Auteur Directors Codexery

Spike Lee

A visionary filmmaker chronicling race, justice, and the American experience.

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He is an American filmmaker and actor whose work explores race relations, urban crime, and the role of media.[1] Shelton Jackson Lee, who goes by the nickname "Spike", came into the world on March 20, 1957, in Atlanta, Georgia.[1][2]

Life and work

Lee enrolled in Morehouse College, where he made his first student film, Last Hustle in Brooklyn.[3] Lee's 1989 film Do the Right Thing focused on racial tension in a Brooklyn neighborhood.[4] The film earned Lee his first Oscar nomination, for Best Original Screenplay.[5] In 1992, Lee released Malcolm X, a biographical epic starring Denzel Washington.[6]

He is a tenured professor at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts and its artistic director.[7][8] The year 1985 saw Lee start production on his debut feature-length movie, She's Gotta Have It, a project that propelled him into prominence.[9] For that film, Lee handled the writing, directing, producing, acting, and editing, all while working with a budget of $175,000.[9] In 2019, Lee secured his initial competitive Oscar, winning the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for the film BlacKkKlansman.[10]

What the cited sources add

The Smoking Gun reported that Lee tweeted an incorrect address for George Zimmerman, causing an elderly couple to flee their home.[11] The McClains filed a negligence lawsuit against Lee, which a judge dismissed as already settled.[11][12] Lee's NYU faculty page notes he launched the advertising agency Spike DDB in 1997.[7] That page also states Lee is a five-time Oscar nominee and received an Honorary Oscar in 2015.[7]

That article adds that her social security checks paid for Lee's college and film school tuition.[13] The critic Anderson ranked Malcolm X among the best films of the 1990s.[14] An article by Sandra Gonzalez notes that Lee's grandmother, Zimmie Reatha Shelton, spent half a century working as an art teacher in Georgia.[13]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Spike Lee" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Directors' 100 Greatest Films of All Time", BFI; Goldberg, "The 20 Greatest Directors of All Time", Backstage, 2025-08-19 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Spike Lee" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Spike Lee Biography (1956?-)", Film Reference; "7" (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Spike Lee" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "SHELTON "SPIKE" LEE '79", Morehouse College, April 9, 2012 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Spike Lee" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Siskel & Ebert 1989-Best of 1989 (2of2)", YouTube, December 17, 2010; Roger Ebert, "The Great Movies", rogerebert.com (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Spike Lee" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Kim Basinger Rips Academy for Snubbing Spike Lee's Film", Jet, April 16, 1990; Higgins, "Hollywood Flashback: A Snubbed Spike Lee Trashed Wim Wenders at Cannes in 1989", The Hollywood Reporter, May 12, 2018; Hill, "Q&A with Spike Lee on Making 'Do the Right Thing'", New York, April 7, 2008; Ominira-Bluejack, 'Shèun, "Look To Her, Moor", kalaharireview.com, August 27, 2024 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Spike Lee" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Ebert, "The Best 10 Movies of 1992", rogerebert.com, December 31, 1992; Anderson, "The Best Films of the 1990s", Combustible Celluloid (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  7. "Professor web page", NYU Tish Directory. facts only, no text reused. tisch.nyu.edu
  8. Wikipedia, "Spike Lee" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Professor web page", NYU Tish Directory; Sandra Gonzalez, "Spike Lee strives to be on the right side of history", February 13, 2019 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Spike Lee" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "She's Gotta Have It (1986)", Box Office Mojo, August 26, 1986 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  10. Wikipedia, "Spike Lee" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: ""BlacKkKlansman" wins Best Adapted Screenplay", March 25, 2019; "The 91st Academy Awards | 2019", Oscars.org | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, April 15, 2019; Ominira-Bluejack, 'Shèun, "Look To Her, Moor", kalaharireview.com, August 27, 2024; "Oscars 2019 Spike Lee says Green Book 'not my cup of tea'", YouTube, February 25, 2019; "Spike Lee on 'Green Book's' Controversial Oscars Best Picture Win", The Hollywood Reporter, February 24, 2019; "Spike Lee Gets 'Driving Miss Daisy' Deja Vu From 'Green Book' Win: 'Ref Made a en.wikipedia.org
  11. "Elderly Couple Sues Spike Lee Over Tweet", The Smoking Gun, November 8, 2013. facts only, no text reused. thesmokinggun.com
  12. Wikipedia, "Spike Lee" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Elderly Couple Sues Spike Lee Over Tweet", The Smoking Gun, November 8, 2013; "Spike Lee apologizes for retweeting wrong Zimmerman address", CNN, March 29, 2012; Muskal, "Trayvon Martin: Spike Lee settles with family forced to flee home", Los Angeles Times, March 29, 2012; "Elderly Couple Sues Spike Lee Over Tweet", The Smoking Gun, November 8, 2013; Colleen Curry, "Spike Lee Sued Over George Zimmerman Tweet", ABC News, November 11, 2013; "Elderly Couple Sues Spike Lee Over Tweet", The Smoking Gun, November 8, 2013; TV, "Judge Dismisses Laws en.wikipedia.org
  13. Sandra Gonzalez, "Spike Lee strives to be on the right side of history", February 13, 2019. facts only, no text reused. cnn.com
  14. Anderson, "The Best Films of the 1990s", Combustible Celluloid. facts only, no text reused. combustiblecelluloid.com

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Spike Lee (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

Also in the Codexery

Spike Lee · Auteur Film Directors

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Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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