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Wesley Snipes

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Wesley Trent Snipes (born July 31, 1962) is an American actor, film producer, martial artist, and tax protester.

Snipes has starred in action-adventures, thrillers and dramatic feature films opposite such actors as Robert De Niro and Sean Connery. In recent years, Snipes has moved behind the scenes in order to make his own films. To this end, he formed his own independent production company, Amen Ra Films, and its subsidiary Black Dot Media in 1991, to develop projects for film and television.

Wesley Snipes has been training in martial arts since he was twelve. He is a fourth-degree Black Belt in Shotokan Karate and a student of Capoeira under Mestre Jelon Vieira, an African/Brazilian Martial Art. Snipes has also pursued training in a number of other disciplines including Kung Fu.

Snipes will return to the big screen in the U.S. with 2009's Gallowwalker.

Career

Acting

Born in Orlando, Florida, Snipes grew up in the Bronx where he attended Manhattan's famed High School for the Performing Arts but he moved back to Florida before he could graduate. After finishing high school in Florida, Snipes attended the State University of New York at Purchase and began pursuing an acting career. A 24-year-old Snipes was discovered by an agent while performing in a competition. A short time later he made his film debut in the Goldie Hawn vehicle Wildcats. In 1987, Snipes appeared as Michael Jackson's rival gang leader in the Martin Scorsese-directed music video "Bad" (he is only seen in the long version of the video) and the feature film Streets of Gold.

Snipe's performance in the music video "Bad" caught the eye of director Spike Lee. Snipes turned down a small role in Lee's Do the Right Thing for the larger part of Willie Mays Hays in Major League, beginning a succession of box-office hits for Snipes. Lee would later cast Snipes as the jazz saxophonist Shadow Henderson in Mo' Better Blues and as the lead in the interracial romance drama Jungle Fever. Another important role for Snipes was the powerful drug lord Nino Brown in New Jack City, which was written specifically for him by Barry Michael Cooper. Another film in which his character was involved in drugs was the somber movie Sugar Hill.

Although Snipes is more remembered for his roles in action films like Passenger 57, Demolition Man (with Sylvester Stallone), and Rising Sun (with Connery), he has also had success in comedies like White Men Can't Jump, and To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar where he played a drag queen together with Patrick Swayze and John Leguizamo. Snipes has also been critically acclaimed for his roles in dramas like The Waterdance and Disappearing Acts.

In 1997 he won the Best Actor Volpi Cup at the Venice Film Festival for his performance in New Line Cinema's One Night Stand. Snipes was also lauded by critics worldwide for his performance in U.S. Marshals, a sequel of sorts to the box-office hit, The Fugitive.

1998 was especially rewarding for Snipes with the opening of the year's hit Blade, for New Line Cinema, which has grossed over $150 million worldwide. The film turned into a successful series (see Blade) with the last installment coming out in 2004. He was also honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and received an honorary doctorate from his alma mater, SUNY/Purchase, for his outstanding achievements in film.

Despite all the success, due to Snipes recent legal troubles, his career has suffered lately with most of his latest films being released straight-to-DVD. His latest films are The Shooter (also know as The Contractor), filmed in Bulgaria and the UK, with Charles Dance, Lena Heady and Eliza Bennett, and the upcoming Gallowwalker, set to be released in 2009. Wesley also signed to star in director Cirio Santiago's sci-fi "Man with Gun", to be shot in Romenia. Wesley will play Cassius Muhammad, a deaf-and-mute ex-CIA agent vacationing with his family through the Great Wall of China, when a group of Chechen rebels take over the place with intents to blow it up, and it's up to Muhammad to save the day.

Snipes' acting speed is sometimes argued as the fastest in the business. As Blade co-star Stephen Dorf told Rolling Stone magazine "the acting speed on Snipes is mind blowing... he would some times act in excess of 60mph."

Producing

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.

Snipes produced The Big Hit, starring Mark Wahlberg and executive produced by John Woo and Terence Chang, and the critically acclaimed feature Down in the Delta, which marked Maya Angelou's directorial debut and garnered several awards including a Christopher Prism and nominations in multiple categories for the Acapulco Black Film Festival, as well as an NAACP Image Award for Best Motion Picture.

Additionally, television projects distinguished Snipes as a creative force with ABC's Futuresport, in which he starred with Dean Cain and Vanessa L. Williams. Snipes also produced the highest rated cable special of all time, TNT's "The First Tribute to the Martial Arts Masters of the 20th Century," which showcased some of the greatest innovators of the martial arts.

Snipes also served as executive producer of a series of documentaries that he personally financed through now defunct Black Dot Media. The company showcased prominent thinkers from the African and Afro-Caribbean culture. The first in the series, John Henrik Clarke: A Great and Mighty Walk, chronicled the life of John Henrik Clarke, an authority on African and Afro-Caribbean studies. The film won critical acclaim at the Sundance Film Festival in 1997 and won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary at the Urbanworld Film Festival in New York.

Other ventures

In the late 90s, Snipes and his brother started a security firm called the Royal Guard of Amen-Ra dedicated to providing VIPs with bodyguards trained in law enforcement, military, and martial arts.

In 2000, the business was investigated for alleged ties to an extremist religious cult called the United Nuwaubian Nation of Moors. Turns out that Snipes had spotted 200 acres of land with the intention to buy and use for his business academy, which were close to the aforementioned religious cult compound in Putnam County, Georgia. As far as coincidences go, both Snipes business and the religious cult had Egyptian motifs as their symbols which prompted people to make up alleged ties between both.

Snipes and his brother ended up not buying the land and established their company in Florida and Antigua, while the religious cult compound was raided in 2002 and their leader convicted.

In 2005 Snipes was in negotiations to fight Fear Factor star and UFC commentator Joe Rogan in an upcomming UFC event

Personal life

Snipes has been linked to a number of women including Jada Pinkett Smith, Sanaa Lathan, Halle Berry, and Jennifer Lopez.

Snipes has also been married twice. First, to April Snipes from 1985-1990 with whom he has a son, Jelani Asar Snipes, born in 1988. Jelani had a cameo role in Snipes 1990 film Mo' Better Blues.

In 2003, Snipes wed painter Nakyung "Nikki" Park, who is the mother of his four youngest children: son Akhenaten Kihwa-T Snipes; daughter Iset Jua-T Snipes (born July 31, 2001); son Alaafia Jehu-T Snipes; and son Alimayu Moa-T Snipes (born March 26, 2007). Now divorced to former wife Nakyung, Snipes spends a lot of time in Park's home country of South Korea which he call his "second home".

Legal troubles

Loaded weapon conviction

In 1993, Snipes was fined $1,000 and placed on two-year unsupervised probation in California after pleading no contest to a misdemeanor charge of carrying a loaded weapon.

Reckless driving conviction

In April of 1994, while on probation on the California gun conviction, Snipes was briefly detained and charged with reckless driving after he crashed his Kawasaki 1100cc motorcycle at the end of a thirty mile, 120 mile per hour chase with a Florida Highway Patrol officer and police helicopters. Snipes had been returning from a family visit in Orlando, and was in the area north of Port St. Lucie, on his way to Key Largo in connection with the making of the film Drop Zone. Neither Snipes nor the officer was seriously injured in the crash. Snipes eventually pleaded no contest to the charge of reckless driving, and was sentenced to perform 80 hours of community service.

Paternity claims

In 2002, an Indiana woman named Lanise Petits claimed that Snipes was the father of her child. Snipes denied the charges, and the case was later dismissed when the biological father was found.

Passport controversy

In June of 2005, Snipes was detained in South Africa at Johannesburg International Airport for allegedly trying to pass through the airport with a fake South African passport. Snipes was allowed to return home because he had a valid U.S. passport.

New Line lawsuit

In 2005, Snipes sued New Line Cinema, and David S. Goyer (director of Blade: Trinity) claiming that the studio didn't pay his full salary, that he was intentionally cut out of casting decisions and filmmaking process, despite being one of the producers, and that his character's screen time was reduced in favor of costars, Ryan Reynolds and Jessica Biel.

Snipes contends that Goyer, his fellow producers, and New Line kept him out of the project's decision process, which ended up harming the film's performance (it made just $52 million, compared to the previous installments that had made $70 and $82 respectively). He says that a portion of his salary - $3.6 million - was withheld as punishment. The suit is still pending.

Tax problems

Federal tax convictions

On October 12 2006, Wesley Snipes, Eddie Ray Kahn, and Douglas P. Rosile were charged with one count of conspiring to defraud the United States under and one count of knowingly making or aiding and abetting the making of a false and fraudulent claim for payment against the United States, under and . Snipes was also charged six counts of willfully failing to timely file Federal income tax returns under .The conspiracy charge against Snipes included allegations that he filed a false amended return including a false tax refund claim of over US$4 million for the year 1996 and a false amended return including a false tax refund claim of over US$7.3 million for the year 1997. The government alleged that Snipes attempted to obtain fraudulent tax refunds using a legally discredited tax protester theory called the "861 argument" (essentially, an argument that the domestic income of U.S. citizens and residents is not taxable). The indictment said Snipes used accountants who already had a history of filing false returns to obtain refund payments for their clients. The government also charged that Snipes sent three worthless, fictitious "bills of exchange" to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in the amounts of $1,000,000 (on November 30 2000), $12,000,000 (January 18 2001), and $1,000,000 (September 10 2002), with each accompanied by an IRS tax payment voucher coupon.

Under the alleged deal, the firm American Rights Litigators was to receive, from the clients, an amount equal to 20 percent of the tax refunds obtained for those clients. The government also charged that Snipes failed to file tax returns for the years 1999 through 2004.

In a December 4 2006 letter from Snipes in response to his indictment, he declared himself "a nonresident alien" of the United States. Snipes said he was a scapegoat and unfairly targeted by prosecutors in connection with the federal tax fraud investigation. He attempted unsuccessfully to get the trial moved from Ocala, Florida on the ground that racist attitudes in that town would prejudice his chance for a fair trial. Snipes faced the possibility of up to sixteen years in prison and substantial fines if convicted on all the charges. The trial began on Monday, January 14 2008, in Ocala, Florida, with opening statements beginning on Wednesday, January 16 2008.

On February 1 2008, Snipes was acquitted on the felony count of conspiracy to defraud the government and on the felony count of filing a false claim with the government. He was, however, found guilty on three misdemeanor counts of failing to file Federal income tax returns (and acquitted on three other "failure to file" charges). His co-defendants, Douglas P. Rosile and Eddie Ray Kahn, were convicted on the conspiracy and false claim charges in connection with the income tax refund claims filed for Snipes. Following the guilty verdicts on the misdemeanor charges, Snipes faces a maximum possible three years in prison. His sentencing is scheduled for April 24, 2008, at 9:30 a.m.

Property taxes

Snipes failed to pay approximately $70,000 in local property taxes, interest and penalties on a home in Alpine, New Jersey, owned by his company, Kymberlyte Production Services International, Inc. In December 2007, the taxing authority of the borough of Alpine, New Jersey sold the tax lien on the home to a third party. Snipes has two years to redeem the property or risk foreclosure. In 2005, Snipes defaulted on California property taxes, owing over $171,000 in property taxes in that state. As of February 2008, a home owned by Snipes in Florida is subject to delinquent property taxes of over $15,000.

Awards and nominations

Year Award Category Film Result
1987 CableACE Awards Actor in a Dramatic Series Vietnam War Story Won
1992 MTV Movie Award Best Villain New Jack City Nominated
1993 MTV Movie Award Best On-Screen Duo (with Woody Harrelson) and Best Kiss White Men Can't Jump Nominated
Independent Spirit Award Best Supporting Male The Waterdance Nominated
Image Awards reveryus>New Jack City liset
1994 MTV Movie Award Best Villain Demolition Man none Nominated
1997 Image Award Outstanding Lead Actor in a Television Movie or Mini-Series America's Dream Won
Venice Film Festival Best Actor (Volpi Cup) One Night Stand Won
1998 Hollywood Walk of Fame Star Motion Picture 21 August 1998, At 7020 Hollywood Blvd.
1999 Blockbuster Entertainment Award Favorite Actor - Horror lost money to the blade trinity
Favorite Duo - Action/Adventure (with Tommy Lee Jones U.S. Marshals Nominated
MTV Movie Awards Best Fight Blade Nominated
2001 Black Reel Theatrical - Best Actor Undisputed Nominated
2003 Black Reel Network/Cable - Best Actor Disappearing Acts Nominated

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1986 Wildcats Trumaine
1987 Streets of Gold Roland Jenkins
Vietnam War Story II Young Soldier Direct-video
1988 Critical Condition Ambulance Driver brief appearance
1989 Major League Willie Mayes Hayes
1990 King of New York Thomas Flanigan
Mo' Better Blues Shadow Handerson
1991 Jungle Fever Flipper "Flip" Purify
New Jack City Nino Brown
1992 Passenger 57 John Cutter
1993 The Waterdance Raymond Hill
White Men Can't Jump Sidney "Syd" Deane
Boiling Point Jimmy Mercer
Demolition Man Simon Phoenix
Rising Sun Lt. Webster Web Smith
1994 Drop Zone Pete Nessip
Sugar Hill Roemello Skugs
1995 To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar Noxeema Jackson
Money Train John
1996 Waiting To Exhale James Wheeler uncredited
The Fan Bobby "Bob" Rayburn
America's Dream George Du Vail TV
1997 Murder at 1600 Detective Harlan Regins
1998 One Night Stand Maximilian "Max" Carlyle Volpi Cup (Best Actor) in Venice Film Festival
Blade Blade/Eric Brooks/The Daywalker also fight choregraphy and producer
U.S. Marshals Mark J. Sheridan/Warren/Roberts
Down in the Delta Will Sinclair Also executive producer
Masters of the Martial Arts presented by Wesley Snipes Himself Documentary
Jackie Chan: My Story Himself Documentary
Futuresport Obike Foxx TV
1999 Play It to the Bone Ringside Fan cameo
2000 The Art of War Neil Shaw
Disappearing Acts Franklin Swift Also producer
2002 ZigZag David "Dave" Fletcher
Blade II: Bloodhunt Blade/Eric Brooks/The Daywalker also fight coordinator and producer
Liberty Stands Still Joe
Undisputed Monroe Undisputed Hutchens Also producer
2004 Unstoppable Dean Cage
Blade: Trinity Blade/Eric Brooks/The Daywalker also producer
2005 7 Seconds Jack Tulliver Direct-to-DVD
The Marksman Painter Direct-to-DVD
2006 Hard Luck Lucky Direct-to-DVD
Chaos Jason York/Scott Curtis/Lorenz
The Detonator Sonni Griffith Direct-to-DVD
2007 The Contractor James Dial Direct-to-DVD
2008 Gallowwalker Aman completed

TV series

Year Title Role Episode
1986 Miami Vice Silk Streetwise
1987 Vietnam War Story Young Soldier An Old Ghost Walks the Earth
1989 A Man Called Hawk Nicholas Murdock Choice of Chance
The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd Hood Here's Why You Should Always Make Your Bed in the Morning
1990 H.E.L.P. Lou Barton Series lead
1997 Happily Ever After The Pied Piper The Pied Piper
2002 The Bernie Mac Show Duke Rope-a-Dope

References

External links



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Last updated on Thursday March 13, 2008 at 14:34:02 PDT (GMT -0700)
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