Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee was born on the 20th of March 1957 in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
He is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and author.
His work typically explored race relations, issues within the black community, the role of media in contemporary life, urban crime and poverty, and other social and political issues.
Spike is the son of Jacqueline Carroll a teacher of arts and black literature and William James Edward Lee III, a jazz musician and composer. Spike is the oldest of six children.
When he was young his family moved from Atlanta to Brooklyn, New York.
It was there his mother nicknamed him "Spike".
He attended John Dewey High School in Brooklyn's Gravesend neighbourhood.
Lee went on to study at Morehouse College, a historically black college in Atlanta, where he made his first student film “Last Hustle in Brooklyn”.
He took film courses at Clark Atlanta University and graduated with a B.A. in mass communication from Morehouse.
He also studied at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, where he made the short film
“Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads” Lee submitted the film as part of his master's degree thesis earning him a Master of Fine Arts in film and Television.
His class at Tisch School of the Arts also included future filmmakers Ang Lee (Director of “The Ice Storm”, “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” and “Brokeback Mountain”) and Ernest Dickerson who went on to be Spike Lee’s cinematographer for many years and a director in his own right directing nine feature films including “Juice” (1992) that starred Tupac Shakur.
Spike directed his debut feature film “She's Gotta Have It” in 1986,
Lee has gone on to direct another 23 feature films to date including the hugely influential and critically acclaimed “Do the Right Thing” (1989), “Malcolm X” (1992) and
“BlacKkKlansman” (2018).
Lee has authored 13 books including memoirs, compilations of interviews and children’s books.
In 1991, Lee taught a course at Harvard about filmmaking.
In 1993, he began to teach at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts in the Graduate Film Program and in 2002, he was appointed as artistic director of the school.
Spike Lee is now a tenured professor at NYU.
