
Directing
Born March 20, 1957 · Atlanta, Georgia, USA
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.

Highest 2 Lowest
2025

David Byrne's American Utopia
2020

Da 5 Bloods
2020

3 Brothers: Radio Raheem, Eric Garner and George Floyd
2020

New York New York
2020

Land of the Free
2019

BlacKkKlansman
2018

Pass Over
2018

Rodney King
2017

Be Truly Free
2017

2 Fists Up
2016

Michael Jackson's Journey from Motown to Off the Wall
2016

Chi-Raq
2015

NBA 2K16’s Livin’ Da Dream: A Spike Lee Joint
2015

Da Sweet Blood of Jesus
2015

Ray Allen/AKA- Jesus Shuttlesworth
2015
Throw Like A Girl
2014

Jerrod Carmichael: Love at the Store
2014

Do The Right Thing 25 Year Anniversary A Beats Music Experience
2014

Katt Williams: Priceless: Afterlife
2014
Amex Unstaged Pharrell Williams Live at the Apollo
2014
I Can't Breathe
2014

Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth
2013

Oldboy
2013

Bad 25
2012

Red Hook Summer
2012

Passing Strange
2009

Do the Right Thing: 20 Years Later
2009

Ladies & Gentlemen... 50 Years of SNL Music
2025

Samuel L. Jackson: Did I Stutter?
2023

Denzel Washington: A Model American
2022

Gold Blooded
2022

Sidney
2022

A Daughter's Tribute to Her Father: Souleymane Cissé
2022

A Choice of Weapons: Inspired by Gordon Parks
2021

Chadwick Boseman: Portrait of an Artist
2021

Breslin and Hamill: Deadline Artists
2018

Unbanned: The Legend of AJ1
2018

Plankton Salesmen
2017

Be Truly Free
2017

Birth of a Movement
2017

Michael Jackson's Journey from Motown to Off the Wall
2016

French Cinema Mon Amour
2015
Director Spike Lee's New York City
2015

Champs
2015

Ray Allen/AKA- Jesus Shuttlesworth
2015

Do The Right Thing 25 Year Anniversary A Beats Music Experience
2014

Life's Essentials with Ruby Dee
2014

We the People: From Crispus Attucks to President Barack Obama
2014

Bad 25
2012

Red Hook Summer
2012

Yo! The Story of ‘Yo! MTV Raps’
2012

Brooklyn Boheme
2012

A Man's Story
2011

Guest
2011