Known for Directing
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.
Born
March 20, 1957 (age 69)
Birthplace
Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Filmography
277 films, 52 shows


Highest 2 Lowest
2025 · 2h 13m
country: United States
When a titan music mogul, widely known as having the "best ears in the business", is targeted with a ransom plot, he is jammed up in a life-or-death moral dilemma.


David Byrne's American Utopia
2020 · 1h 45m
country: United States
A filmed version of David Byrne's Broadway show, a unifying musical celebration that inspires audiences to connect to each other and to the global community.


Da 5 Bloods
2020 · 2h 35m
country: United States
Four African-American Vietnam veterans return to Vietnam. They are in search of the remains of their fallen squad leader and the promise of buried treasure. These heroes battle forces of humanity and nature while confronted by the lasting ravages of the immorality of the Vietnam War.


3 Brothers: Radio Raheem, Eric Garner and George Floyd
2020 · 2m
country: United States
3 Brothers compiles Radio Raheem’s death scenes from Do the Right Thing with real footage of the deaths of Eric Garner in 2014 and George Floyd last week. All three men, including the fictional one, were killed by white police officers restraining them by their necks on the street. The film premiered during Lee’s appearance on CNN’s I Can’t Breathe: Black Men Living and Dying in America on May 31, anchored by Don Lemon.


New York New York
2020 · 4m
country: United States
Spike Lee's video valentine to New York City during the Coronavirus outbreak of 2020.


Land of the Free
2019 · 5m
country: Unknown
Music video by The Killers performing Land of the Free. Copyright Island Records, a division of UMG Recordings, Inc.


BlacKkKlansman
2018 · 2h 16m
country: United States
Colorado Springs, late 1970s. Ron Stallworth, an African American police officer, and Flip Zimmerman, his Jewish colleague, run an undercover operation to infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan.


Pass Over
2018 · 1h 15m
country: Unknown
Moses and Kitch, two young black men, chat their way through a long, aimless day on a Chicago street corner. Periodically ducking bullets and managing visits from a genial but ominous stranger and an overtly hostile police officer, Moses and Kitch rely on their poetic, funny, at times profane banter to get them through a day that is a hopeless retread of every other day, even as they continue to dream of their deliverance.


Rodney King
2017 · 52m
country: United States
Roger Guenveur Smith gives voice to the man at the center of the brutal police beating that helped fuel the 1992 LA uprising.


Be Truly Free
2017 · 2m
country: United States
Spike Lee explains the dream.


2 Fists Up
2016 · 58m
country: Unknown
When University of Missouri football players threatened to boycott their game with Brigham Young University last November unless president Tim Wolfe resigned, they made news far beyond the sports pages and Columbia, Missouri. But that was only one chapter in a tale that began long before that - a tale that director Spike Lee unspools in this Lil' Joints documentary for ESPN Films. Yes, the athletes played a significant role in forcing Wolfe's resignation, but it was really the female organizers of the Concerned Student 1950 movement, as well as a man, Jonathan Butler, willing to starve himself, who stood tallest in the confrontation with institutional racism at Mizzou. Indeed, their courage and resolve brings hope to the message chanted at the end of the film: "We gonna be all right."


Michael Jackson's Journey from Motown to Off the Wall
2016 · 1h 33m
country: United States
Director Spike Lee chronicles Michael Jackson's early rise to fame.


Chi-Raq
2015 · 2h 7m
country: United States
A modern day adaptation of the ancient Greek play Lysistrata by Aristophanes, set against the backdrop of gang violence in Chicago.


Spike Lee's Lil' Joints: The Greatest Catch Ever
2015
country: Unknown


Da Sweet Blood of Jesus
2015 · 2h 3m
country: United States
Dr. Hess Green becomes cursed by a mysterious ancient African artifact and is overwhelmed with a newfound thirst for blood. Soon after his transformation he enters into a dangerous romance with Ganja Hightower that questions the very nature of love, addiction, sex, and status.


Ray Allen/AKA- Jesus Shuttlesworth
2015 · 15m
country: Unknown
Spike Lee takes us into the world of NBA nicknames, focusing on how Ray Allen's starring role in Lee's HE GOT GAME, forever associated him with his character, Jesus Shuttlesworth.
Throw Like A Girl
Throw Like A Girl
2014 · 16m
country: Unknown
The best summer of her life is only the beginning for 13-year-old Mo’ne Davis. With the support of her family and passion for sports, Mo’ne stands for girls who want to play with the boys. She embodies the spirit that drives an athlete to push further, work harder, and overcome challenges. Are you ready to listen to her open letter, America?


Jerrod Carmichael: Love at the Store
2014 · 54m
country: United States
Rising comedy star Jerrod Carmichael takes to the stage of The Comedy Store in Hollywood, CA where he comically subverts such subjects as poverty, wealth, crime and race and presents his unique take on national tragedies, female empowerment, and more.


Do The Right Thing 25 Year Anniversary A Beats Music Experience
2014 · 23m
country: Unknown
Spike Lee and others reflect on this impactful film, more than two decades later.


Katt Williams: Priceless: Afterlife
2014 · 58m
country: United States
Katt Williams performs in an all-new stand-up special recorded in front of a live audience at the Citizens Bank Arena in Ontario, California. Williams takes the stage and launches into an hour of frenetic stand-up comedy, covering such topics as the allure of California weed dispensaries; how America handles tragedies; getting rid of racism in 2014; his inspirations and his favorite TV show; homophobia and the first openly gay players in major sports; aggressive police tactics; being sent to a mental institution; doctors and the problem with drug commercials; the pros and cons of being single versus being in a relationship; and more.
Amex Unstaged Pharrell Williams Live at the Apollo
Amex Unstaged Pharrell Williams Live at the Apollo
2014
country: Unknown
Pharrell performs for the "American Express Unstaged" music series, directed by Spike Lee, live streamed from The Apollo Theatre.
I Can't Breathe
I Can't Breathe
2014 · 45m
country: United States
This short film combines footage of the chokehold death of Eric Garner at the hands of the New York City Police Department and an interview with an acquaintance of his.


Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth
2013 · 1h 30m
country: United States
Mike Tyson's one-man show is a fascinating journey into his storied life and career. MIKE TYSON: UNDISPUTED TRUTH is a rare, personal look inside the life and mind of one of the most feared men ever to wear the heavyweight crown. Directed by Academy Award® nominee Spike Lee, this riveting one-man show goes beyond the headlines, behind the scenes and between the lines to deliver a must-see theatrical knockout.


Oldboy
2013 · 1h 44m
country: United States
A man has only three and a half days and limited resources to discover why he was imprisoned in a nondescript room for 20 years without any explanation.


Bad 25
2012 · 2h 11m
country: United States
Spike Lee pays tribute to Michael Jackson's Bad on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the epochal album, offering behind-the-scenes footage of Jackson recording the album and interviews with confidants, musicians, choreographers, and such music-world superstars as Kanye West, Sheryl Crow, Cee Lo Green and Mariah Carey.


Red Hook Summer
2012 · 2h 5m
country: United States
When his mom deposits him at the Red Hook housing project in Brooklyn to spend the summer with the grandfather he’s never met, young Flik may as well have landed on Mars. Fresh from his cushy life in Atlanta, he’s bored and friendless, and his strict grandfather, Enoch, a firebrand preacher, is bent on getting him to accept Jesus Christ as his personal savior. Only Chazz, the feisty girl from church, provides a diversion from the drudgery. As hot summer simmers and Sunday mornings brim with Enoch’s operatic sermons, things turn anything but dull as people’s conflicting agendas collide.


Passing Strange
2009 · 2h 15m
country: United States
A young black artist leaves his Los Angeles digs and travels to Europe to find himself. A theatrical stage production of the original Broadway musical.


Do the Right Thing: 20 Years Later
2009 · 36m
country: United States
In this documentary directed by Spike Lee, he interviews the cast and crew of his 1989 film DO THE RIGHT THING. It also includes footage from a twentieth-anniversary screening of the film.


Kobe Doin' Work
2009 · 1h 28m
country: United States
A documentary following Kobe Bryant during one day of the 2008 NBA playoffs.


Miracle at St. Anna
2008 · 2h 40m
country: Italy
Miracle at St. Anna chronicles the story of four American soldiers who are members of the all-black 92nd "Buffalo Soldier" Division stationed in Tuscany, Italy during World War II.


Inside Man
2006 · 2h 9m
country: United States
When an armed, masked gang enter a Manhattan bank, lock the doors and take hostages, the detective assigned to effect their release enters negotiations preoccupied with corruption charges he is facing.


All the Invisible Children
2006 · 2h 4m
country: France
Seven short films - each one focused on the plight of a different child protagonist.


Jesus Children of America
2005 · 20m
country: Unknown
A Brooklyn teen learns she was born HIV-positive.


Sucker Free City
2004 · 1h 53m
country: United States
The film follows three young men as they are drawn into lives of crime. Nick (Crowley) uses his entry-level corporate job to commit credit card fraud and deals drugs on the side. K-Luv (Mackie) is a member of the "V-Dubs", an African-American street gang. Lincoln (Leung) is a rising figure in the Chinese mafia. Gentrification forces Nick's family to move out of their home in the Mission District into Hunter's Point where they are harassed by the V-Dubs. K-Luv's side business of selling bootleg compact discs leads him to enlist Nick's help to bootleg CDs and to negotiate a truce with Lincoln. Lincoln conducts an affair with his boss' daughter Angela (Carpio), a Stanford student engaged to a medical student classmate.


She Hate Me
2004 · 2h 19m
country: France
Fired from his job, a former executive turns to impregnating wealthy lesbians for profit.


25th Hour
2002 · 2h 15m
country: United States
On the eve of a seven-year prison sentence, a New York drug dealer spends his final day of freedom confronting his past, his relationships, and the choices that led to his downfall in a city still reeling from 9/11.


Ten Minutes Older: The Trumpet
2002 · 1h 32m
country: China
Ten Minutes Older is a 2002 film project consisting of two compilation feature films entitled The Trumpet and The Cello. The project was conceived by the producer Nicolas McClintock as a reflection on the theme of time at the turn of the Millennium. Fifteen celebrated film-makers were invited to create their own vision of what time means in ten minutes of film.


Jim Brown: All-American
2002 · 2h 20m
country: United States
The film takes a look at the life of NFL hall-of-famer Jim Brown. The film delves into his life—past, present and future—focusing on his athletic career, acting and activism. Many people from Hollywood and sports backgrounds were interviewed for the film. Members of Brown's family were also interviewed for the film.


Come Rain or Come Shine
2001 · 4m
country: United States
Spike Lee's tribute to the New York Yankees.


The Concert for New York City
2001 · 4h 56m
country: United States
The Concert for New York City (2001) captures the star-studded benefit held at Madison Square Garden on October 20, 2001, honoring the city’s resilience and the heroism of first responders after 9/11. Attended by thousands of firefighters, police officers, and rescue workers, the concert features performances by Paul McCartney, The Who, Elton John, Billy Joel, and other music legends in a powerful tribute to unity, courage, and recovery.


A Huey P. Newton Story
2001 · 1h 26m
country: United States
The story of how the radical Huey P. Newton developed the Black Panther Party based on his 10-point program for social reform.


The Making of 'Bamboozled'
2001 · 53m
country: United States
A behind-the-scenes look at the making of Spike Lee's satirical take on the American entertainment industry.


Bamboozled
2000 · 2h 16m
country: United States
Frustrated when network brass reject his sitcom idea, producer Pierre Delacroix pitches the worst idea he can think of in an attempt to get fired: a 21st century minstrel show. The network not only airs it, but it becomes a smash hit.


The Original Kings of Comedy
2000 · 1h 55m
country: United States
The house is rockin' and the laughs are rollin' as comedians Steve Harvey (The Steve Harvey Show), D.L. Hughley (The Hughleys), Cedric The Entertainer (The Steve Harvey Show) and Bernie Mac (Life) meet in this riotously comedy summit directed by Spike Lee.


Bernie Mac: Live from Charlotte
2000 · 29m
country: Unknown
Bernie Mac on the "Kings of Comedy tour", this time live from Charlotte, N.C.


Summer of Sam
1999 · 2h 22m
country: United States
Spike Lee's take on the "Son of Sam" murders in New York City during the summer of 1977 centering on the residents of an Italian-American Northeast Bronx neighborhood who live in fear and distrust of one another.


Pavarotti & Friends 99 for Guatemala and Kosovo
1999 · 1h 40m
country: Italy
The Pavarotti & Friends for Guatemala and Kosovo concert was held on June 1, 1999, and raised $1 million for War Child programs to aid young refugees from Kosovo and Guatemala. The concert featured guest performances by Mariah Carey, Ricky Martin, B.B. King, Joe Cocker, Boyzone, Lionel Richie, Gianni Morandi, Renato Zero and Gloria Estefan.


John Leguizamo: Freak
1998 · 1h 30m
country: United States
John Leguizamo's semi-falsified, one-man stand-up performance as...himself. This is his autobiographical story, about his life growing up, and his journey to try to be accepted by his father. We see this story through a bizarre myriad of characters and situations, which include the eccentric Uncle Sanny, the Fat Boy Called Bitch (John's little brother, Poochie), his mom, his evil grandmothers, and Lee Stratsberg, not to mention a brief appearance by Cantinflas as God.


Pavarotti & Friends - For the Children of Liberia
1998
country: Unknown
The Pavarotti & Friends for the Children of Liberia was held on June 9, 1998, in support of the War Child charity, specifically to benefit the orphans of war-torn Liberia. The concert was directed by Spike Lee and featured guest performances by Stevie Wonder, Celine Dion, Jon Bon Jovi, Spice Girls, Trisha Yearwood, Natalie Cole and The Corrs.


He Got Game
1998 · 2h 16m
country: United States
A basketball player's father must try to convince him to go to a college so he can get a shorter prison sentence.


4 Little Girls
1997 · 1h 42m
country: United States
On September 15, 1963, a bomb destroyed a black church in Birmingham, Alabama, killing four young girls who were there for Sunday school. It was a crime that shocked the nation--and a defining moment in the history of the civil-rights movement. Spike Lee re-examines the full story of the bombing, including a revealing interview with former Alabama Governor George Wallace.


HIStory on Film, Volume II
1997 · 1h 46m
country: Tanzania
Nearly 2 hours of the short films that made HIStory... Including never before released short films.


Get on the Bus
1996 · 2h 1m
country: United States
Fifteen Black men gather in South Central LA to take a cross-country bus trip to attend the Million Man March in Washington, DC in October 1995. Among the attendees are an eclectic set of characters, including a laid-off aircraft worker, a man whose at-risk son is handcuffed to him, a Black Republican, a former gangsta, a Hollywood actor, a cop of mixed racial background, and a white bus driver. All make the trek discussing issues surrounding the March, including manhood, religion, politics, sexuality, and race.


Girl 6
1996 · 1h 48m
country: United States
A struggling actress in New York City takes a job as a phone sex operator.


Lumière & Company
1995 · 1h 28m
country: France
40 international directors were asked to make a short film using the original Cinematographe invented by the Lumière Brothers, working under conditions similar to those of 1895. There were three rules: (1) The film could be no longer than 52 seconds, (2) no synchronized sound was permitted, and (3) no more than three takes.


Clockers
1995 · 2h 8m
country: United States
Strike is a young city drug pusher under the tutelage of drug lord Rodney Little. When a night manager at a fast-food restaurant is found with four bullets in his body, Strike’s older brother turns himself in as the killer. Detective Rocco Klein doesn’t buy the story, however, setting out to find the truth, and it seems that all the fingers point toward Strike & Rodney.


Crooklyn
1994 · 1h 54m
country: United States
From Spike Lee comes this vibrant semi-autobiographical portrait of a school-teacher, her stubborn jazz-musician husband and their five kids living in '70s Brooklyn.


Malcolm X
1992 · 3h 22m
country: United States
A tribute to the controversial black activist and leader of the struggle for black liberation. He hit bottom during his imprisonment in the '50s, he became a Black Muslim and then a leader in the Nation of Islam. His assassination in 1965 left a legacy of self-determination and racial pride.


Prince and the N.P.G.: Diamonds and Pearls Video Collection
1992
country: Unknown
Prince and the new power generation music video


Jungle Fever
1991 · 2h 12m
country: United States
A successful and married black man contemplates having an affair with a white girl from work. He's quite rightly worried that the racial difference would make an already taboo relationship even worse.
Spike Lee Presents Mike Tyson
Spike Lee Presents Mike Tyson
1990 · 6m
country: United States
Spike Lee interviews Mike Tyson and those around him.


Mo' Better Blues
1990 · 2h 9m
country: United States
Talented but self-centered trumpeter Bleek Gilliam is obsessed with his music and indecisiveness about his girlfriends Indigo and Clarke. But when he is forced to come to the aid of his manager and childhood friend, Bleek finds his world more fragile than he ever imagined.


Spike & Co.: Do It a Cappella
1990 · 1h 25m
country: United States
Spike Lee & Company: Do It a Cappella is a 1990 PBS documentary, directed by Spike Lee, around the topic of A cappella music. Artists that performed as part of the documentary include The Mint Juleps, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Rockapella and The Persuasions. It also stars Spike Lee, Debbie Allen and a cameo appearance by Samuel L. Jackson.


Do the Right Thing
1989 · 2h
country: United States
Sal is the Italian owner of a pizzeria in Brooklyn. A neighborhood local, Buggin' Out, becomes upset when he sees that the pizzeria's Wall of Fame exhibits only Italian actors. Buggin' Out believes a pizzeria in a black neighborhood should showcase black actors, but Sal disagrees. The wall becomes a symbol of racism and hate to Buggin' Out and to other people in the neighborhood, and tensions rise.


School Daze
1988 · 2h 1m
country: United States
Fraternity and sorority members clash with other students at a historically black college during homecoming weekend.


Horn of Plenty
1986 · 5m
country: United States
Struggling jazz musician Cecil busks on a Brooklyn street corner to make some money for his family.


She's Gotta Have It
1986 · 1h 24m
country: United States
The story of Nola Darling's simultaneous sexual relationships with three different men is told by her and by her partners and other friends. All three men wanted her to commit solely to them; Nola resists being "owned" by a single partner.


Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads
1983 · 1h
country: United States
Zack Homer takes over managing the barbershop after Joe is killed for trying to rip off his "investor", Mr. Lovejoy. All Zack wants to do is run a traditional barbershop giving traditional haircuts, but modern styles have passed him by and business is slow. One evening, Mr. Lovejoy shows up to offer Zack the same deal he gave to Joe. It could turn his business around, but what will he have to give in return?
Sarah
Sarah
1981 · 25m
country: Unknown
The illegal affairs of a recently deceased barbershop owner gets passed down to his manager.


The Answer
1980 · 40m
country: Unknown
A Black screenwriter is hired to write the $50,000,000 remake of The Birth of a Nation.