Wesley Snipes

Born: July 31 1962
Where: Orlando, Florida, USA

The martial arts expert and ex-model landed his first break as the gang leader who terrorises Michael Jackson in the video for the single Bad.

Snipes went to star in high-profile offerings such as Mo' Better Blues, Demolition Man, White Men Can't Jump, Passenger 57.

However, his recent output has almost exclusively been devoted to the saga of the "daywalking" vampire hunter Blade.

After moving to New York's tough Bronx borough as an infant, Snipes had early ambitions to be a ballet dancer.

However, he switched his attention to acting and attended the Manhattan High School for the Performing Arts (as popularised in the movie Fame).

His mother moved him back to Florida before he could graduate, but he returned to Manhattan after graduation and attended the State University of New York-Purchase.

Work followed in advertisements for Levi 501 jeans and Coca Cola Classic.

It was while performing in a competition that he was discovered by an agent, and a short time later he made his film debut in the Goldie Hawn vehicle Wildcats in 1986.

Although he appeared in minor films during the 1980s, it was Snipes' turn as a street tough in the Martin Scorsese-directed Bad video that caught the eye of director Spike Lee.

He was so impressed that he cast him in Mo' Better Blues as a flamboyant saxophonist opposite Denzel Washington.

That role, coupled with his performance as a rebellious baseball player Major League, succeeded in giving the actor a tentative step on the Hollywood ladder.

With his starring role in Jungle Fever, Snipes won critical praise and went on to demonstrate his versatility in New Jack City and The Waterdance.

In 1992, he landed his first lead role in a big budget action movie - John Cutter in the thriller Passenger 57.

The same year, he starred alongside Woody Harrelson in the hit basketball comedy White Men Can't Jump.

He continued with action stints in films such as Rising Sun, opposite Sean Connery, and the sci-fi thriller Demolition Man as the bleached nemesis of Sylvester Stallone.

He also played down his celebrity with an uncredited role in Waiting to Exhale in 1995.

The same year he completely defied his persona with his portrayal of a flamboyant drag queen in To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything! Julie Newmar.

Snipes' diversity continued in such films as The Fan, Mike Figgis's One Night Stand -for which he won a Best Actor award at the Venice Film Festival - and as Alfred Woodard's handsome cousin in Down in the Delta in 1998.

That same year, Snipes returned to the action genre, playing a vampire slayer in the original Blade and an innocent man on the run from the law in the sequel to The Fugitive, US Marshals.

After a stint of TV work, Snipes appeared in the Christian Dugay thriller The Art of War before reprising the role of Blade opposite Luke Goss (of Bros fame) in the sequel.

He also publicly lambasted director John Singleton for not casting him in the title role of the updated Shaft, claiming the film would have made twice its $60m earnings had he been cast.

The prison drama Undisputed followed before he returned for Blade: Trinity, the feature debut of writer/director David S Goyer in 2004.