Mark Sinclair (born July 18, 1967), known professionally as
Vin Diesel, is an American actor and film producer. One of the world's
highest-grossing actors, he is best known for playing
Dominic Toretto in the
Fast & Furious franchise.
Diesel began his career in 1990, but faced difficulty achieving recognition until he wrote, directed and starred in the short film
Multi-Facial (1995) and his debut feature
Strays (1997); the films prompted
Steven Spielberg to cast Diesel in the war epic
Saving Private Ryan (1998). Diesel subsequently voiced the titular character in
The Iron Giant (1999) and then gained a reputation as an
action star after headlining the
Fast & Furious,
XXX, and
The Chronicles of Riddick franchises.
Diesel voices
Groot and
Groot II in the
Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU); he portrayed the characters in six
superhero films, beginning with
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014). Diesel has reprised his role as Groot for the
Disney+ animated shorts series
I Am Groot (2022–present), the television special
The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (2022), and the animated film
Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018). Diesel achieved commercial success in the comedy
The Pacifier (2005) and his portrayal of
Jackie DiNorscio in
Find Me Guilty (2006) was praised.
He founded the production company
One Race Films, where he has also served as a producer or executive producer for his
star vehicles. Diesel also founded the record label
Racetrack Records and video game developer
Tigon Studios, providing his voice and
motion capture for all of Tigon's releases.
