Vin Diesel is a blockbuster name.
The Fast & Furious star was born in 1967 in California before moving to New York with his mother Delora and his fraternal twin brother Paul.
After years spent trying to make it as an actor, Vin got his lucky break when he caught the eye of revered film director Stephen Spielberg.
READ MORE: Vin Diesel shares tribute to Paul Walker as he walks actor’s daughter down the aisle
The actor rose to fame starring alongside Tom Hanks and Matt Damon in Spielberg’s 1998 war epic Saving Private Ryan.
He has since starred in a number of film franchises including Guardians of the Galaxy, The xXx movies and Fast & Furious.
As Vin turns 55 years old, Daily Star takes a look inside his fascinating life.
Real name
(Image: Getty Images for CTAOP)
Vin Diesel has gone by a variety of different names over the years.
His famous characters have included Fast & Furious’ Dom Toretto, ruthless operative Xander Cage and the loveable Groot from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
While growing up, Vin had yet another title – his birth name, Mark Sinclair.
The actor decided to change the moniker in his late teenage years, deriving ‘Vin’ from his step-father Irving Vincent’s last name.
‘Diesel’ was the nickname which he was referred to as by his friends for having a lot of energy.
Stephen Spielberg link
(Image: FilmMagic for HBO)
As an aspiring actor in the eighties and nineties, Vin struggled to land his big break.
After impressing movie buffs at Sundance with his self-funded and directed short film Multi-Facial, Vin also gained a fan in the form of Hollywood heavyweight Stephen Spielberg and finally struck gold.
While working as a telemarketer, Vin was contacted by the Jaws director in 1997 and cast as Private Adrian Caparzo in Saving Private Ryan.
The rest, as they say, is history.
Fast & Furious romance
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Vin was romantically linked to his long-time Fast & Furious collaborator Michelle Rodriguez in the early days of the franchise.
The co-stars both appeared in the original Fast & Furious film in 2001 and are reported to have hit it off on-set.
Their romance was ultimately short-lived but Vin and Michelle remained firm friends, working together on a subsequent number of Fast & Furious flicks.
Net worth
(Image: FilmMagic)
Thanks to his lengthy and impressive career on the big screen, Vin Diesel is said to have amassed a jaw-dropping fortune of $225million (£188m), with the franchise making him one of the highest paid action movie actors in the world.
Films he has starred in have made over $7billion (£5.8bn) globally, and one of his highest paid years to date was back in 2017 when The Fate of the Furious was released.
Diesel brought in a whopping $54m (£45m), and was the third highest paid actor of the year.
Paul Walker’s tragic death
(Image: AFP/Getty Images)
The Fast & Furious family was forever changed with the tragic death of Paul Walker.
The Brian O’Connor actor passed away in November 2013 at the age of 40 after crashing his car while speeding in a single-vehicle collision.
He and Vin were best friends as well as colleagues, with The xXx star left devastated by Paul’s untimely passing.
(Image: Getty Images)
On the eighth anniversary of Paul’s death last year, Vin showed his 81.6 million Instagram fans that Paul was still very much in his thoughts by sharing a heartbreaking tribute to the late actor.
Vin wrote: “It’s been eight years today… and not a day goes by that I don’t reflect of the brotherhood we were blessed to have… but you know that.
“Tragedies in life are always followed by life’s blessings if you just stay open and have faith.”
Dwayne Johnson feud
(Image: LatinContent via Getty Images)
A public feud erupted between Vin and his Fast & Furious co-star Dwayne Johnson with a now infamous social media post in August 2016.
The feud came to public knowledge after Johnson shared a cryptic Instagram post in which he wrote: “Some [male costars] conduct themselves as stand up men and true professionals, while others don’t.
“The ones that don’t are too chicken s**t to do anything about it anyway. Candy asses.
“When you watch this movie next April and it seems like I’m not acting in some of these scenes and my blood is legit boiling — you’re right.”
(Image: Publicity Picture)
Their feud was referenced by Vin in a follow-up Instagram post promising to ‘tell everything’.
A conflict of sorts between the actors was also confirmed by their co-star Michelle Rodriguez.
Fast & Furious star Tyrese Gibson later weighed in and accused Johnson of delaying production – leading him to depart the main franchise and star in spin-off film Hobbs & Shaw.
(Image: Getty Images)
The beef seemed to simmer down following the success of Hobbs & Shaw but re-emerged last December when Johnson accused Vin of trying to manipulate him to return to the main Fast & Furious franchise – having previously insisted that he was done with the film series for good.
Johnson told CNN: “Vin’s recent public post was an example of his manipulation.
“I didn’t like that he brought up his children in the post, as well as Paul Walker’s death. Leave them out of it.”
Family man
(Image: Getty Images)
Vin settled down with his wife and Mexican model Paloma Jimenez in 2007.
The pair have been married for 15 years and shared three children who bear the same surname as Vin did during his youth – Hania Riley Sinclair, Vincent Sinclair and Pauline Sinclair.
The couple’s youngest daughter Pauline is named in memory of Vin’s late co-star Paul Walker.
(Image: vindiesel/Instagram)
Speaking in 2008, Vin revealed that filming his 2005 film The Pacifier inspired in him the urge to start a family.
He previously told Parade: “While I was doing The Pacifier, it really started to bring out this desire to have a child.
“It took a couple years after that to find the right person and to hopefully be mature enough to be a great father which is really all you want to do.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
