Movies

Wesley Trent Snipes (born July 31, 1962) is an American actor. He appeared in the films Major League (1989), 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), To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar (1995), U.S. Marshals (1998), The Expendables 3 (2014), Coming 2 America (2021), and the Blade film trilogy (1998–2004), portraying Blade. In television, he appeared on The Player (2015). Snipes was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male for his work in The Waterdance (1992) and won the Volpi Cup for Best Actor for his performance in the film One Night Stand (1997).

He formed a production company, Amen-Ra Films, in 1991, and a subsidiary, Black Dot Media, to develop projects for film and television. He has been training in martial arts since the age of 12, earning a 5th dan black belt in Shotokan Karate and 2nd dan black belt in Hapkido. Many of his action films have featured martial arts.

Early life
Snipes was born in Orlando, Florida, the son of Marian (née Long), a teacher's assistant, and Wesley Rudolph Snipes, an aircraft engineer. He grew up in the Bronx, New York. He attended the High School of Performing Arts of Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts but moved back to Florida before he could graduate. After graduating from Jones High School in Orlando, Snipes returned to New York and attended the State University of New York at Purchase. He also attended Southwestern College in California.