Directing
Spike Lee
EN, FR, ES, AR cinema · 190 credits
Born
20 March 1957 (age 69)
Birthplace
Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Also known as Shelton Jackson Lee
Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American filmmaker and actor. His work has continually explored race relations, issues within the black community, the role of media in contemporary life, urban crime and poverty, and other political issues. Lee received numerous accolades for his work, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and two Peabody Awards as well as nominations for three Golden Globe Awards and a Grammy Award. Lee studied filmmaking at both Morehouse College and the New York University Tisch School of the Arts, where he directed his student film Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads (1983), which won a Student Academy Award. He later founded the production company 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, where he has produced more than 35 films. He made his directorial debut with the comedy She's Gotta Have It (1986). He received widespread critical acclaim for the drama Do the Right Thing (1989), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. He directed the historical epic Malcolm X (1992), earning the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival. With the biographical crime dramedy BlacKkKlansman (2018), he won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and the Cannes Film Festival Grand Prix Award. He has also written and directed films such as School Daze (1988), Mo' Better Blues (1990), Jungle Fever (1991), Crooklyn (1994), Clockers (1995), Bamboozled (2000), 25th Hour (2002), Inside Man (2006), Chi-Raq (2015), Da 5 Bloods (2020), and Highest 2 Lowest (2025). Lee has also acted in eleven of his feature films. He is also known for directing numerous documentary projects, including 4 Little Girls (1997), which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film. He directed the HBO series When the Levees Broke (2006), which won two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Directing for a Documentary/Nonfiction Program and Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking. He also directed the HBO documentary If God Is Willing and da Creek Don't Rise (2010) and the David Byrne concert film American Utopia (2020). Lee has received several honours, including the Honorary BAFTA Award in 2002, an Honorary César in 2003, the Academy Honorary Award in 2015, and the National Medal of Arts in 2023. Five of his films have been selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". He has received a Gala Tribute from the Film Society of Lincoln Center as well as the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize. His films have featured breakthrough performances from actors such as Denzel Washington, Laurence Fishburne, Samuel L. Jackson, Giancarlo Esposito, Rosie Perez, Delroy Lindo, John Turturro, and John David Washington. Description above from the Wikipedia article Spike Lee, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Known for
Filmography
Boner
Director, Writer, Producer
Liberty
Liberty
Producer
Sophie Marceau, à voix haute
as Self (archive footage)
Talk Me
Executive Producer
Apart
Writer
Ladies & Gentlemen... 50 Years of SNL Music
as Self (archive footage)
Highest 2 Lowest
Director, Executive Producer
Nervous Energy
Executive Producer
In Between Storms
Executive Producer
How I Learned to Die
Executive Producer
From Sidney, with Love
Executive Producer
Megadoc
Thanks
The Voice of Hind Rajab
Executive Producer
F*ck That Guy
Executive Producer
PUNTER
Executive Producer
Brownies
2024
Brownies
Executive Producer
The Truck
Executive Producer
In Freedom
Executive Producer
Sidney
as Self
You Resemble Me
Executive Producer
Off-Time
Associate Producer
Son of the South
Executive Producer
Da 5 Bloods
Writer, Producer, Director
David Byrne's American Utopia
Director, Executive Producer, Producer
New York New York
Director
Tales from the Hood 3
Executive Producer
See You Yesterday
Producer
BlacKkKlansman
Writer, Director, Producer
Pass Over
Producer, Director
Tales from the Hood 2
Executive Producer
The Black 14
Executive Producer
Amazing Grace
Producer
Time 2 Surrender
Executive Producer
Cherish
Executive Producer
Nigerian Prince
Executive Producer
Be Truly Free
as Narrator (voice), Director
Plankton Salesmen
as Self (archive footage)
Rodney King
Director, Producer
Michael Jackson's Journey from Motown to Off the Wall
as Self, Director
2 Fists Up
Director, Producer
Touched with Fire
Executive Producer
Spike Lee's Lil' Joints: Redemption Song
Executive Producer
Spike Lee's Lil' Joints: $15 Kicks
Executive Producer
Champs
as Self
Ray Allen/AKA- Jesus Shuttlesworth
Actor, Director
Spike Lee's Lil' Joints: The Greatest Catch Ever
as self, Director, Executive Producer
Da Sweet Blood of Jesus
Director, Screenplay, Producer
The Girl Is in Trouble
Executive Producer
Chi-Raq
Director, Writer, Producer
Stop
Thanks
Cronies
2015
Cronies
Executive Producer
Spike Lee's Lil' Joints: Italian Imports
Assistant Director, Executive Producer
Spike Lee's Lil' Joints: The Ice Breaker
Executive Producer
Spike Lee's Lil' Joints: Of the Father and of the Son
Executive Producer
Dirty Hands
Executive Producer
Katt Williams: Priceless: Afterlife
Director, Producer
I Can't Breathe
Director, Writer
Evolution of a Criminal
Executive Producer
Oldboy
Director
Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth
Director, Executive Producer
Brooklyn Boheme
as Self
Bad 25
as Self, Director
Red Hook Summer
as Mr. Mookie, Director, Screenplay, Producer
You're Nobody 'til Somebody Kills You
Executive Producer
One Night
Presenter
Guest
as Self
A Man's Story
as Self
Pariah
Executive Producer
Doubles with Slight Pepper
Executive Producer
Four Days in October
as Self (archive footage)
Saint John of Las Vegas
Executive Producer
PoliWood
as Self
Do the Right Thing: 20 Years Later
as Self, Director
Kobe Doin' Work
as Self, Director, Producer
Passing Strange
Director
Miracle at St. Anna
Director, Producer
Genesis | Come Rain or Shine
Camera Operator
Inside Man
Director
All the Invisible Children
Director, Producer
Street Fight
as Self
She Hate Me
Director, Screenplay, Producer
Sucker Free City
Director
Good Fences
Executive Producer
25th Hour
Producer, Director
Ten Minutes Older: The Trumpet
Director, Producer
Jim Brown: All-American
Director, Producer
3 A.M.
as Filmmaker, Producer, Co-Executive Producer
The Making of 'Bamboozled'
as Self, Director
The Concert for New York City
Director, Director of Photography
Home Invaders
Executive Producer
Lisa Picard Is Famous
as Spike Lee
The Original Kings of Comedy
Director, Producer
Bamboozled
Director, Screenplay, Producer
Love & Basketball
Producer
Summer of Sam
as John Jeffries, Director, Writer, Producer
The Best Man
Producer
He Got Game
Screenplay, Producer, Director
4 Little Girls
as Interviewer (voice) (uncredited), Director, Producer, Writer
Girl 6
as Jimmy, Director, Producer
The Universal Story
as Self (archive footage)
Get on the Bus
Director, Executive Producer
Clockers
as Chucky, Director, Screenplay, Producer
Lumière & Company
as Self (segment "Sarah Moon"), Director
Tales from the Hood
Executive Producer
New Jersey Drive
Executive Producer
Crooklyn
as Snuffy, Director, Screenplay, Producer
Hoop Dreams
as Self - Film Director
Drop Squad
as Himself, Executive Producer
The Last Party
as Self
Malcolm X
as Shorty, Director, Screenplay, Producer
Jungle Fever
as Cyrus, Producer, Director, Writer
Suspect
Thanks
Lonely in America
as Spike Lee (Newsstand Customer) (uncredited)
Mo' Better Blues
as Giant, Director, Writer, Producer
Spike & Co.: Do It a Cappella
Actor, Director
Do the Right Thing
as Mookie, Screenplay, Producer, Director
First Works
as Self
Decade
as Self
School Daze
as Darrell 'Half-Pint' Dunlap, Director, Writer, Producer
She's Gotta Have It
as Mars Blackmon, Director, Writer, Producer, Editor
Horn of Plenty
Director, Writer
Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads
Director, Writer, Producer, Editor
Sarah
1981
Sarah
Director
The Answer
Director