The half-vampire, half-human with a hatred for vampires and a protective attitude for humans has finally come of age. Wesley Snipes has truly a come a long way since his debut film wildcats opposite Goldie Hawn in 1986. Born in on 31 July 1962 Orlando, FL Snipes grew up in the Bronx and holds a 5th degree black belt in Martial Arts. From a young age, he had developed an interest in acting and went ahead to attend the Manhattan High School for Performing Arts.

After being noticed by an agent during a performance in a competition, he landed a role in Wildcats (1986). He appeared in some more movies in the 1980s, but what made head turn was his appearance in the Martin Scorsese-directed video for Michael Jackson’s Bad. Director Lee soon spotted his talent and impressed with his performance cast him in his 1990 Movie Better Blues. He played the role of a flamboyant saxophonist opposite Denzel Washington. He was seen again in Lee’s next film Jungle Fever in 1991 where Snipes won critical praise and his career actually took off from here.

That same year Snipes demonstrated his ability to work in different roles like in New Jack City, where he was portrayed as a drug lord. He was in The Waterdance as a wild man repenting for his ways in a hospital’s paraplegic ward. Both his performances were strong and full of conviction and earned him rave reviews. Then came his first big break in an action flick called Passenger 57. Like most Hollywood super heroes, he was portrayed as an ex-cop with an attitude. The movie was a huge success. Snipes followed it up with some more movies the same year including the comedy White Men Can’t Jump. In 1991, People magazine chose him as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the world.

A few more action films followed like the Rising Sun (1993) with Sean Connery. After this, Snipes changed his direction and featured in an un-credited role in Waiting to Exhale (1995). The same year he went all the way out with his macho persona portraying a flamboyant drag queen in To Wong Foo’s Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar. He became more of the all round action hero types and kept focusing on similar movie plots. In 1996, he starred in a less macho movie The Fan opposite De Niro and as a baseball player. His portrayal of an adulterous director in Mike Figgis’ One Night Stand (1997) won him the Best Actor award at the Venice Film Festival. He also produced the Down in the Delta in 1998 starring Mark Wahlberg and it was nominated in multiple categories for the Acapulco Black Film Festival.

In 1998, Snipes acted as a vampire slayer in Blade. It grossed over $150 million worldwide. Soon after, he was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 1991, Snipes formed his independent production company called Amen Ra Films. Amen Ra Films had co-produced the Blade & Blade II and in 2004, Snipes starred in his third Blade movie called Blade Trinity.