Actor, Vin Diesel, was born Mark Sinclair in Alameda County, California, along with his twin brother Paul Vincent. He was raised by his mother, Delora Sherleen (Sinclair) and his adoptive father, Irving H. Vincent, who was an acting instructor and theater manager.
Diesel unexpectedly at the age of seven began his acting career in a children’s play entitled Dinosaur Door. He expanded his career by acting for the New York Repertory Company run by his father then the Off-Off-Broadway circuit.
When he was seventeen, he had an muscular physic and became a bouncer at New York’s hippest clubs where he changed his name to Vin Diesel. After graduating from high school, Vin attended Hunter College but dropped out after three years to pursue his acting career in Hollywood. Because he wasn’t successful in Hollywood at first, Diesel headed back to New York. Feeling depressed after a failed acting career, his motivation began after his mother gave him a book entitled, “Feature Films at Used Car Prices” which provided information about how he could began his career by himself. He wrote his first short film, Multi Facial in 1995 that took only three days to shoot at a cost of $3,000. The film was accepted for the 1995 Cannes Film Festival where it got tons of publicity. Afterwards, Diesel returned to Los Angeles and raised almost $50,000 through telemarketing to fund the making of his first feature, Strays (1997). The film was accepted for the 1997 Sundance Film Festival but didn’t sell as well as it should have. He went back to New York where Steven Spielberg was impressed by Multi-Facial and wanted to meet Vin, leading him to be cast in Saving Private Ryan (1998). Multi-Facial earned Vin more work, when the director of The Iron Giant (1999) saw it and decided to cast Vin in the title role. From there, Vin’s career has steadily grown. He received his first lead role as Richard B. Riddick in the Sci-Fi film Pitch Black (2000). The role earned him devoted fans and public recognition.
Diesel has displayed his talent and starred in an array of intriguing films that have enhanced his popularity such as The Fast and the Furious (2001), xXx (2002), The Pacifier (2005), Fast & Furious (2009), Fast Five (2011), Fast & Furious 6 (2013) and Furious 7 (2015). He also voiced Groot in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) and starred in the lower-budgeted courtroom drama Find Me Guilty (2006).
Vin and his long time girlfriend Paloma Jimenez have three children Hania Riley (9), Vincent (7), and Pauline (2). He and his family reside in Hollywood, California.