Spike Lee

Known For: Directing
Born: March 20, 1957
Place of Birth: Atlanta, Georgia, USA

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 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).…

Filmography

APART

2026 · Writer

The 51st AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to Eddie Murphy

2026 · Self

Talk Me

2026 · Executive Producer

Mr. Scorsese

2025 · Self

Megadoc

2025 · Thanks

The Voice of Hind Rajab

2025 · Executive Producer

From Sidney, with Love

2025 · Executive Producer

Katrina: Come Hell and High Water

2025 · Executive Producer, Director

Highest 2 Lowest

2025 · Executive Producer, Director

How I Learned to Die

2025 · Executive Producer

Nervous Energy

2025 · Executive Producer

In Between Storms

2025 · Executive Producer

Ladies & Gentlemen... 50 Years of SNL Music

2025 · Self (archive footage)

The Piano Lesson

2024 · Thanks

Brownies

2024 · Executive Producer

The Truck

2024 · Executive Producer

PUNTER

2024 · Executive Producer

Hollywood Black

2024 · Self (archive footage)

F*ck That Guy

2024 · Executive Producer

In Freedom

2023 · Executive Producer

Samuel L. Jackson: Did I Stutter?

2023 · self

The Moviemakers: Spike Lee

2023 · Self

You Resemble Me

2022 · Executive Producer

Denzel Washington: A Model American

2022 · Self

Gold Blooded

2022 · Self

Sidney

2022 · Self

The Captain

2022 · Executive Producer

Off-Time

2022 · Associate Producer

A Daughter's Tribute to Her Father: Souleymane Cissé

2022 · Self

They Call Me Magic

2022 · Self

NYC Epicenters 9/11➔2021½

2021 · Producer, Director

A Choice of Weapons: Inspired by Gordon Parks

2021 · Self

Chadwick Boseman: Portrait of an Artist

2021 · Self

This Is Pop

2021 · Self (archive footage)

Directors on Directors

2021 · Self

Son of the South

2021 · Executive Producer

Pretend It's a City

2021 · Self

Tales from the Hood 3

2020 · Executive Producer

David Byrne's American Utopia

2020 · Director, Executive Producer

Da 5 Bloods

2020 · Writer, Producer, Director

Dear...

2020 · Self

3 Brothers: Radio Raheem, Eric Garner and George Floyd

2020 · Director

New York New York

2020 · Director

Tamron Hall

2019 · Self - Guest

See You Yesterday

2019 · Producer

Desus & Mero

2019 · Self - Illustrious Guest

Land of the Free

2019 · Director

Amazing Grace

2018 · Producer

Cherish

2018 · Executive Producer

Breslin and Hamill: Deadline Artists

2018 · Self

Basketball: A Love Story

2018 · Self (archive footage)

BlacKkKlansman

2018 · Writer, Director, Producer

Tales from the Hood 2

2018 · Executive Producer

Time 2 Surrender

2018 · Executive Producer

Nigerian Prince

2018 · Executive Producer

Unbanned: The Legend of AJ1

2018 · Self

The Black 14

2018 · Executive Producer

Pass Over

2018 · Producer, Director

She's Gotta Have It

2017 · Drum Major, Creator, Director

Plankton Salesmen

2017 · Self (archive footage)

Rodney King

2017 · Director, Producer

Be Truly Free

2017 · Narrator (voice), Director

Birth of a Movement

2017 · Self

Spike Lee's Lil' Joints: $15 Kicks

2016 · Executive Producer

Spike Lee's Lil' Joints: Redemption Song

2016 · Executive Producer

2 Fists Up

2016 · Director, Producer

Touched with Fire

2016 · Executive Producer

Michael Jackson's Journey from Motown to Off the Wall

2016 · Self, Director

Chi-Raq

2015 · Writer, Director, Producer

NBA 2K16’s Livin’ Da Dream: A Spike Lee Joint

2015 · Reporter (voice), Director, Executive Producer

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

2015 · Self - Guest

Spike Lee's Lil' Joints: Of the Father and of the Son

2015 · Executive Producer

Close Up with The Hollywood Reporter

2015 · Self

Spike Lee's Lil' Joints: The Greatest Catch Ever

2015 · self, Director, Executive Producer

French Cinema Mon Amour

2015 · Self

Spike Lee's Lil' Joints: The Ice Breaker

2015 · Executive Producer

Director Spike Lee's New York City

Director Spike Lee's New York City

2015 · Self

Spike Lee's Lil' Joints: Italian Imports

2015 · Assistant Director, Executive Producer

Champs

2015 · Self

The Girl Is in Trouble

2015 · Executive Producer

Da Sweet Blood of Jesus

2015 · Screenplay, Director, Producer

Ray Allen/AKA- Jesus Shuttlesworth

2015 · , Director

Cronies

2015 · Executive Producer

Stop

2015 · Thanks

Throw Like A Girl

Throw Like A Girl

2014 · Director

Jerrod Carmichael: Love at the Store

2014 · Director

Do The Right Thing 25 Year Anniversary A Beats Music Experience

2014 · self, Director

Katt Williams: Priceless: Afterlife

2014 · Director, Producer

Life's Essentials with Ruby Dee

2014 · Self

Amex Unstaged Pharrell Williams Live at the Apollo

Amex Unstaged Pharrell Williams Live at the Apollo

2014 · Director

Dirty Hands

2014 · Executive Producer

Evolution of a Criminal

2014 · Executive Producer

Late Night with Seth Meyers

2014 · Self - Guest

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon

2014 · Self, Self - Guest

We the People: From Crispus Attucks to President Barack Obama

2014

I Can't Breathe

I Can't Breathe

2014 · Director, Writer

Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth

2013 · Director, Executive Producer

Oldboy

2013 · Director

Bad 25

2012 · Self, Director

Red Hook Summer

2012 · Mr. Mookie, Director, Screenplay, Producer

You're Nobody 'til Somebody Kills You

2012 · Executive Producer

Yo! The Story of ‘Yo! MTV Raps’

2012 · Self

One Night

2012 · Presenter

Brooklyn Boheme

2012 · Self

Pariah

2011 · Executive Producer

A Man's Story

2011 · Self

Doubles with Slight Pepper

2011 · Executive Producer

Guest

2011 · Self

On the Shoulders of Giants

2011

Four Days in October

2010 · Self (archive footage)

If God Is Willing and da Creek Don't Rise

2010 · Director, Producer, Creator

Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. The New York Knicks

2010 · Self

Who Do You Think You Are?

2010 · Self

Saint John of Las Vegas

2010 · Executive Producer

Passing Strange

2009 · Director

PoliWood

2009 · Self

Do the Right Thing: 20 Years Later

2009 · Self, Director

Kobe Doin' Work

2009 · Self, Producer, Director

Miracle at St. Anna

2008 · Director, Producer

Genesis | Come Rain or Shine

2008 · Camera Operator

40 x 15: The Forty Years of the Directors' Fortnight

2008 · Self

Beyond Wiseguys: Italian Americans & the Movies

Beyond Wiseguys: Italian Americans & the Movies

2008

Pixote In Memoriam

2007 · Self

Lights, Action, Music

2007 · Self

Shark

2006 · Director

When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts

2006 · Producer, Director, Creator

Inside Man

2006 · Director

All the Invisible Children

2006 · Director, Producer

Jesus Children of America

2005 · Director

C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America

2005 · Presenter

It's the Shoes

2005 · Self

Life O' The Party: On the Road with Prince and the New Power Generation

2005 · Self

Street Fight

2005 · Self

How to Eat Your Watermelon in White Company (and Enjoy It)

2005

Miracle's Boys

2005 · Director

By Any Means Necessary: The Making of 'Malcolm X'

2005 · Self

Through the Fire

2005

Best Sellers or: Peter Sellers and 'Dr. Strangelove'

2004 · Self

No Fighting in the War Room Or: 'Dr Strangelove' and the Nuclear Threat

2004 · Self

Sucker Free City

2004 · Director

Five Directors On The Battle of Algiers

2004 · Self

She Hate Me

2004 · Director, Screenplay, Producer

The Ellen DeGeneres Show

2003 · Self

The Evolution of an American Filmmaker

2003 · Self

Real Time with Bill Maher

2003 · Self

Jimmy Kimmel Live!

2003 · Self - Guest

Good Fences

2003 · Executive Producer

25th Hour

2002 · Producer, Director

New York at the Movies

New York at the Movies

2002 · Self

Ten Minutes Older: The Trumpet

2002 · Director, Producer

Jim Brown: All-American

2002 · Director, Producer

It's Black Entertainment

2002 · Self

The Making and Meaning of 'We Are Family'

2002 · Self

Johnny Vaughan Tonight

Johnny Vaughan Tonight

2002 · Self

Come Rain or Come Shine

2001 · Director of Photography

The Concert for New York City

2001 · Director, Director of Photography

Home Invaders

2001 · Executive Producer

3 A.M.

2001 · Filmmaker, Producer, Co-Executive Producer

A Huey P. Newton Story

2001 · Director

The Making of 'Bamboozled'

2001 · Self, Director

Bamboozled

2000 · Director, Screenplay, Producer

The Original Kings of Comedy

2000 · Director, Producer

Bernie Mac: Live from Charlotte

2000 · Director

Lisa Picard Is Famous

2000 · Spike Lee

Michael Jordan to the Max

2000 · Self

Love & Basketball

2000 · Producer

One Morning All Over the World

2000 · Director

The Early Show

1999 · Self

The Best Man

1999 · Producer

Summer of Sam

1999 · John Jeffries, Director, Writer, Producer

Pavarotti & Friends 99 for Guatemala and Kosovo

1999 · Director

John Leguizamo: Freak

1998 · Director

Pavarotti & Friends - For the Children of Liberia

1998 · Director

He Got Game

1998 · Screenplay, Producer, Director

The View

1997 · Self

4 Little Girls

1997 · Interviewer (voice) (uncredited), Director, Producer, Writer

HIStory on Film, Volume II

1997 · Director

The Chris Rock Show

1997 · Self

The Fine Art of Separating People from Their Money

1996 · Self

When We Were Kings

1996 · Self

Get on the Bus

1996 · Director, Executive Producer

The Daily Show

1996 · Self - Guest

The Universal Story

1996 · Self (archive footage)

Girl 6

1996 · Jimmy, Director, Producer

Lumière & Company

1995 · Self (segment "Sarah Moon"), Director

Clockers

1995 · Chucky, Director, Screenplay, Producer

Tales from the Hood

1995 · Executive Producer

New Jersey Drive

1995 · Executive Producer

Below the Rim

1995

Drop Squad

1994 · Himself, Executive Producer

Hoop Dreams

1994 · Self

Inside the Actors Studio

1994 · Self

Crooklyn

1994 · Snuffy, Director, Producer, Screenplay

A Century of Cinema

1994 · Self

Seven Songs for Malcolm X

1993

Late Night with Conan O'Brien

1993 · Self - Guest

Late Show with David Letterman

1993 · Self - Guest

Farewell, Babylon!

1993 · Self

The Last Party

1993 · Self

Malcolm X

1992 · Shorty, Director, Screenplay, Producer

Prince and the N.P.G.: Diamonds and Pearls Video Collection

1992 · Director

Ghostwriter

1992 · Special Agent Pete (archive footage)

Our Hollywood Education

Our Hollywood Education

1992 · Self

Sous les marches du palais

1991 · Self

Jungle Fever

1991 · Cyrus, Producer, Director, Writer

MTV's 10th Anniversary Special

1991 · Self

Branford Marsalis: Steep

1991 · Self

Suspect

1991 · Thanks

Spike Lee Presents Mike Tyson

Spike Lee Presents Mike Tyson

1990 · Director

Lonely in America

1990 · Spike Lee (Newsstand Customer) (uncredited)

Mo' Better Blues

1990 · Giant, Writer, Director, Producer

Spike & Co.: Do It a Cappella

1990 · , Director

In Living Color

1990

Spike & Co. Do It a-Cappella

1990 · Self

Decade

1989 · Self

Making 'Do the Right Thing'

Making 'Do the Right Thing'

1989 · Self

First Works

1989 · Self

Do the Right Thing

1989 · Mookie, Screenplay, Producer, Director

Public Enemy: Fight the Power... Live!

1989

Yo! MTV Raps

1988 · Self

School Daze

1988 · Darrell 'Half-Pint' Dunlap, Writer, Director, Producer

Horn of Plenty

1986 · Director, Writer

She's Gotta Have It

1986 · Mars Blackmon, Director, Writer, Producer, Editor

Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads

1983 · Director, Writer, Editor, Producer

Sarah

1981 · Director

The Answer

1980 · Director

Saturday Night Live

1975 · Mars Blackmon, Self (uncredited)

The American Film Institute Salute to ...

1973 · Self

Great Performances

1971 · Self

The Oscars

1953 · Self, Self - Audience Member

Boner

— · Writer, Director, Producer

Gordon Hemingway & the Realm of Cthulhu

Gordon Hemingway & the Realm of Cthulhu

— · Producer

Liberty

— · Producer

Spike Lee · Virelixia