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.
90 movies · 35 shows
AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to Eddie Murphy
2026·6.0
Ladies & Gentlemen... 50 Years of SNL Music
2025·7.8
Samuel L. Jackson: Did I Stutter?
2023·9.0
The Moviemakers: Spike Lee
2023·0.0
Denzel Washington: A Model American
2022·7.2
Gold Blooded
2022·0.0
Sidney
2022·7.0
A Daughter's Tribute to Her Father: Souleymane Cissé
2022·0.0
A Choice of Weapons: Inspired by Gordon Parks
2021·6.8
Chadwick Boseman: Portrait of an Artist
2021·8.0
Breslin and Hamill: Deadline Artists
2018·7.1
Unbanned: The Legend of AJ1
2018·6.8
Plankton Salesmen
2017·0.0
Be Truly Free
2017·0.0
Birth of a Movement
2017·6.4
Michael Jackson's Journey from Motown to Off the Wall
2016·7.0
NBA 2K16’s Livin’ Da Dream: A Spike Lee Joint
2015·0.0
Spike Lee's Lil' Joints: The Greatest Catch Ever
2015·0.0
French Cinema Mon Amour
2015·5.2
Director Spike Lee's New York City
2015·0.0
Champs
2015·6.3
Ray Allen/AKA- Jesus Shuttlesworth
2015·0.0
Do The Right Thing 25 Year Anniversary A Beats Music Experience
2014·0.0
Life's Essentials with Ruby Dee
2014·1.5
We the People: From Crispus Attucks to President Barack Obama
2014·0.0
Bad 25
2012·7.3
Red Hook Summer
2012·5.4
Yo! The Story of ‘Yo! MTV Raps’
2012·5.0
Brooklyn Boheme
2012·6.8
A Man's Story
2011·6.9
Guest
2011·6.0
On the Shoulders of Giants
2011·6.3
Four Days in October
2010·6.6
Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. The New York Knicks
2010·7.7
PoliWood
2009·6.5
Do the Right Thing: 20 Years Later
2009·7.0
Kobe Doin' Work
2009·6.5
40 x 15: The Forty Years of the Directors' Fortnight
2008·5.0
Beyond Wiseguys: Italian Americans & the Movies
2008·7.0
Pixote In Memoriam
2007·7.3
Lights, Action, Music
2007·7.0
Life O' The Party: On the Road with Prince and the New Power Generation
2005·0.0
Street Fight
2005·6.9
How to Eat Your Watermelon in White Company (and Enjoy It)
2005·7.2
By Any Means Necessary: The Making of 'Malcolm X'
2005·6.0
Through the Fire
2005·7.1
Best Sellers or: Peter Sellers and 'Dr. Strangelove'
2004·5.8
No Fighting in the War Room Or: 'Dr Strangelove' and the Nuclear Threat
2004·5.8
Five Directors On The Battle of Algiers
2004·10.0
The Evolution of an American Filmmaker
2003·7.3
New York at the Movies
2002·9.0
It's Black Entertainment
2002·8.7
The Making and Meaning of 'We Are Family'
2002·9.0
3 A.M.
2001·5.8
The Making of 'Bamboozled'
2001·5.5
Lisa Picard Is Famous
2000·4.6
Michael Jordan to the Max
2000·7.5
Summer of Sam
1999·6.5
4 Little Girls
1997·7.2
The Fine Art of Separating People from Their Money
1996·5.5
When We Were Kings
1996·7.6
The Universal Story
1996·8.0
Girl 6
1996·5.0
Lumière & Company
1995·6.3
Clockers
1995·6.7
Below the Rim
1995·8.0
Drop Squad
1994·3.5
Hoop Dreams
1994·7.6
Crooklyn
1994·6.8
A Century of Cinema
1994·8.3
Seven Songs for Malcolm X
1993·10.0
Farewell, Babylon!
1993·0.0
The Last Party
1993·5.2
Malcolm X
1992·7.6
Our Hollywood Education
1992·8.0
Sous les marches du palais
1991·0.0
Jungle Fever
1991·6.4
MTV's 10th Anniversary Special
1991·0.0
Branford Marsalis: Steep
1991·0.0
Lonely in America
1990·4.4
Mo' Better Blues
1990·6.5
Spike & Co.: Do It a Cappella
1990·0.0
Spike & Co. Do It a-Cappella
1990·10.0
Decade
1989·8.5
Making 'Do the Right Thing'
1989·6.9
First Works
1989·7.0
Do the Right Thing
1989·7.8
Public Enemy: Fight the Power... Live!
1989·0.0
School Daze
1988·5.7
She's Gotta Have It
1986·6.6