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Back in the early '90s Vin Diesel broke into the movie industry after writing, directing and starring in his first short film, Multi-Facial. In it he plays a struggling actor in New York whose mixed racial identity has him locked in a constant struggle of not being quite right for a part. Some casting directors think his skin isn't the right shade. Some think he's not Italian enough, others not Spanish enough. The only career it seems like Diesel can have is if he leans into every stereotype people are expecting, which is the exact opposite of what he wants. It's a pretty remarkable short film, and if you only know Diesel from his Fast and Furious side, you should definitely check it out. And then make it a double bill with this fantastic new short film starring...

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In just a few short months, Fast & Furious 8 will start production in New York City and Atlanta, with Vin Diesel reprising his now-iconic role as Dominic Torreto. Like almost every actor, Vin Diesel wasn't born a star, and he had to work his way through the ranks to achieve the fame he has earned today. Of course, along the way, he most certainly had to take on a number of odd jobs to pay the bills, and today a video surfaced from 1994 that showcases the now-famous actor as an incredibly enthusiastic salesman for Street Sharks.

The video was taken from the 1994 Toy Fair, showcasing the actor reveling in his products, showcasing the features of these action figures. At one point in the video, he even puts on a shark hand puppet, showcasing the "Rocky Balboa action" of this toy. Thankfully for the actor, he wouldn't have to sell toys for too long,...

I like Vin Diesel. He is an enormously likable person when you meet him face-to-face, and much of what makes him so charismatic in person is communicated clearly through his on-screen presence in the 34 films he's made since he wrote and directed and starred in his short film "Multi-Facial" back in 1995. That short film eventually got him a lot of attention in Hollywood, but by far, the best reaction was the one that Steven Spielberg had. He was preparing to shoot his film "Saving Private Ryan," and he had screenwriter Frank Darabont create and incorporate a new character named Private Caparzo specifically so he could cast Diesel in the film and work with him. A year later, Brad Bird was the first to make use of Vin's most unusual pipes as the voice of the title character in "The Iron Giant," something James Gunn did to such effective purpose in...

This is another edition of Short Starts, where we present a weekly short film(s) from the start of a filmmaker or actor’s career. Many know the origin story of Vin Diesel, how he broke into Hollywood by not only showing true acting talent but also writing and directing his way onto the scene with both a short film and a feature. How the former went to Cannes and (eventually) was seen by none other than Steven Spielberg, who cast the struggling 30-year-old, who was getting by working as a bouncer, for a breakthrough ensemble role in Saving Private Ryan. And how he’s been mostly racing cars and fighting alien creatures on the big screen ever since. But the Riddick star was around for a while before his short start, which is titled Multi-Facial. And not just as an extra in the 1990 Best Picture nominee Awakenings (see those three seconds of fame here). He’d...

You know Vin Diesel as the pumped-up, deep-voiced action star who headlines high-octane movies like "Fast & Furious 6" and "XXX," but there's much more to the actor than meets the eye.

We bet you'd be surprised to know the "Riddick" star got his start in theater or that he once appeared in a very funny instructional video for a very '80s dance phenomenon.

Intrigued? Read on to find out 15 tidbits you probably didn't know about Diesel.

1. His mother was an astrologist/psychologist.

2. His real name is Mark Sinclair Vincent; he changed it after he started bouncing at New York City clubs at age 17.

3. As a teen he appeared in an instructional breakdancing video called "Breakin' in the USA." Seriously. Here it is:

4. He studied English at Hunter College in New York City, but dropped out after three years to move to L.A. and pursue acting.

5. He has a...

In the 90s, Vin Diesel pulled himself up from bootstraps in order to finance bootstraps to pull himself up from. First it was his short film Multi-Facial, and then it was Strays, the hard knock movie that he wrote, directed, produced and starred in. It was a potent move that got the attention of Steven Spielberg who cast the young actor in Saving Private Ryan. That’s where the story starts. Obviously Diesel is no stranger to Gsd (Getting Shit Done), so it’s not totally surprising that he risked his own wealth to make sure Riddick happened, and to make sure that it was rated R (as the character deserves). “I had to leverage my house. If we didn’t finish the film, I would be homeless.” Getting a reverse mortgage or a home-equity line of credit is another bold where-your-mouth-is tactic that brings the self-financing full circle. It’s commendable. No...

Universal City, Calif. -- Thump. Thump.

That's the sound the golf cart makes each time it strikes the uneven pavement as it transports Vin Diesel across the Universal Studios backlot. He's traveling from his bungalow office to a screening room where "Riddick" crew members have gathered to watch the third installment of the sci-fi series starring the 46-year-old actor-producer as an extraterrestrial ex-con.

"It's such a victory that this movie is going to be in theaters," he says in his signature growly tone.

Indeed, when it comes to "Riddick," Diesel is all too familiar with hitting bumps in the road. It took the "Fast & Furious" star nearly a decade (and millions of dollars in fundraising) to bring his see-in-the-dark anti-hero back to the big screen. Universal had jettisoned a possible third edition after 2004's "Chronicles of Riddick" didn't soar at the box office.

Despite the fact "Chronicles of Riddick" and its 2000 predecessor "Pitch Black,...

Today’s film is the 1995 short Multi-Facial. The film is written and directed by Vin Diesel, who also stars in the short alongside Cara Gaffen and Phillip Jones. Diesel’s work in this film landed him a role in Steven Spielberg’s 1998 film Saving Private Ryan, but it was leading roles in 2000′s Pitch Black and 2001′s The Fast and the Furious that brought him mainstream recognition, as well as voicing the role of the titular character in The Iron Giant. Diesel’s newest feature, Fast & Furious 6, opens in American theatres this weekend.

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"No, then it's like some male fantasy. Meet a French girl on the train, f**k her, and never see her again." - Julie Delpy, 'Before Sunrise'

Greetings from the apocalypse! This here is my twentieth weekend column, which seemed like as good a time as any to reach out to my fellow weekend road warriors to say if you have any suggestions for upcoming films/local weekend events to feature in future editions just write me on Twitter. Signed 8 x 10 glossies will be sent to fans at my secretary's discretion. But seriously, write away — give this wandering rōnin of the desert some feedback, yo.

Friday, May 24

Pow! In Theaters

I'm admittedly not a huge fan of the "Hangover" franchise — only in America and possibly France could such a thing spawn a franchise — so when I tell you "The Hangover Part III" has nary a laugh or even...

Vin Diesel got his big break when Steven Spielberg cast him in Saving Private Ryan. Since then he's become quite a big action star. Multi-Facial is a short film that Diesel wrote, directed and starred in. The short tells his own real-life story about the problems he faced landing roles due to his ambiguous ethnicity. Apparently he wasn't black enough to play black, white enough to play white, and couldn't speak spanish so he couldn't play a Latino. 

The film was shot in 3 days on a budget of $3,000 dollars and generated some buzz at the Cannes Film Festival. It got the attention of Spielberg who contacted Diesel and cast him in Saving Privte Ryan. I guess it turned out to be the best $3,000 he ever spent! 

Watch it below, and let us know what you think of the short film that launched Diesel's career. 

Source: /Film (http://www.slashfilm.com...

Vin Diesel has a reputation for lunkhead roles in action blockbusters — and his name doesn't exactly help matters — but the New York-born star has slowly built a reputation for himself and made it clear that more than anything, he just wants a shot to be taken seriously. Diesel got his foot in the door after he had dropped out of college and was struggling to get parts in Hollywood. He created an autobiographic film called Multi-Facial in 1994 that touched upon his experiences with casting agents and being biracial. The short is somewhat on the nose, but has its clever moments. It cost the would-be filmmaker $3,000 to make (in three days) and was accepted into the 1995 Cannes Film Festival where it was well received. The buzz fueled him to raise some...

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God bless the Internet. New York veteran musician Gary Lucas recently unearthed a 1986 tape of Vin Diesel -- then known as 19-year-old Mark Sinclair -- rapping over a beat by dance music god Arthur Russell.

Diesel, a former bouncer at defunct New York hip-hop club The Tunnel, is no stranger to hip-hop -- you have seen his breakdancing videos, right? -- but listening to him rap is on some next level surreal brilliance tip. "I'm the Man of Steel," Diesel boldly proclaims. Maybe in movies, man. Maybe in movies.

You can hear the recording for yourself on Lucas' Soundcloud page and check out Diesel rhyming (starting at 1:08) from his 1994 directorial debut 'Multi-Facial' below.

Almost like the midterm elections, America has the opportunity approximately every two years to consider Vin Diesel. He is an elusive movie star, much like Chris Tucker, who has made it easy for audiences to quantify their thoughts about him around the release of the latest entry into the franchise that made them famous and then let it dissipate until the next time around, when the pleasures of the way he says "We got a job" or pronounces "Brazzzzzil" strike the eardrums anew and allow for the air of mystery that's integral to his appeal as an action star to settle in once more.

So when little bursts of Diesel's past bubble up to the surface, back from the Manhattan days when he went by Mark Vincent, it's always a bit fascinating. There was his stint as a nightclub bouncer that led to the name change (and that he subsequently...

Subject: Vin Diesel, 43-year old American actor, director, and producer

Date of Assessment: April 27, 2011

Positive Buzzwords: Franchise, franchise, franchise

Negative Buzzwords: Lack of range, directing, writing

The Case: It's hard to hate on someone who's made quite a lot of use out of very limited talent, and damn if Vin Diesel hasn't done just that in a very roundabout way. Back in 1994, Mark Vincent began his career as a writer and director of a short film called Multi-Facial (sadly, not a porn flick), in which he also starred. The short, which was a semi-autobiographical take on the life of a multi-racial actor, screened for the Cannes Film Festival but failed to make an impact with critics, distributors, or anywhere of even trivial importance. A few years later, Vincent made another lackluster attempt at cinematic triple duty with the feature-length Strays. At that point, someone in his life wisely encouraged him to just stick with acting,...

It’s relatively little known, but before starring in low testosterone saturated action films, Vin Diesel was a writer/director whose first film short called Multi-Facial- an existential portrait of a young multi-racial actor- debuted at Cannes in 1994. Despite receiving little notice in France, a little under three years later, Mark Sinclair Vincent wrote starred and directed in his first feature, Strays, which wasn’t tonally or thematically dissimilar from his short and met with little more success.

Since then, of couse, the renamed “Vin Diesel’s” story is well known. And after a decade of moderately lucrative action and fantasy films somewhere from fair to awful, the muscle bound star is once again to turn creator with the web series The Ropes, according to Variety.

Drawing on his own experiences in nightclub security, the eighteen part series will be a co-production between Diesel’s own “One Race Films” and Fox Digital.

In light of my post just before this one, on the web series based on Vin Diesel’s past life as a bouncer, I thought I’d dig this up from the archives and repost.

It’s another glimpse into the Diesel’s past life, before he became the action movie star he is today, with over 20 million Facebook fans. And I suspect many of you haven’t seen it.

Vin Diesel’s very first acting performance – a 20-minute short film he wrote, directed and starred in titled Multi-Facial; produced in 1994, and played at the Sundance Film Festival, winning the attention of Steven Spielberg, who would later cast the Diesel in the award winning Saving Private Ryan, a few short years later.

In short, through a series of auditions, a young, bi-racial actor in New York City navigates the uncertain world of acting, in which his mixed racial make-up often...

In case you weren’t aware, there’s a 3rd xXx movie in the works – this one titled, xXx: The Return of Xander Cage. And, guess what? It’ll be shot in 3D!

Aren’t you thrilled? Expect a late 2011 or early 2012 release. Rob Cohen returns as director, and reunites with Vin Diesel, with whom he made the original. Also Samuel L. Jackson will reprise his role as Agent Augustus Gibbons.

Frankly, I don’t even remember the first two. I had to look them up to familiarize myself with the character (Xander Cage) and storyline.

In the first installment, released in 2002, Vin Diesel took on the role of the “thrill seeking extreme sports enthusiast, stuntman and rebellious anarchist turned reluctant spy for the National Security Agency, who is sent on a dangerous mission to infiltrate a group of potential terrorists in Eastern Europe.”

In the 2005 sequel, xXx: State Of The Union,...