HOLLYWOOD -- Vin Diesel is revving up his engines so he can finally move into the fast lane.
In The Fast and the Furious that opens Friday, Diesel stars as the head of an illegal street racing team, and will be seen later this summer in Diablo and Knockaround Guys.
Exciting as this may be, what lies ahead gives Diesel pause.
Universal Pictures is developing a series of films based on the character he played in the sci-fi thriller Pitch Black and he's being touted as a possible evil terminator in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.
"There are moments when I am awed by the luck I've had, but it's all balanced by the struggle it took to get this far," says Diesel.
Raised in a housing project in New York's Greenwich Village, Diesel started acting when he was seven. "A couple my friends and I snuck into an old theatre in Manhattan with the idea of vandalizing it. This woman caught us. Instead of reporting us to the police she gave us a script to learn and paid us $20 a week to be in plays."
This pleased Diesel's stepfather who was a theatre director in New York.
Diesel continued working on stage in off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway shows, gaining a great deal of experience, but making little money.
"When I was 19, I started working at a bouncer for several clubs. It was really the only work suitable for me. I had an imposing look and the right physique and was no co-ordinated enough to be a waiter."
During the day, Diesel would go to auditions and take acting classes and dream of the day he'd act in a movie.
"Being a bouncer is a dangerous occupation. A friend of mine was shot and another guy was slit with a razor blade. I wanted out."
Diesel's exit card came in the form of two films he wrote, produced and acted in. The first was the autobiographical short film Multi-Racial and the second a feature drama called Strays.
Both films were hits on the festival circuit but neither made it into wide release.
"The people who needed to see my movies saw them. Steven Spielberg saw Multi-Facial and wrote the character of Private Carparzo in Saving Private Ryan for me." Though his character is the first of Tom Hanks' platoon to die, Hollywood got a glimpse of Diesel.
His imposing physique got him cast as the dangerous criminal Riddick in Pitch Black and his friendship with Matt Damon and Ben Affleck earned him a role as an illegal trader in Boiler Room.
"The movies opened on the same day. Pitch Black showed Hollywood that I could open a box-office movie and Boiler Room showed them I could act."
Diesel says it wasn't until the release of the Pitch Black DVD "that audiences finally put a name to my face. They also clamoured for more of Riddick."
The first of the possible three Pitch Black sequels will be called The Chronicles of Riddick. "I see Riddick as a kind of Conan of the future or an Indiana Jones."
Diesel has also been asked to write, act and possibly direct Doormen, a film based on his years as a bouncer.
Celebrity definitely has its perks, but it also has its drawbacks. "People now demand to know things about me that threaten my art. I have to be as clean a slate as possible.
"The less audiences know about you, the more they can believe in you as a character. Monica Lewinsky could never be an actress. She has way too much baggage. Right now, people don't have preconceived notions about who I am. That's the way I want it to remain."
This is the reason Diesel will not talk about his racial heritage, his twin brother Paul Vincent, a film editor, or his girlfriend, former Playboy playmate Summer Altice.
"You can ask all you want about those things but you won't get any answers."
More Artists
