Wesley Snipes
 |
Wesley Snipes as Blade |
Wesley Trent Snipes (born
July 31,
1962, in
Orlando, Florida) is an
American actor, martial artist and producer. He is known for his role as the
eponymous vampire hunter in the
Blade trilogy of movies.
Snipes grew up in
The Bronx and he decided early on that he wanted to be a dancer--until he took some acting classes. He started at the
High School for the Performing Arts, but his mother divorced and they moved back to Orlando. Snipes would eventually graduate from
Jones High School in
1980. While in Florida, Snipes did
puppet theater,
mime and musical theater in competitions and festivals. He then attended the
State University of New York College at Purchase and graduated with a Bachelors of Fine Arts in
1985.
He also played a
cliche tough guy role in the
Michael Jackson music video "
Bad" released in September of 1987. He often plays tough characters in action movies, and has demonstrated considerable athletic and fighting ability. He is interested in martial arts, including
Karate,
Kung Fu, and
Capoeira. This interest is reflected in the fact that many of his movies make reference to
Sun Tzu's
The Art of War.
Snipes was married from 1985 to 1990 and has a son from this marriage. He later married Korean painter
Nakyung Park in 2003. They have three children.
In 1991, Snipes formed the independent production company
Amen Ra Films. It co-produced the first two
Blade films and other titles that Snipes has starred in. In 2004 Snipes went on to star in his third Blade movie "
Blade Trinity."
Snipes played a drug kingpin
Nino Brown in
New Jack City, which was a contrast to his role as a New York City Detective in
King of New York a year earlier. Another film in which his character was involved in drugs was the hauntingly somber movie
Sugar Hill.
Tax Evasion: Wesley Snipes does not believe in paying taxes
In 2002 a lawsuit in Florida was brought against
Douglas Rosile, who allegedly helped 174 clients
evade at least $29 million
USD in
taxes. One of his clients is the actor
Wesley Snipes, who filed an amended return listing zero income and asking for a $7.4 million dollar refund. Snipes' original return reported $19.3 million in income.
There is currently no record of any related legal action against Snipes on this issue.
Sources:*
Article: ..Wesley Snipes, who filed an amended return listing zero income and asking for a $7.4 million refund..*
Article: ..Wesley Snipes is one of 152,000 Americans engaged in phony tax shelter schemes..*
Article: ..cited by actor Wesley Snipes in a bizarre bid to secure an unwarranted $7.4 million tax refund..In 2004,
Christopher Williams was suspected of having beaten actress
Halle Berry so badly that she became nearly deaf in one ear. Williams claimed that it was actually Snipes who physically abused Berry. [
1]
In 2004, Snipes was named as the defendant in a paternity suit brought by an
Indiana woman named Lanise Pettis. Pettis alleged that she had
sex with Snipes in a
Chicago crack house in 2000 and that Snipes had fathered a child with her. Snipes denied the allegations and reportedly twice refused to submit to a
paternity test requested by Pettis. On
July 25, 2004, a
Manhattan Family Court judge issued an
arrest warrant for Snipes' failure to submit to the
paternity test. The judge also set bail at $250,000. *[
2] Snipes subsequently sued
New York City, charging that it had no jurisdiction to arrest him as part of an Indiana paternity case. However, on
January 27, 2005, Snipes' bid to have a federal judge cancel the arrest warrant was denied. *[
3] It was eventually determined that, as Pettis claims to have many unlikely celebrity connections, *[
4] Snipes was not the father and the case was dismissed accordingly.
In 2005, Snipes was detained at
Johannesburg International Airport for allegedly trying to pass through the airport with a fake
South African
passport. Snipes later told
South African officials that he had applied for the South African papers not only for himself but for his family. During the interview, it was established that Snipes did indeed have fraudulent South African documentation in his possession. Snipes and his attorney agreed to cooperate with the
South African Inspectorate of the National Immigration Branch in their investigation. Snipes was allowed to return home because he had a valid U.S. passport, but the South African authorities reduced his immigration status to undesirable as a result of the incident. To date, no explanation has been offered as to exactly why Snipes entered South Africa on forged papers. [
5]
*In the game
Tekken 5, the character known as
Raven closely resembles Wesley Snipes.
*Wesley Snipes' dark complexion was poked fun at in a segment of
Charlie Murphy's True Hollywood Stories on
Chappelle's Show. While
Charlie Murphy discussed how the lighter-skinned
Rick James teased him for his complexion, calling him "Darkness," Murphy explained, "See, this is long before Wesley Snipes. Back then...we was the blackest niggas on the planet according to Rick James."
Wildcats (1986)
Major League (1989)
King of New York (1990)
Mo' Better Blues (1990)
New Jack City (1991)
Jungle Fever (1991)
White Men Can't Jump (1992)
Passenger 57 (1992)
Rising Sun (1993)
Demolition Man (1993)
Drop Zone (1994)
Sugar Hill (1994)
To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar (1995)
Money Train (1995)
Waiting to Exhale (1995)
The Fan (1996)
Murder at 1600 (1997)
One Night Stand (1997)
Blade (1998)
U.S. Marshals (1998)
The Art of War (2000)
Disappearing Acts (2000)
Liberty Stands Still (2002)
Blade II (2002)
Undisputed (2002)
Blade: Trinity (2004)
Unstoppable (2004)
The Marksman (2004)
7 Seconds (2005)
Hard Luck (2006)
Chaos (2006)
The Detonator (2006)
Chasing The Dragon (2006)
*
Wesley Snipes Talks About Islam And His Divorce*
Sweet & Sour Snipes*
WesleySnipes.com - Wesley Snipes Fan Site*
The Wesley Snipes Celebrity Pun Archive*
Picture of Snipes' fake South African Passport
