ATLANTA, Ga. — Spike Lee was born Shelton Lee on March 20, 1957, in Atlanta, Ga., the son of a composer and a teacher. He lived from the age of 2 in Brooklyn’s Fort Greene.

He was educated at Morehouse College (Atlanta) and NYU Film School. After forming his own production company, Forty Acres and a Mule Filmworks, in Brooklyn, he made a number of motion pictures focusing on the contemporary black experience and interracial conflict, many of them set in Brooklyn.

His unconventional approach in the street-smart She’s Gotta Have It (’86) has been compared to that of Woody Allen by the New York critics.

Do the Right Thing (’89) is a controversial study of racial tension. The state of the nation is seen as a slice of life in Brooklyn, where the residents of one block swirl in and out of Sal’s (Danny Aiello) pizzeria, the focal point of the street. The pace and the uneasy racial dynamics are shrewdly stepped up as the summer temperatures and tempers soar to a shocking climax, acknowledging that people, when pushed, choose sides. Lee’s acting abilities are utilized as well as his able direction.

Ever cool to mainstream formulas and always the subject of debate, Lee’s jazz film Mo’ Better Blues (’90) and his inter-racial relationship story Jungle Fever (’91) met with mixed receptions, which did not deter him from his most ambitious, powerful and meditative biopic of Malcolm X (’92).

A lawsuit filed against Lee in Los Angeles by George Halliday concerning usage of Halliday’s Rodney King footage in Malcolm X was settled out of court in October 1992. Denzel Washington received much acclaim for his performance in the title role. Washington and Lee collaborated again recently in Inside Man (2006).

Bamboozled (2000) is a dark satire of the television industry depicting a revival of the minstrel show featuring blacks in blackface. Critics did not show great favor for this production and it did not prove very successful at the box office. Lee’s film Summer of Sam, also met mixed reviews from critics In 2006, Lee released a documentary on Hurricane Katrina, titled When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts. In 2008, Lee released Miracle at St. Anna, which tells the story of four African American soldiers caught behind enemy lines during World War II.

Lee has been nominated for two Oscars, one for Best Screenplay for Do the Right Thing and one for Best Documentary for Four Little Girls, which was about the civil rights movement.

Making films addressed to black Americans, Lee is a seminal figure to a younger generation of black film makers. He is held in regard for his style, verve and uncompromising independence by the American industry.

He is married to Tonya Linette Lewis and they have a child, Satchel Lewis.

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