Who is Spike Lee?

Director, writer, producer, and actor Spike Lee was born Shelton Lee in Atlanta in 1957, and grew up in Brooklyn. His films are often intended to provoke discussion of such issues as race relations, sex, and historical figures.

Lee first started making student films in New York University's Tisch School of the Arts graduate film program, and now considers himself an independent filmmaker who works within Hollywood.

Lee co-starred in his first commercial success, She's Gotta Have It. In Mo' Better Blues, Lee first worked with actor Denzel Washington, with whom he would collaborate on many other films including Malcolm X, for which Washington received an Oscar nomination for portraying the civil rights figure.

Lee is now the Artistic Director of the graduate division of the Kanbar Institute of Film and Television at the Tisch School of the Arts. He is also working on a new film, She Hate Me.

In addition to his films, Lee is famous for his fanatical devotion to the New York Knicks, and his relationship with actress Halle Berry.