Vin Diesel

Born: 18th July 1967
Where: New York

Diesel became an overnight sensation when he assumed the mantle of a "new breed of secret agent" - xXx.

Shaven-headed, tattoed and exhibiting just the hint of a paunch, he made the role his own in a flagrant American attempt to ape the 40-odd year-old Bond franchise.

Born Mark Vincent, Diesel has a non-identical twin brother, Paul, who is a film editor.

He started his career as a child actor, and after studying English at university, he began writing screenplays and making films.

His short Multi-facial, which he wrote, directed, and produced, debuted at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival, and eventually grabbed Steven Spielberg's attention.

Diesel's first full-length feature, Strays, which he wrote, co-produced, directed and starred in premiered at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival.

Afetr seeing Multi-facial, Spielberg cast Diesel in the WWII drama Saving Private Ryan.

Following the blockbuster, he voiced the title character in the animated feature The Iron Giant, and starred as a futuristic ex-con in the accomplished sci-fi thriller Pitch Black.

He appeared in Boiler Room, and starred as a gang leader in The Fast and the Furious, and co-starred with John Malkovich and Dennis Hopper in Knockaround Guys.

A year later it was paycheck time when he appeared with Samuel L Jackson in the action thriller xXx, and he reprised his Pitch Black role of Riddick, in The Chronicles Of Riddick.

Next up was the below-par A Man Apart - a sort of a poor man's Traffic - with Larenz Tate.

Recent work includes the role of a navy SEAL-turned-child-minder in the amiable comedy The Pacifier.