-
Jacquelyn Lee (mother) and Bill Lee (father) welcomed their son Shelton Jackson Lee on March 20, 1957, in Atlanta, Georgia, at Grady Memorial Hospital. Making him their firstborn in the family. -
Spike Lee moved from pre-civil rights Georgia to Brooklyn, New York. Spike Lee soon got his famous nickname from his mother for being described as a tough kid. -
Upon the Lee family's arrival in Cobble Hill, New York, which was an Italian neighbourhood, the Lee family was called racial slurs and was told they did not belong there. After staying in Cobble Hill, the family soon moved to Fort Greene, Brooklyn. -
Spike Lee came from an artistic and well-educated family. His father was a Jazz musician while his mother was a school teacher. Spike Lee attended John Dewey High School, later attending college. -
After graduation, Spike Lee moved back to Atlanta to attend Morehouse College, a historically black college in Atlanta. He graduated with a B.A. in mass communication. -
After finding his co-producer, Monty Ross, both filmmakers founded "40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks." An American filmmaker company. -
While at Morehouse College, Spike Lee made his first-ever student film, "Last Hustle in Brooklyn." He also made 7 other films at Morehouse and found his co-producer, Monty Ross. -
After Spike Lee made his first-ever film, he moved to New York again and attended film school at the NYC Tisch School of the Arts and graduated with an MFA in Film Production. -
Lee's student thesis film "Joe's Bed-Stuy Barber Shop: We Cut Heads" won his first-ever award for this film and kicked-started his career. -
The 1986 Howard Beach incident was what inspired Spike Lee's film "Do the Right Thing." A black man was killed by a white mob in an Italian neighborhood in Queens, New York. -
Spike Lee's film "She's Hotta Have It," made during his time in NYC for his M.F.A. He established his long career with this film. He wrote, produced, directed, edited, and played a key role in the film. -
-
Spike Lee has played a role in at least 13 films. His best role was in his film "Do The Right Thing," playing "Mookie." -
Spike Lee's famous film Malcom X was inspired by the civil rights movement that was led by Malcom x and other historical black Americans. This really showed what Spike Lee directed, which was tough topics like racism, poverty, and inequality. -
Spike Lee met his now wife, Tonya Lewis Lee, at a Malcom X screening. They have been married for 31 years -
Tonya and Spike lee welcome their first born, Satchel Lee -
Tonya Lee and Spike Lee welcome their son Jackson Lee -
African-American painter Michael Ray Charles' work Bamboozled (1997), inspired Lee's 2000 film of the same title -
Many directors do not have films that do well at the box office. Spike Lee's Summer of Sam only grossed 19 million with a 22 million budget. But one of the most unsuccessful box office hits was "Oldboy," which only grossed 1.25 million on its opening week with a 30 million dollar budget. -
Comstock, Frannie. “Do the Right Thing | Film by Lee [1989] | Britannica.” Www.britannica.com, 10 Mar. 2024, www.britannica.com/topic/Do-the-Right-Thing.
Machell, Ben. “What I’ve Learnt: Spike Lee.” Thetimes.com, The Times, 5 Jan. 2019, www.thetimes.com/world/us-world/article/what-ive-learnt-spike-lee-2vxxkh0l7. -
Spike Lee's long film career has granted him 5 Oscar nominations. His film "BlacKkKlansman" won an Oscar in 2019. -
After the birth of his son, Jackson Lee, his son was diagnosed with dyslexia. Spike Lee soon after found out he would also be diagnosed with dyslexia with his son. -
Spike Lee was also inspired by the events of the Vietnam War and made the film "Da 5 Bloods." -
Spike Lee began teaching at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts in 1993 in the Graduate Film Program. But ever since He has been teaching for 30 years