Spike Lee
Photoplayd Industry Rating
Roles are weighted by involvement: director 1.0, screenwriter 0.7, lead 0.8, supporting 0.4, crew 0.1.
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
Credits
Plankton Salesmen (2017)
as Self (archive footage)
Malcolm X (1992)
as Shorty
Pixote In Memoriam (2007)
as Self
Do the Right Thing (1989)
as Mookie
Jungle Fever (1991)
as Cyrus
Bad 25 (2012)
as Self
Summer of Sam (1999)
as John Jeffries
Guest (2011)
as Self
Mo' Better Blues (1990)
as Giant
Clockers (1995)
as Chucky
The 51st AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to Eddie Murphy (2026)
as Self
Girl 6 (1996)
as Jimmy
Farewell, Babylon! (1993)
as Self
NBA 2K16’s Livin’ Da Dream: A Spike Lee Joint (2015)
as Reporter (voice)
Spike & Co. Do It a-Cappella (1990)
as Self
Lumière & Company (1995)
as Self (segment "Sarah Moon")
Crooklyn (1994)
as Snuffy
Ladies & Gentlemen... 50 Years of SNL Music (2025)
as Self (archive footage)
A Man's Story (2011)
as Self
Sidney (2022)
as Self
She's Gotta Have It (1986)
as Mars Blackmon
4 Little Girls (1997)
as Interviewer (voice) (uncredited)
Red Hook Summer (2012)
as Mr. Mookie
On the Shoulders of Giants (2011)
Actor
School Daze (1988)
as Darrell 'Half-Pint' Dunlap
Branford Marsalis: Steep (1991)
as Self
When We Were Kings (1996)
as Self
Hoop Dreams (1994)
as Self
PoliWood (2009)
as Self
A Century of Cinema (1994)
as Self
Director Spike Lee's New York City (2015)
as Self
Making 'Do the Right Thing' (1989)
as Self
It's Black Entertainment (2002)
as Self
New York at the Movies (2002)
as Self
Lisa Picard Is Famous (2000)
as Spike Lee
Spike Lee's Lil' Joints: The Greatest Catch Ever (2015)
as self
Spike & Co.: Do It a Cappella (1990)
Actor
Denzel Washington: A Model American (2022)
as Self
French Cinema Mon Amour (2015)
as Self
Michael Jackson's Journey from Motown to Off the Wall (2016)
as Self
The Last Party (1993)
as Self
Michael Jordan to the Max (2000)
as Self
Street Fight (2005)
as Self
3 A.M. (2001)
as Filmmaker
Gold Blooded (2022)
as Self
Drop Squad (1994)
as Himself
Yo! The Story of ‘Yo! MTV Raps’ (2012)
as Self
The Universal Story (1996)
as Self (archive footage)
Through the Fire (2005)
Actor
We the People: From Crispus Attucks to President Barack Obama (2014)
Actor
Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. The New York Knicks (2010)
as Self
Public Enemy: Fight the Power... Live! (1989)
Actor
Four Days in October (2010)
as Self (archive footage)
The Moviemakers: Spike Lee (2023)
as Self
The Making of 'Bamboozled' (2001)
as Self
The Evolution of an American Filmmaker (2003)
as Self
Lights, Action, Music (2007)
as Self
Do the Right Thing: 20 Years Later (2009)
as Self
The Fine Art of Separating People from Their Money (1996)
as Self
A Choice of Weapons: Inspired by Gordon Parks (2021)
as Self
Champs (2015)
as Self
Seven Songs for Malcolm X (1993)
Actor
How to Eat Your Watermelon in White Company (and Enjoy It) (2005)
Actor
Be Truly Free (2017)
as Narrator (voice)
The Making and Meaning of 'We Are Family' (2002)
as Self
Samuel L. Jackson: Did I Stutter? (2023)
as self
First Works (1989)
as Self
Sous les marches du palais (1991)
as Self
Brooklyn Boheme (2012)
as Self
Breslin and Hamill: Deadline Artists (2018)
as Self
Kobe Doin' Work (2009)
as Self
Chadwick Boseman: Portrait of an Artist (2021)
as Self
No Fighting in the War Room Or: 'Dr Strangelove' and the Nuclear Threat (2004)
as Self
MTV's 10th Anniversary Special (1991)
as Self
Five Directors On The Battle of Algiers (2004)
as Self
Birth of a Movement (2017)
as Self
Life O' The Party: On the Road with Prince and the New Power Generation (2005)
as Self
Best Sellers or: Peter Sellers and 'Dr. Strangelove' (2004)
as Self
Beyond Wiseguys: Italian Americans & the Movies (2008)
Actor
A Daughter's Tribute to Her Father: Souleymane Cissé (2022)
as Self
Decade (1989)
as Self
Unbanned: The Legend of AJ1 (2018)
as Self
40 x 15: The Forty Years of the Directors' Fortnight (2008)
as Self
Do The Right Thing 25 Year Anniversary A Beats Music Experience (2014)
as self
By Any Means Necessary: The Making of 'Malcolm X' (2005)
as Self
Life's Essentials with Ruby Dee (2014)
as Self
Ray Allen/AKA- Jesus Shuttlesworth (2015)
Actor
Our Hollywood Education (1992)
as Self
Below the Rim (1995)
Actor
Lonely in America (1990)
as Spike Lee (Newsstand Customer) (uncredited)