Wesley Snipes

Born: 31 July 1962 Birthplace: Orlando, Florida Best Known As: Star of the movie Blade Wesley Snipes has been one of the screen's most popular African-American leading men since the early 1990s, when he broke out in Mo' Better Blues (1990, directed by Spike Lee), New Jack City (1991) and Jungle Fever (1991, also directed by Lee). In just a few years he cranked out respectable action pictures, including Passenger 57 (1992), Demolition Man (1993, with Sylvester Stallone), Drop Zone (1994) and Boiling Point (1993, co-starring Viggo Mortensen). He's also done comic roles in White Men Can't Jump (1992) and To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar (1995), and played the lead in the vampire movie Blade (1998) and its sequel, Blade II (2002). Snipes had a small role as a bad guy in the Michael Jackson video for the song "Bad" (1987, directed by Martin Scorsese).