SPIKE LEE
Name: Shelton Jackson Lee
Born: 20 March 1957 Atlanta, Georgia
Shelton Jackson Lee (born March 20, 1957, in Atlanta, Georgia), better known
as Spike Lee, is an Emmy Award - winning, and Academy Award - nominated American
film director, producer, writer, and actor noted for his films dealing with
controversial social and political issues. He also teaches film at New York
University and Columbia University. His production company, 40 Acres & A Mule
Filmworks, has produced over 35 films since 1983.
Lee was born in Atlanta, Georgia to Bill Lee. Lee moved with his family to
Brooklyn, New York when he was a small child. The Fort Greene neighborhood is
home of Lee's production company, 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks, and other Lee-owned
or related businesses. As a child, his mother nicknamed him "Spike." In Brooklyn,
he attended John Dewey High School. Lee enrolled in Morehouse College where he
made his first student film, Last Hustle in Brooklyn. He took film courses at
Clark Atlanta University and graduated with a B.A. in Mass Communication from
Morehouse College. He then enrolled in New York University's Tisch School of the
Arts. He graduated in 1978 with a Master of Fine Arts in Film & Television.
Lee's thesis film, Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads, was the first
student film to be showcased in Lincoln Center's New Directors New Films
Festival.
In 1985, Lee began work on his first feature film, She's Gotta Have It. With a
budget of $175,000, the film was shot in two weeks. When the film was released
in 1986, it grossed over $7,000,000 at the U.S. box office.
She's Gotta Have It would also lead Lee down a second career avenue. After
marketing executives from Nike saw and liked the movie, Lee was offered a job
directing commercials for Nike. What they had in mind specifically was pairing
Lee's character from She's Gotta Have It, the Michael Jordan-loving Mars
Blackmon, with Jordan himself as their marketing campaign for the Air Jordan
line. Later, Lee would be a central figure in the controversy surrounding the
inner-city rash of violence involving Air Jordans. Lee countered that instead
of blaming manufacturers of apparel, "deal with the conditions that make a kid
put so much importance on a pair of sneakers, a jacket and gold". Lee, through
the marketing wing of his production company, has also directed commercials for
Converse, Jaguar, Taco Bell and Ben & Jerry's.
Lee's movies have examined race relations, the role of media in contemporary
life, urban crime and poverty, and political issues. Many of his films include a
distinctive use of music.
Lee's film Do the Right Thing was nominated for an Academy Award for Best
Original Screenplay in 1989. His documentary 4 Little Girls was nominated for
the Best Feature Documentary Academy Award in 1997.
On May 2, 2007, the 50th San Francisco International Film Festival honored Spike
Lee with the San Francisco Film Society's Directing Award. He was most recently
named the recipient of the next Wexner Prize.
Name: Shelton Jackson Lee
Born: 20 March 1957 Atlanta, Georgia
Shelton Jackson Lee (born March 20, 1957, in Atlanta, Georgia), better known
as Spike Lee, is an Emmy Award - winning, and Academy Award - nominated American
film director, producer, writer, and actor noted for his films dealing with
controversial social and political issues. He also teaches film at New York
University and Columbia University. His production company, 40 Acres & A Mule
Filmworks, has produced over 35 films since 1983.
Lee was born in Atlanta, Georgia to Bill Lee. Lee moved with his family to
Brooklyn, New York when he was a small child. The Fort Greene neighborhood is
home of Lee's production company, 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks, and other Lee-owned
or related businesses. As a child, his mother nicknamed him "Spike." In Brooklyn,
he attended John Dewey High School. Lee enrolled in Morehouse College where he
made his first student film, Last Hustle in Brooklyn. He took film courses at
Clark Atlanta University and graduated with a B.A. in Mass Communication from
Morehouse College. He then enrolled in New York University's Tisch School of the
Arts. He graduated in 1978 with a Master of Fine Arts in Film & Television.
Lee's thesis film, Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads, was the first
student film to be showcased in Lincoln Center's New Directors New Films
Festival.
In 1985, Lee began work on his first feature film, She's Gotta Have It. With a
budget of $175,000, the film was shot in two weeks. When the film was released
in 1986, it grossed over $7,000,000 at the U.S. box office.
She's Gotta Have It would also lead Lee down a second career avenue. After
marketing executives from Nike saw and liked the movie, Lee was offered a job
directing commercials for Nike. What they had in mind specifically was pairing
Lee's character from She's Gotta Have It, the Michael Jordan-loving Mars
Blackmon, with Jordan himself as their marketing campaign for the Air Jordan
line. Later, Lee would be a central figure in the controversy surrounding the
inner-city rash of violence involving Air Jordans. Lee countered that instead
of blaming manufacturers of apparel, "deal with the conditions that make a kid
put so much importance on a pair of sneakers, a jacket and gold". Lee, through
the marketing wing of his production company, has also directed commercials for
Converse, Jaguar, Taco Bell and Ben & Jerry's.
Lee's movies have examined race relations, the role of media in contemporary
life, urban crime and poverty, and political issues. Many of his films include a
distinctive use of music.
Lee's film Do the Right Thing was nominated for an Academy Award for Best
Original Screenplay in 1989. His documentary 4 Little Girls was nominated for
the Best Feature Documentary Academy Award in 1997.
On May 2, 2007, the 50th San Francisco International Film Festival honored Spike
Lee with the San Francisco Film Society's Directing Award. He was most recently
named the recipient of the next Wexner Prize.