentenced, he paid $5,000,000 to the IRS. On August 21, 1998 he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. His star is located at 7018 Hollywood Blvd. Hollywood, California. Attended the star-studded opening of Dubai's lavish Atlantis Palms resort. Guests were welcomed in style with a display of one million fireworks, said to be visible from space. [November 11, 2008] Was Sylvester Stallone's original choice to play Hale Caesar in The Expendables (2010), but couldn't accept because of his tax issues made him unable to leave the United States.