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John Wesley Snipes (born July 31, 1962 in Orlando,
Florida) is an United States|American actor and
producer. He is probably best known for his role
as the eponymous vampire hunter in the Blade
(movie)|Blade trilogy of movies.

==Biography==

Snipes grew up in The Bronx and decided early on
that he wanted to be a dancer until he took some
acting classes. He started the Fiorello H.
LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and
Performing Arts|High School for the Performing
Arts, but his mother divorced and they moved back
to Orlando. He graduated from a Florida high
school.  While in Florida, Snipes did puppet
theatre, mime and musical theatre in competitions
and festivals. He then attended the Purchase
College|State University of New York College at
Purchase and graduated with a Bachelors of Fine
Arts in 1985.

He did dinner theater and regional productions. An
agent spotted Snipes and got him a role in
Wildcats (1986). He often plays tough characters
in action movies, and demonstrates considerable
athletic and fighting ablity. He is interested in
martial arts, including Karate, Kung Fu and
Capoeira, and this interest is reflected in the
fact that many of his movies make reference to Sun
Tzu's Art of War.

Snipes was married from 1985 to 1990 and has a son
from this marriage. His second child, a daughter
born in 2001, was with Korea|Korean painter Nikki
Park.

In 1991, Snipes formed the independent production
company Amen Ra Films. It co-produced the first
two Blade films and other titles that Snipes has
starred in.

Wesley Snipes played drug kingpin Nino Brown in
New Jack City.

In 2000, a security / paramilitary group called
the Royal Guard Of Amen-Ra,
Inc.http://web.archive.org/web/19991013130638/http
://cooljobs.com/coolbin/amenra.asp (owned by Amen
Ra Films) filed BATF papers in moves to set up a
security training center next to the Tama-Re
compound of the United Nuwaubian Nation of Moors
in Georgia.  The Nuwaubians claimed Snipes as one
of their own, though a spokeswoman for Snipes
denied any connection.

In 2005 Snipes was detained at Johannesburg
International Airport for allegedly trying to pass
through the airport with a fake South African
passport. Snipes later told South African
officials that he had applied for the South
African papers not only for himself but also for
his family. During the interview, it was
established that Snipes did indeed have fraudulent
South African documentation in his possession.
Snipes and his attorney agreed to cooperate with
the South African Inspectorate of the National
Immigration Branch in their investigation. Snipes
was allowed to return home because he had a valid
U.S. passport, but the South African authorities
reduced his immigration status to undesireable as
a result of the incident. To date, there is no
obvious or apparent reason exactly why Snipes had
entered South Africa on forged papers.

==Selected Filmography==
*Wildcats (1986)
*Major League (movie)|Major League (1989)
*New Jack City (1991)
*White Men Can't Jump (1992)
*Passenger 57 (1992)
*Demolition Man (1993)
*Drop Zone (Movie) |Drop Zone (1994)
*To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar
(1995) 
*Murder at 1600 (1997)
*Blade (movie)|Blade (1998)
*The Art of War (movie)|The Art of War (2000)
*Blade II (2002)
*Blade: Trinity (2004)

==External links==
*imdb name|id=0000648|name=Wesley Snipes
*http://home.nyc.rr.com/alweisel/uswesleysnipes.ht
m Sweet & Sour Snipes
*http://www.wesleysnipes.com WesleySnipes.com -
Wesley Snipes Fan Site