Vin Diesel Mark Sinclair Born: July 18, 1967 [Alameda County, California, U.S.] Occupation: Actor | Producer | Writer | Director Years active: 1990–present Mark Sinclair (born July 18, 1967), known professionally as Vin Diesel, is an American actor. One of the world's highest-grossing actors, he is best known for playing Dominic Toretto in the Fast & Furious franchise. He founded the production company One Race Films, where he has also served as a producer or executive producer for his star vehicles. Diesel also founded the record label Racetrack Records and video game developer Tigon Studios, providing his voice and motion capture for all of Tigon's releases. Privacy & Family Diesel has said he prefers to maintain his privacy regarding his personal life, stating: "I'm not gonna put it out there on a magazine cover like some other actors. I come from the Harrison Ford, Marlon Brando, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino code of silence." Sometime around 2001, Diesel dated his Fast & Furious co-star Michelle Rodriguez. Since 2007, he has been in a relationship with Mexican model Paloma Jimenez; the couple have three children: daughter Hania Riley (born April 2008), son Vincent Sinclair (born 2010), and daughter Pauline (born March 2015). The last is named in honor of his co-star and friend Paul Walker, who died in November 2013. He is also the godfather of Walker's daughter, Meadow. Career Diesel began auditioning for roles in the early 1990s but struggled to gain roles and instead decided to make his own low-budget film. In 1995, he wrote, directed, produced, and starred in the short film Multi-Facial. In 1997, Diesel made his first feature length film Strays, which he also wrote, produced and directed. Director Steven Spielberg took notice of Diesel after seeing him in Multi-Facial and cast him in a small role for his 1998 war epic Saving Private Ryan. Diesel subsequently voiced the titular character in The Iron Giant (1999) while gaining a reputation as an action star after headlining the Fast & Furious, XXX, and The Chronicles of Riddick franchises. Diesel portrays Groot in the Marvel Cinematic Universe superhero films, appearing in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Avengers: Endgame (2019), Thor: Love and Thunder (2022). He also portrayed Groot in the animated film Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018) and the Disney+ animated shorts series I Am Groot (2022). Diesel has also earned commercial success in other genres, such as in the comedy The Pacifier (2005), while his performance in Find Me Guilty (2006) was praised. Diesel portrayed Bloodshot in its 2020 superhero film adaptation, and is slated to appear in the upcoming Avatar films.