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Vin Diesel (born Mark Sinclair Vincent in New York City, New York on the July 18, 1967) is an American actor, producer, writer, and director who plays Riddick in the sci-fi franchise. "Pitch Black" is recognized as Diesel's acting breakthrough. Diesel's first film role was an uncredited appearance in the 1990 film Awakenings. He then produced, directed, and starred in the 1994 short film Multi-Facial, a short semi-autobiographical film which follows a struggling actor stuck in the audition process, because he is regarded as either "too black" or "too white", or not black or white enough. He made his first feature-length film, 1997's Strays, an urban drama in which he was self-cast as a gang boss whose love for a woman inspires him to try to change his ways. Written, directed and produced by Diesel, the film was selected for competition at the 1997 Sundance Festival, leading to an MTV deal to turn it into a series. He was then cast in Steven Spielberg's 1998 Oscar-winning film Saving Private Ryan on the poignancy of his performance in Multi-Facial. He earned critical acclaim for voice work as the title character in the animation film The Iron Giant (1999). He followed it up with a major role in Boiler Room (2000).

He became known in the early 2000s, appearing in several successful Hollywood films, including The Fast and the Furious (2001) and xXx (2002). He founded the production companies One Race Films, Tigon Studios and Racetrack Records. In 2003, he produced and starred in the vigilante action film, A Man Apart, which failed both critically and financially. Due to the runaway success of Pitch Black and The Fast and the Furious, Universal Pictures was keen on spearheading another Vin Diesel film franchise and paid Diesel 11 million dollars to return as Riddick. In 2004, Diesel reteamed with David Twohy again for the second Riddick movie, "The Chronicles of Riddick". Despite being the highest-grossing film of the "Riddick" series, it received mainly negative critical reviews and was a box-office failure. However, the film became successful through word of mouth and robust DVD sales, specifically for the unrated director's cut which sold more than 1.4 million copies in its first day. The film has since accumulated a strong cult following.

That same year, Diesel provided the voice of Riddick in Pitch Black's prequel, the videogame "The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay" reteaming with Cole Hauser, and its direct sequel, the animated short, "The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury" reteaming with Keith David and Jack's original actress, Rhiana Griffith. Escape from Butcher Bay was the first video game Diesel developed in through his company, Tigon Studios and was well received by critics who praised its gameplay, though the game's story gave Riddick a different origin for his eyes than described in Pitch Black. Diesel later appeared in several other video games also developed by Tigon including, Wheelman and "The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena" both in 2009.

In 2005 he played a lighthearted role in the comedy film The Pacifier, a surprise box office success. In 2006 he chose a dramatic role, playing real-life mobster Jack DiNorscio in Find Me Guilty. Although he received critical acclaim for his performance, the film did poorly at the box office. IThat same year, he did a small cameo in the spinoff film, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, in return for the rights to the character and universe of Richard B. Riddick instead of monetary payment. In 2007, he was set to produce and star as Agent 47 in the film adaptation of the video game Hitman, but eventually pulled back and served as executive producer on the film instead, with Timothy Olyphant playing the role. In 2008 he starred in the science-fiction action thriller Babylon A.D.. He returned to the The Fast and The Furious series, alongside all the actors from the original 2001 film, in Fast & Furious, which released in April 2009. In 2011, he once again returned, for the fifth film in the series, titled Fast Five, and then the 6th movie Fast and Furious 6.

Inspired by the strong fan appreciation and demand for more "Riddick" films, he produced and starred in the third entry, simply titled "Riddick." This independently produced film had a troubled production, with Diesel leveraging his house to pay for the film's production when financing fell through. He stated in an interview that had the film remained unfinished, he would have been homeless. Despite the film's lack of recognizable film stars and scale of its predecessor, the film was released in 2013 and was a modest success at the box office, receiving better praise from critics for its back-to-basics approach, though many fans were left divided for the same reason. This film, like its two predecessors, also received a longer director's cut with a new ending which leads directly into a cliff-hanger. Diesel initially planned on two sequels, one where Riddick would brave the Underverse, and the next where he would return to his home-planet Furya.

The next year, Vin Diesel would reunite with "Riddick" (2013) co-star Dave Bautista for his first superhero film, Guardians of the Galaxy in 2014, in which he would play the character "Groot." In 2015, he would return to the Fast franchise with Furious 7, the highest grossing film of that year. He also appeared in The Last Witch Hunter that same year, which was less warmly received but was successful enough to leave a proposed sequel in consideration. In 2017, Diesel appeared in three sequels to his prior films which were all successful, xXx: The Return of Xander Cage, F8: The Fate of the Furious, and Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2. In 2019, he reprised his role of Groot in the box office successes, Avengers: Infinity War, Ralph breaks the Internet, and Avengers: Endgame. In 2020, he appeared as the lead in his first headlining superhero film, Bloodshot, which was a financial and critical flop.

Despite this last minor setback, Diesel returned to the ever-successful and ever-abundant Fast saga once again with F9 (2021). He will be appearing in two more Fast and Furious films and lending his voice to the upcoming videogame Ark II. Despite his busy schedule and the postponement of project, Diesel has often posted progress on the upcoming fourth and rumored final installment, Riddick 4: Furya, for which he has expressed much excitement and anticipation for. Vin Diesel remains one of Hollywood's most successful stars in the biggest film franchises of all time and remains dependable as an antihero. Despite his vast success, Diesel has always remained fond of the role that made him a household name in the sleeper hit that was Pitch Black. Diesel continues to amaze audiences everywhere through his fascinating performances in tough guy roles, showing no signs of slowing down.

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