Wesley Trent Snipes was born on 31 July 1962, in Orlando, Florida USA. Wesley is an Afro-American actor who has appeared in a number of well-known movies such as “Demolition Man”, “7 Seconds” and “White Men Can’t Jump”. However, many people recognize him best as the vampire hunter in the “Blade” trilogy.
So just how rich is Wesley Snipes? Due to a successful acting career, Wesley Snipes’ net worth is estimated by sources at $10 million, accumulated over a career beginning when he was 23 years of age.
Wesley Snipes Net Worth $10 Million
Wesley was actually raised in The Bronx, New York City, but eventually finished his education at Jones High School in Orlando, Florida, before moving back to New York. In his youth, Snipes practiced martial arts, and when he was 23 a talent agent noticed him in a martial arts competition. From that moment his life took a positive turn, and Wesley Snipes had the opportunity to show his strength in a quite different field – the film industry. His debut movie was “Wildcats” in which he starred with Goldie Hawn. Subsequently Snipes appeared in an episode of the television series “Miami Vice”, in the film “Streets of Gold” and in a Michael Jackson music video “Bad”. The film director Spike Lee saw the video and decided to offer Snipes a few roles in his movies. Consequently, Wesley Snipes become more noticed, and his net worth rose considerably. Even though the majority of Wesley Snipes movies are action thrillers, he has also starred in a few comedies, such as “White Men Can’t Jump” and “Thanks for Everything”. Snipes will appear in the upcoming movie “Expendables 3”.
Wesley Snipes is not only an actor, but also a film producer. In 1991, Snipes established his own production company, “Amen-Ra films” and its subsidiary “Black Dot Media”. Moreover, together with his brother Snipes established a security firm “The Royal Guard of Amen-Ra”, which offers protection to celebrities. As a result, Wesley Snipes net worth has significantly increased.
It is worth mentioning that while being a successful actor, Wesley Snipes has not neglected martial arts. Snipes has a 5th degree black belt in Shotokan karate. He also practices kung fu, jiu-jitsu, capoeira and other styles of martial arts. It is no wonder that in the majority of films Snipes portrays tough guys such as athletes, police officers and drug dealers.
Away from the screen, thanks to his good looks Wesley Snipes has dated plenty of beautiful Hollywood actresses, for instance, Halle Berry and Jennifer Lopez. Snipes was married to April Spice , with whom he has a son, but his second marriage to the painter Nakyung Park has proven successful, and they have four children.
Despite his successful career and considerable capital, Wesley Snipes has had money related problems. The IRS discovered that Snipes had been avoiding paying taxes since 1996. In the period from 1996 to 2004 the actor earned $37.9 million dollars but had neglected to pay taxes and even forged documents. Subsequently, Wesley Snipes was sentenced to prison, spending 90% of a three year sentence in jail, and a fine of $17 million, to the IRS. Before going to prison, Wesley Snipes had a $53 million dollar capital, which was then considerably diminished.
Despite money troubles in the past Wesley Snipes is still wealthy. He owns a number of luxurious cars, big houses and apartments. He also owns the rights to the “Blade Trilogy”.
Actor, Martial Artist, Film Producer, Businessperson, Dancer, Singer
Education
High School of Performing Arts of Fiorello H. LaGuardia , Jones High School in Orlando, State University of New York at Purchase, Southwest College in Los Angeles, California
Nationality
American
Spouse
Nakyung Park (m. 2003), April Dubois (m. 1985–1990)
Best Actor Volpi Cup (54th Venice Film Festival, 1997), Image Awards - Outstanding Lead Actor, Blockbuster Entertainment Award - Favorite Actor
Nominations
Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, MTV Movie Awards, Black Reel Awards for Best Supporting Actor, Independent Spirit Awards
Movies
"Demolition Man" (1993), "7 Seconds", "White Men Can’t Jump (1992)", "Blade" (1998), "The Contractor" (2007), "Gallowwalkers" (2012), "Game Of Death", "The Expendables 3" (2014)
TV Shows
One Night Stand, H.E.L.P. (1990), The Player (2015), America's Dream (1996), Disappearing Acts (2000)
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Trademark
1
Deep commanding voice
2
Characters in his films, usually his own characters, frequently quote the literary classic "The Art of War", written by Sun Tzu around 500 B.C.E., which is widely regarded as the single best resource for training military special forces groups worldwide.
(2010, GQ magazine) You know, when I was doing films like White Men Can't Jump (1992) and the money was hefty, I didn't get it. I didn't know what you could do with it. Like, I've never been to Hawaii. I didn't know. I had no experience in 'Let's take some money and go to Hawaii and rent a chalet and live it up and champagne and da da da.' So I didn't go anywhere, I didn't do anything. I'm not saying I didn't have fun, but I didn't have the fun you would expect for a person who for all intents and purposes hit the lottery. I didn't do all the movie-star Hollywood things.
2
[his advice to aspiring actors] They should be very versatile. Versatility is what's going to give them the longevity. The world is opening up and a lot more stories and a lot more interesting scenes to portray in film. Versatility will help them. They must be able to see the world, learn the world, and bring it to their craft.
3
[on why he loves the sport of boxing] I love the idea of the man to man, against one another. I like that. I don't know why.
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I never really planned on making action films. It just kind of happened. I've focused primarily on acting and developing characters, but that has blossomed into a whole new venue I'm still young and fit enough to do. My love is still drama, though. Even if I play a straight action guy, I want to give him some depth and substance.
5
I have a great deal of fun playing Blade. The lifestyle of it, the controlled rebelliousness, is wonderful to me. And it's therapeutic, too. A role like this lets you vent.
6
I used to do puppet theatre and also mime and musical theatre in Florida for competitions and festivals, which was great. I was very much involved in theatre when I was in college. It's funny because all I wanted to do when I was young was to become a dancer and then I went to acting school, where they taught me great drama! And that was it, I became an actor and the rhythm went through the door. But I can still do some dancing, some choreography in my films and that's cool.
7
Certain roles are more challenging than others, but I haven't come across one yet that I can't tackle.
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I read that Asian women were bedroom generals. Some people think that means they're great in bed, but that's not the issue. They're talking about a place where the man is at his most vulnerable, where they have the most control. They don't have to beat him over the head to mow the lawn. They can whisper it in his ear and give him a kiss on the cheek and it's no problem. That's a general. (August 1998: Jet Magazine v.94 #13 pg.58)
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[on marriage] I don't understand the mandate of being together forever. The idea that you should do that is wrong. It makes us slaves to a societal mandate. You can still love, but it doesn't mean you have to be tethered to the flesh. [9.14.97: Toronto Sun newspaper: Interviewed by Liz Braun]
10
Lot of the scripts I've been in with other non-white actors haven't been great. Lot of non-white actors ain't all that great.
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Fact
1
Was set to star in Major League II (1994) reprising his role of Willie Mays Hayes, but gave up the project due to schedule conflicts. The role was recast with Omar Epps.
2
Was set to star in Miracle at St. Anna (2008) but had to leave the project due to tax problems which made him unable to travel to Italy, the film's principal shooting location. His intended role went to Derek Luke.
(April 2, 2013) New York City, USA. Released from McKean Federal Corrections where he had been serving time for federal tax evasion since 2010. He is under house arrest until his sentence ends, July 19, 2013.
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Pennsylvania, USA: Serving a prison sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution, McKean for misdemeanor failure to file U.S. federal income tax returns. Scheduled for release on July 19, 2013 (2010).
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The character of Raven from Tekken 5 (2004) was modeled after him.
7
Was Sylvester Stallone's original choice to play Hale Caesar in The Expendables (2010), but couldn't accept because of his tax issues made him unable to leave the United States.
8
Lives in Alpine, New Jersey.
9
(November 11, 2008) Attended the star-studded opening of Dubai's lavish Atlantis Palms resort. Guests were welcomed in style with a display of one million fireworks, said to be visible from space.
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Father of sons Alaafia Jehu-T Snipes, Akhenaten Kihwa-T Snipes, Alimayu Moa-T Snipes (born March 26, 2007) and daughter Iset Jua-T Snipes (born July 31, 2001) with wife Nakyung Park.
11
Received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7018 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on August 21, 1998.
On October 17, 2006, he was indicted on eight counts of tax fraud. He was ultimately found guilty and sentenced on April 24, 2008, to three years imprisonment. It was determined that he had not filed federal income tax returns from 1999 to 2007 and owed the IRS approximately $20,000,000 in back taxes. On the day he was sentenced, he paid $5,000,000 to the IRS.
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Introduction and training in the martial arts was first by fellow classmate and now fight co-coordinator/technical advisor Marcus Salgado.
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On April 18, 2005, Snipes filed a suit against New Line Cinema for more then $5 million, claiming that the studio failed to pay the balance of his fixed rate for Blade: Trinity, and that he wasn't allowed to approve the director, per his contract stipulations.
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Ranked the tenth most popular movie star in America by the Annual Harris Poll (1999).
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Father retired from United States Air Force Reserve's 315AW Charleston Air Force Base April 1998 with the rank of MSGT.
18
Is a fanatical music lover and collector and owns more than 1,000 LPs and 4,000 CDs.
19
His apartment was destroyed by the collapse of the World Trade Center's Twin Towers. He happened to have been delayed at the gym where he was working out, otherwise he would have been home at that moment.
20
Has mastered numerous martial arts forms including the Brazilian street fighting form Capoeira.
21
You can see him reading a book on the plane in his big action film Passenger 57 (1992). The book is "The Art of War" which is the same title as a movie that he starred in eight years later, though unrelated to it.
22
Married Korean painter Nikki Park, who is the mother of his four youngest children, in March 2003. Snipes spends a great deal of time in Park's home country, which he calls his "second home".
23
Father of son Jelani Asar Snipes (born 1988) with first wife, April.
24
Insisted that the role of Mimi (played by Ming-Na Wen), his character's wife in the film One Night Stand (1997), be played by an Asian woman in order to "push the boundaries of racial-sexual taboos". Snipes's character, Max, is a successful Black commercial director who has an extramarital affair with an attractive blonde (Nastassja Kinski).
25
Publicly blasted John Singleton for not casting him in the title role of the updated version of Shaft (2000). Snipes claims the film would have made twice its $60 million+ earnings had he been cast.
26
Practices Capoeira, Brazilian martial arts.
27
Is a fifth degree black belt in Shotokan karate. He also studies several forms of Kung Fu.
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Chosen by People magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World (1991).
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Has appeared in Michael Jackson's music video Michael Jackson: Bad (1987). You can only see him in the full length, 16-minute, black and white/color music video. It is usually shortened down to just the color segment for television.
30
Despite the fact that he does not often acknowledge it, he did attend the State University of New York at Purchase. He joins the other notable SUNY Purchase attendees who include: Parker Posey, Sherry Stringfield, Melissa Leo, Stanley Tucci, directors Hal Hartley and Nick Gomez, and producers Todd Baker and Bob Gosse. He left Purchase and transferred to a school in Florida, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1985.
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Listed as one of twelve "Promising New Actors of 1990" in John Willis' Screen World, Vol. 42.
$10 Million
