Spike Lee
Known for Directing · 125 credits
- Born
- 1957-03-20 (age 69)
- Place of birth
- Atlanta, Georgia, USA
- Also known as
- Спайк Ли · سبايك لي · 스파이크 리 · スパイク・リー · สไปค์ ลี · 史派克·李
Biography
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.
Known For
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
2014
as Self / Self - Guest
The Daily Show
1996
as Self - Guest
Late Night with Seth Meyers
2014
as Self - Guest
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
2015
as Self - Guest
Late Show with David Letterman
1993
as Self - Guest
Saturday Night Live
1975
as Mars Blackmon / Self (uncredited)
TV Shows (35)
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
2014
as Self / Self - Guest
The Daily Show
1996
as Self - Guest
Late Night with Seth Meyers
2014
as Self - Guest
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
2015
as Self - Guest
Late Show with David Letterman
1993
as Self - Guest
Saturday Night Live
1975
as Mars Blackmon / Self (uncredited)
Real Time with Bill Maher
2003
as Self
The View
1997
as Self
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
2003
as Self - Guest
Great Performances
1971
as Self
The Ellen DeGeneres Show
2003
as Self
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
1993
as Self - Guest
Tamron Hall
2019
as Self - Guest
Close Up with The Hollywood Reporter
2015
as Self
The Oscars
1953
as Self / Self - Audience Member
Basketball: A Love Story
2018
as Self (archive footage)
In Living Color
1990
Desus & Mero
2019
as Self - Illustrious Guest
Who Do You Think You Are?
2010
as Self
Ghostwriter
1992
as Special Agent Pete (archive footage)
The Chris Rock Show
1997
as Self
Yo! MTV Raps
1988
as Self
Directors on Directors
2021
as Self
The American Film Institute Salute to ...
1973
as Self
This Is Pop
2021
as Self (archive footage)
Dear...
2020
as Self
She's Gotta Have It
2017
as Drum Major
Hollywood Black
2024
as Self (archive footage)
The Early Show
1999
as Self
They Call Me Magic
2022
as Self
Mr. Scorsese
2025
as Self
Pretend It's a City
2021
as Self
Johnny Vaughan Tonight
2002
as Self
Inside the Actors Studio
1994
as Self
It's the Shoes
2005
as Self
Movies (90)
Malcolm X
1992
as Shorty
Clockers
1995
as Chucky
Do the Right Thing
1989
as Mookie
Crooklyn
1994
as Snuffy
The 51st AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to Eddie Murphy
2026
as Self
Summer of Sam
1999
as John Jeffries
Sidney
2022
as Self
Ladies & Gentlemen... 50 Years of SNL Music
2025
as Self (archive footage)
School Daze
1988
as Darrell 'Half-Pint' Dunlap
Jungle Fever
1991
as Cyrus
Hoop Dreams
1994
as Self
Plankton Salesmen
2017
as Self (archive footage)
Girl 6
1996
as Jimmy
Mo' Better Blues
1990
as Giant
40 x 15: The Forty Years of the Directors' Fortnight
2008
as Self
Michael Jackson's Journey from Motown to Off the Wall
2016
as Self
Yo! The Story of ‘Yo! MTV Raps’
2012
as Self
Lumière & Company
1995
as Self (segment "Sarah Moon")
She's Gotta Have It
1986
as Mars Blackmon
Drop Squad
1994
as Himself
The Fine Art of Separating People from Their Money
1996
as Self
The Universal Story
1996
as Self (archive footage)
Lisa Picard Is Famous
2000
as Spike Lee
Bad 25
2012
as Self
A Man's Story
2011
as Self
PoliWood
2009
as Self
Beyond Wiseguys: Italian Americans & the Movies
2008
The Making and Meaning of 'We Are Family'
2002
as Self
3 A.M.
2001
as Filmmaker
When We Were Kings
1996
as Self
It's Black Entertainment
2002
as Self
Denzel Washington: A Model American
2022
as Self
Red Hook Summer
2012
as Mr. Mookie
The Evolution of an American Filmmaker
2003
as Self
Life's Essentials with Ruby Dee
2014
as Self
A Century of Cinema
1994
as Self
The Last Party
1993
as Self
French Cinema Mon Amour
2015
as Self
New York at the Movies
2002
as Self
4 Little Girls
1997
as Interviewer (voice) (uncredited)
Decade
1989
as Self
Breslin and Hamill: Deadline Artists
2018
as Self
A Choice of Weapons: Inspired by Gordon Parks
2021
as Self
MTV's 10th Anniversary Special
1991
as Self
Making 'Do the Right Thing'
1989
as Self
Champs
2015
as Self
Do the Right Thing: 20 Years Later
2009
as Self
On the Shoulders of Giants
2011
Chadwick Boseman: Portrait of an Artist
2021
as Self
We the People: From Crispus Attucks to President Barack Obama
2014
Unbanned: The Legend of AJ1
2018
as Self
Four Days in October
2010
as Self (archive footage)
Michael Jordan to the Max
2000
as Self
By Any Means Necessary: The Making of 'Malcolm X'
2005
as Self
Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. The New York Knicks
2010
as Self
Life O' The Party: On the Road with Prince and the New Power Generation
2005
as Self
Spike & Co. Do It a-Cappella
1990
as Self
Guest
2011
as Self
Best Sellers or: Peter Sellers and 'Dr. Strangelove'
2004
as Self
Street Fight
2005
as Self
Samuel L. Jackson: Did I Stutter?
2023
as self
The Making of 'Bamboozled'
2001
as Self
Pixote In Memoriam
2007
as Self
Five Directors On The Battle of Algiers
2004
as Self
No Fighting in the War Room Or: 'Dr Strangelove' and the Nuclear Threat
2004
as Self
Through the Fire
2005
First Works
1989
as Self
Public Enemy: Fight the Power... Live!
1989
Lights, Action, Music
2007
as Self
Our Hollywood Education
1992
as Self
Lonely in America
1990
as Spike Lee (Newsstand Customer) (uncredited)
Seven Songs for Malcolm X
1993
Brooklyn Boheme
2012
as Self
How to Eat Your Watermelon in White Company (and Enjoy It)
2005
Ray Allen/AKA- Jesus Shuttlesworth
2015
Branford Marsalis: Steep
1991
as Self
Farewell, Babylon!
1993
as Self
Sous les marches du palais
1991
as Self
Kobe Doin' Work
2009
as Self
Director Spike Lee's New York City
2015
as Self
Birth of a Movement
2017
as Self
A Daughter's Tribute to Her Father: Souleymane Cissé
2022
as Self
Do The Right Thing 25 Year Anniversary A Beats Music Experience
2014
as self
Below the Rim
1995
Be Truly Free
2017
as Narrator (voice)
Spike Lee's Lil' Joints: The Greatest Catch Ever
2015
as self
Gold Blooded
2022
as Self
NBA 2K16’s Livin’ Da Dream: A Spike Lee Joint
2015
as Reporter (voice)
Spike & Co.: Do It a Cappella
1990
The Moviemakers: Spike Lee
2023
as Self
About Spike Lee
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 N… With 125 credits spanning from 1953 to 2026, Spike Lee has appeared in 90 films and 35 TV shows.
Fans searching for Spike Lee movies, Spike Lee filmography, or the latest projects starring Spike Lee can stream many of these titles on Bowood.TV, free and in HD, with no subscription required.
Most Popular Spike Lee Movies
- Malcolm X (1992) — as Shorty
- Clockers (1995) — as Chucky
- Do the Right Thing (1989) — as Mookie
- Crooklyn (1994) — as Snuffy
- The 51st AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to Eddie Murphy (2026) — as Self
Where to Watch Spike Lee Films
Most Spike Lee movies and series are available to stream on Bowood.TV in full HD, completely free and without signup. Browse the complete filmography above to jump directly to any title. For more films and the latest web series featuring Spike Lee, check our movies catalogue and browse page.