
Cast
Spike Lee
Directing
Cast
Spike Lee
Known for
Directing
Born
1957-03-20
From
Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Also known as Спайк Ли, سبايك لي, 스파이크 리
Biography
Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American filmmaker and actor. His work has continually explored race relations, issues within the black community, the role of media in contemporary life, urban crime and poverty, and other political issues. Lee received numerous accolades for his work, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and two Peabody Awards as well as nominations for three Golden Globe Awards and a Grammy Award. Lee studied filmmaking at both Morehouse College and the New York University Tisch School of the Arts, where he directed his student film Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads (1983), which won a Student Academy Award. He later founded the production company 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, where he has produced more than 35 films. He made his directorial debut with the comedy She's Gotta Have It (1986). He received widespread critical acclaim for the drama Do the Right Thing (1989), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. He directed the historical epic Malcolm X (1992), earning the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival. With the biographical crime dramedy BlacKkKlansman (2018), he won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and the Cannes Film Festival Grand Prix Award. He has also written and directed films such as School Daze (1988), Mo' Better Blues (1990), Jungle Fever (1991), Crooklyn (1994), Clockers (1995), Bamboozled (2000), 25th Hour (2002), Inside Man (2006), Chi-Raq (2015), Da 5 Bloods (2020), and Highest 2 Lowest (2025). Lee has also acted in eleven of his feature films. He is also known for directing numerous documentary projects, including 4 Little Girls (1997), which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film. He directed the HBO series When the Levees Broke (2006), which won two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Directing for a Documentary/Nonfiction Program and Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking. He also directed the HBO documentary If God Is Willing and da Creek Don't Rise (2010) and the David Byrne concert film American Utopia (2020). Lee has received several honours, including the Honorary BAFTA Award in 2002, an Honorary César in 2003, the Academy Honorary Award in 2015, and the National Medal of Arts in 2023. Five of his films have been selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". He has received a Gala Tribute from the Film Society of Lincoln Center as well as the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize. His films have featured breakthrough performances from actors such as Denzel Washington, Laurence Fishburne, Samuel L. Jackson, Giancarlo Esposito, Rosie Perez, Delroy Lindo, John Turturro, and John David Washington. Description above from the Wikipedia article Spike Lee, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Malcolm X
as Shorty

Clockers
as Chucky

Do the Right Thing
as Mookie

Crooklyn
as Snuffy

The 51st AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to Eddie Murphy
as Self

Summer of Sam
as John Jeffries

Sidney
as Self

Ladies & Gentlemen... 50 Years of SNL Music
as Self (archive footage)

School Daze
as Darrell 'Half-Pint' Dunlap

Jungle Fever
as Cyrus

Hoop Dreams
as Self

Plankton Salesmen
as Self (archive footage)

Girl 6
as Jimmy

Mo' Better Blues
as Giant

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

Michael Jackson's Journey from Motown to Off the Wall
as Self

Yo! The Story of ‘Yo! MTV Raps’
as Self

Lumière & Company
as Self (segment "Sarah Moon")

She's Gotta Have It
as Mars Blackmon

Drop Squad
as Himself

The Fine Art of Separating People from Their Money
as Self

The Universal Story
as Self (archive footage)

Lisa Picard Is Famous
as Spike Lee

Bad 25
as Self

A Man's Story
as Self

PoliWood
as Self

Beyond Wiseguys: Italian Americans & the Movies

The Making and Meaning of 'We Are Family'
as Self

3 A.M.
as Filmmaker

When We Were Kings
as Self

It's Black Entertainment
as Self

Denzel Washington: A Model American
as Self

Red Hook Summer
as Mr. Mookie

The Evolution of an American Filmmaker
as Self

Life's Essentials with Ruby Dee
as Self

A Century of Cinema
as Self

The Last Party
as Self

French Cinema Mon Amour
as Self

New York at the Movies
as Self

4 Little Girls
as Interviewer (voice) (uncredited)

Decade
as Self

Breslin and Hamill: Deadline Artists
as Self

A Choice of Weapons: Inspired by Gordon Parks
as Self

MTV's 10th Anniversary Special
as Self

Making 'Do the Right Thing'
as Self

Champs
as Self

Do the Right Thing: 20 Years Later
as Self

On the Shoulders of Giants

Chadwick Boseman: Portrait of an Artist
as Self

We the People: From Crispus Attucks to President Barack Obama

Unbanned: The Legend of AJ1
as Self

Four Days in October
as Self (archive footage)

Michael Jordan to the Max
as Self

By Any Means Necessary: The Making of 'Malcolm X'
as Self

Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. The New York Knicks
as Self

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

Spike & Co. Do It a-Cappella
as Self

Guest
as Self

Best Sellers or: Peter Sellers and 'Dr. Strangelove'
as Self

Street Fight
as Self

Samuel L. Jackson: Did I Stutter?
as self

The Making of 'Bamboozled'
as Self

Pixote In Memoriam
as Self

Five Directors On The Battle of Algiers
as Self

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

Through the Fire

First Works
as Self

Public Enemy: Fight the Power... Live!

Lights, Action, Music
as Self

Our Hollywood Education
as Self

Lonely in America
as Spike Lee (Newsstand Customer) (uncredited)

Seven Songs for Malcolm X

Brooklyn Boheme
as Self

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

Ray Allen/AKA- Jesus Shuttlesworth

Branford Marsalis: Steep
as Self

Farewell, Babylon!
as Self

Sous les marches du palais
as Self

Kobe Doin' Work
as Self

Director Spike Lee's New York City
as Self

Birth of a Movement
as Self

A Daughter's Tribute to Her Father: Souleymane Cissé
as Self

Do The Right Thing 25 Year Anniversary A Beats Music Experience
as self

Below the Rim

Be Truly Free
as Narrator (voice)

Spike Lee's Lil' Joints: The Greatest Catch Ever
as self

Gold Blooded
as Self

NBA 2K16’s Livin’ Da Dream: A Spike Lee Joint
as Reporter (voice)

Spike & Co.: Do It a Cappella

The Moviemakers: Spike Lee
as Self