Wesley Snipes Biography

Wesley Snipes Biography

Wesley Snipes (born on July 31, 1962, in Orlando, Florida) is an American actor, martial artist and producer. Wesley Snipes is probably best known for his role as the eponymous vampire hunter in the Blade trilogy of movies.

Biography
Wesley Snipes Biography

Wesley Snipes Biography

Wesley grew up in The Bronx and he decided early on that he wanted to be a dancer--until he took some acting classes. Wesley Snipes started at the High School for the Performing Arts, but his mother divorced and they moved back to Orlando. Snipes would eventually graduate from Jones High School in 1980. While in Florida, Wesley did puppet theater, mime and musical theater in competitions and festivals. He then attended the State University of New York College at Purchase and graduated with a Bachelors of Fine Arts in 1985.

Wesley Snipes also played a cliché tough guy role in the Michael Jackson music video "Bad" released in September of 1987. Wesley Snipes often plays tough characters in action movies, and has demonstrated considerable athletic and fighting ability. He is interested in martial arts, including Karate, Kung Fu, and Capoeira. This interest is reflected in the fact that many of his movies make reference to Sun Tzu's The Art of War.

Wesley was married from 1985 to 1990 and has a son from this marriage. He later married Korean painter Nakyung Park in 2003. They have three children.

In 1991, Wesley formed the independent production company Amen Ra Films. It co-produced the first two Blade films and other titles that Snipes has starred in. In 2004 Snipes went on to star in his third Blade movie "Blade Trinity."

Wesley played a drug kingpin Nino Brown in New Jack City, which was a contrast to his role as a New York City Detective in King of New York a year earlier. Another film in which his character was involved in drugs was the hauntingly somber movie Sugar Hill.

Wesley Snipes will appear in the new 2007 version of Hard Luck, with Toria Rainey.

In 2002, a lawsuit in Florida was brought against Douglas Rosile, who allegedly helped 174 clients evade at least $29 million USD in taxes. One of his clients was Wesley, who allegedly filed an amended return listing zero income and asking for a $7.4 million dollar refund. Snipes' original return reported $19.3 million in income.

In 2004, Christopher Williams was suspected of having beaten actress Halle Berry so badly that she became nearly deaf in one ear. Williams claimed that it was actually Wesley who physically abused Berry.

In 2004, Wesley was named as the defendant in a paternity suit brought by an Indiana woman named Lanise Pettis. Pettis alleged that she had sex with Snipes in a Chicago crack house in 2000 and that Snipes had fathered a child with her. Snipes denied the allegations and reportedly twice refused to submit to a paternity test requested by Pettis. On July 25, 2004, a Manhattan Family Court judge issued an arrest warrant for Snipes' failure to submit to the paternity test. The judge also set bail at $250,000.  Snipes subsequently sued New York City, charging that it had no jurisdiction to arrest him as part of an Indiana paternity case. However, on January 27, 2005, Snipes' bid to have a federal judge cancel the arrest warrant was denied. It was eventually determined that, as Pettis claims to have many unlikely celebrity connections, Wesley Snipes was not the father and the case was dismissed accordingly.

In 2005, Wesley Snipes was detained at Johannesburg International Airport for allegedly trying to pass through the airport with a fake South African passport. Snipes later told South African officials that he had applied for the South African papers not only for himself but for his family. During the interview, it was established that Snipes did indeed have fraudulent South African documentation in his possession. Snipes and his attorney agreed to cooperate with the South African Inspectorate of the National Immigration Branch in their investigation. Wesley was allowed to return home because he had a valid U.S. passport, but the South African authorities reduced his immigration status to undesirable as a result of the incident. To date, no explanation has been offered as to exactly why Snipes entered South Africa on forged papers.

Wesley Snipes Biography

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