Spike Lee

Filmmakers

Shelton Jackson “Spike” Lee (March 20, 1957) is an American film director, producer, writer, actor, author and professor. His production company, 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, has produced more than 35 films since 1983. His work has continually explores race relations, issues within the black community, the role of media in contemporary life, urban crime and poverty, and other political issues. He studied film at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, with fellow future filmmakers Jim Jarmusch, Sara Driver, Tom DiCillo, and Harold Brookner. His father, Bill, composed for many of his films, while his sister Joie, and brother, Ciniqué, have acted or co-written on his productions.

He made his directorial debut with She’s Gotta Have It (1986), with Tracy Camilla Johns, Tommy Redmond Hicks, John Canada Terrell, Joie Lee, S. Epetha Merkerson. His other films in the 1980s include School Daze (1988), with Laurence Fishburne, Giancarlo Esposito, Tisha Campbell, Kyme, Joe Seneca, Art Evans, Ellen Holly, and Ossie Davis; Do the Right Thing (1989), with Danny Aiello, Davis, Ruby Dee, Richard Edson, Esposito, Bill Nunn, John Turturro, Roger Guenveur Smith, Rosie Perez, John Savage, and Samuel L. Jackson – for which he received his first Academy Award nomination (in the Best Original Screenplay category).

Films in the 1990s include Mo’ Better Blues (1990), which marked his first collaboration with Denzel Washington, Wesley Snipes, Esposito, Robin Harris, Joie, Nunn, Turturro, Dick Anthony Williams, and Cynda Williams; Jungle Fever (1991), with Snipes, Annabella Sciorra, Davis, Dee, Jackson, Lonette McKee, Turturro, Frank Vincent, Tim Robbins, Brad Dourif, Esposito, Debi Mazar, Michael Imperioli, Anthony Quinn, Halle Berry, and Queen Latifah; Malcolm X (1992), with Washington, Angela Bassett, Albert Hall, Al Freeman Jr., Delroy Lindo, Christopher Plummer; Crooklyn (1995), with Alfre Woodard, Lindo, David Patrick Kelly, and Zelda Harris; Clockers (1995), with Harvey Keitel, Turturro, Lindo, Mekhi Phifer, Isaiah Washington, and Keith David; Girl 6 (1996), with Theresa Randle; Get on the Bus (1996), with Richard Belzer, De’aundre Bonds, Andre Braugher, Thomas Jefferson Byrd, Gabriel Casseus, Albert Hall, Hill Harper, Harry Lennix, Bernie Mac, Wendell Pierce, Roger Guenveur Smith, Steve White, Ossie Davis, and Charles S. Dutton; He Got Game (1998), with Washington, Milla Jovovich, Rosario Dawson, and Ned Beatty; and Summer of Sam (1999), with John Leguizamo, Adrien Brody, Mira Sorvino, Jennifer Esposito, Michael Rispoli, Bebe Neuwirth, Patti LuPone, Mike Starr, Anthony LaPaglia, Ben Gazzara, and Michael Badalucco.

Films in the 2000s include Bamboozled (2000), with Damon Wayans, Jada Pinkett Smith, Savion Glover, Tommy Davidson, and Michael Rapaport; 25th Hour (2002), with Edward Norton, Barry Pepper, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Anna Paquin, and Brian Cox; She Hate Me (2004), with Anthony Mackie, Kerry Washington, Ellen Barkin, Monica Bellucci, Brian Dennehy, Woody Harrelson, Bai Ling, and Turturro; Inside Man (2006), with Washington, Clive Owen, Jodie Foster, Plummer, Willam Dafoe, and Chiwetel Ejiofor; and Miracle at St. Anna (2008), with Derek Luke, Michael Ealy, Laz Alonso, Omar Benson Miller, Pierfrancesco Favino, Valentina Cervi, Turturro, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Leguizamo, D.B. Sweeney, and Kerry Washington.

Films in the 2010s include Red Hook Summer (2012), with Clarke Peters, Nate Parker, Thomas Jefferson Byrd, Toni Lysaith, and Jules Brown; Oldboy (2013), with Josh Brolin, Elizabeth Olsen, Sharlto Copley, Jackson, Michael Imperioli, Max Casella, Pom Klementieff, Hannah Simone, and Rami Malek; Da Sweet Blood of Jesus (2014), with Zaraah Abrahams, Stephen Tyrone Williams, Rami Malek, and Elvis Nolasco; Chi-Raq (2015), with Nick Cannon, Snipes, Teyonah Parris, Jennifer Hudson, Bassett, John Cusack, and Jackson; Pass Over (2018), with Jon Michael Hill, Julian Parker, Ryan Hallahan and Blake DeLong; and BlacKkKlansman (2018), with John David Washington, Adam Driver, Laura Harrier, and Topher Grace – for which Lee won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Films in the 2020s include Da 5 Bloods (2020), with Lindo, Jonathan Majors, Clarke Peters, Johnny Trí Nguyễn, Norm Lewis, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Mélanie Thierry, Paul Walter Hauser, Jasper Pääkkönen, Jean Reno, and Chadwick Boseman.

Documentaries include 4 Little Girls (1997), which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary; The Original Kings of Comedy (2000), Jim Brown: All-American (2002), When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts (2009), Kobe Doin’ Work, If God Is Willing and da Creek Don’t Rise (2010), Bad 25 (2012), Michael Jackson’s Journey from Motown to Off the Wall (2016), David Byrne’s American Utopia (2020), and NYC Epicenters 9/11→2021½ (2021).

In addition to an Academy Award. Lee has won numerous accolades for his work, including a Student Academy Award, a BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, two Emmy Awards, two Peabody Awards, and the Cannes Grand Prix. He has also received an Academy Honorary Award, an Honorary BAFTA Award, an Honorary César, and the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize. His films Do The Right Thing, Bamboozled, Malcolm X, 4 Little Girls & She’s Gotta Have It were each selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

Each review will be linked to the title below.

(*seen originally in theaters)

(**seen rereleased in theaters)

  • The Last Hustle in Brooklyn (1979) – short
  • The Answer (1980) – short
  • Sarah (1981) – short
  • Joe’s Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads (1983) – student film
  • She’s Gotta Have It (1986)
  • School Daze (1988)
  • Do the Right Thing (1989)
  • Mo’ Better Blues (1990)
  • Jungle Fever (1991)
  • Malcolm X (1992)
  • Crooklyn (1994)
  • Clockers (1995)
  • Lumière and Company (1995) – directed with Merzak Allouache, Gabriel Axel, Vicente Aranda, Theo Angelopoulos, Bigas Luna, John Boorman, Youssef Chahine, Alain Corneau, Costa-Gavras, Raymond Depardon, Francis Girod, Peter Greenaway, Lasse Hallström, Michael Haneke, Hugh Hudson, Gaston Kaboré, Abbas Kiarostami, Cédric Klapisch, Andrei Konchalovsky, Patrice Leconte, Claude Lelouch, David Lynch, Merchant Ivory, Claude Miller, Sarah Moon, Idrissa Ouedraogo, Arthur Penn, Lucian Pintilie, Jacques Rivette, Helma Sanders-Brahms, Jerry Schatzberg, Nadine Trintignant, Fernando Trueba, Liv Ullmann, Yoshishige Yoshida, Jaco Van Dormael, Régis Wargnier, Wim Wenders, & Zhang Yimou – anthology
  • Girl 6 (1996)
  • Get on the Bus (1996)
  • 4 Little Girls (1997) – documentary
  • He Got Game (1997)
  • John Leguizamo: Freak (1997) -TV stand-up
  • Summer of Sam (1999)
  • The Original Kings of Comedy (2000) – stand-up concert documentary
  • Bamboozled (2000)
  • A Huey P. Newton Story (2001) – TV movie
  • Jim Brown: All American (2002) – TV documentary
  • Ten Minutes Older: The Trumpet (2002) – anthology, directed one segment
  • 25th Hour (2002)
  • She Hate Me (2004)
  • Sucker Free City (2004) – TV movie
  • All the Invisible Children (2005) -anthology, directed one segment
  • Inside Man (2006)
  • When the Levee’s Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts (2006) – documentary miniseries
  • Miracle at St. Anna (2008)
  • Passing Strange (2009) – TV movie
  • If God Is Willing and da Creek Don’t Rise (2010) – documentary miniseries
  • Red Hook Summer (2012)
  • Bad 25 (2012) – documentary
  • Oldboy (2013)
  • Da Sweet Blood of Jesus (2014)
  • Kat Williams: Priceless: Afterlife (2014) – TV stand-up
  • Jerrod Carmichael: Love at the Store (2014) – TV special
  • Chi-Raq (2015)
  • Michael Jackson’s Journey from Mowtown to Off the Wall (2016) – documentary
  • Rodney King (2017) – Netflix special
  • She’s Gotta Have It (2017-2019) – Netflix series; creator
  • Pass Over (2018) – co-director
  • BlacKkKlansman (2018)
  • Coach: Words Matter (2019) – short
  • Da 5 Bloods (2020)