spike lee

Born on March 20, 1957 in Atlanta (Georgia), Shelton Jackson Lee is the son of a jazz musician and a literature teacher. His mother called him “Spike” since he was little, and soon the family would move to Brooklyn, the popular New York neighborhood that would play him so much later in his films.

A privileged student, he enrolled at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. His senior film, Joe’s Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads, was the first student film to be screened at the Lincoln Center New Directors Festival.

In just two weeks, he shot his first commercial film, Nola Darling , which cost $175,000, raised mainly from loans from relatives. But it grossed 7,000,000 in the United States through word of mouth, as it was a fresh and funny comedy about a woman torn between the love of three men. One of them was played by Spike Lee himself, who turned out to be a credible actor and since then he used to appear in some of his films. Nike recruited him to direct commercials in which he recovered his character from the film, a fan of Michael Jordan , who appeared with the basketball player himself.

The filmmaker is the founder of the production company 40 Acres and a Mule, whose name refers to the compensation that slaves were supposed to receive after the Civil War, but never received. Through the company’s marketing division, Lee continues to shoot commercials for different brands.

After Troubled Classrooms , Lee gained immense international prestige with Do the Right Thing , where the character he himself plays, Mookie, a pizza delivery man, walks the streets of a multinational New York neighborhood where even African-Americans are racist with the other ethnic groups, and a small incident will cause a serious violent disturbance.

In 1990, Lee directed one of his best films, The More the Better , the story of Bleek, a jazz trumpeter played by Denzel Washington , who would become one of his favorite actors along with his sister, Joie Lee , John Turturro (the who have appeared in more of his films) and other actors he frequently calls upon, such as Roger Guenveur Smith and Ossie Davis . Spike’s big mistake was to insist and insist on the racial issue in his next films, Wild Fever , –an interesting film about an extramarital and interracial relationship– and Malcolm X, biography of the controversial black leader, played by an excellent Denzel Washington.

Since the mid-90s, Spike’s career has stagnated, with titles of some interest – Crooklyn , Clockers (Camels) , Girl 6 or The Million Man March –, which, however, do not achieve the pull of yesteryear. He shot an unusual film in his filmography, without African-Americans, the discreet Nobody is safe from Sam , about the adventures of the inhabitants of a modest neighborhood while a serial killer ravages the city. But he immediately returned to his main theme with Bamboozled , a combative denunciation of the simplifications and racist attitudes displayed by the media over time.

In recent years, Lee has climbed out of the hole thanks to films that address new issues in his filmography. Last Night , about a young man ( Edward Norton ) about to go to prison, he talks about the need for support from family and friends. Hidden Plan – Where she gets Denzel Washington back – is an impeccable heist thriller, with a solid script. She also shot in recent years the Hurricane Katrina television documentary When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts .

In 1993, Spike Lee married producer Tonya Lewis Lee, with whom he has two children.