He is a graduate of Morehouse College and New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, where he is a tenured Professor of Film and Artistic Director. Lee's Production Company 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks is based in Da Republic of Brooklyn, NY.
(He received an MFA from the school in 1982 after attending Morehouse College for undergrad.) He's now a tenured professor of film at Tisch, as well as the artistic director of the graduate film program. “I wouldn't call it moonlighting,” he says. “For me, this is not a part-time job.”
He started as a professor at Harvard University in 1991, where he taught a course in filmmaking. Then, he joined the faculty at NYU Tisch School of the Arts and began to teach a graduate class in 1993. In 2002, he was named the school's artistic director. Lee still teaches at NYU today.
Spike Lee, film director, producer and screenwriter, is renowned for a body of work that explores African American experience, challenges racial stereotypes, and addresses controversial subjects. Lee is also credited with opening up the American film industry--to an unprecedented degree--to the contributions of black ...
How Spike Lee Directs a Film | The Director's Chair
What did Spike Lee study?
Lee enrolled in 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.
Spike Lee (born March 20, 1957, Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.) is an American filmmaker known for his uncompromising provocative approach to controversial subject matter.
Spike Lee is a notable writer, director, producer, actor, and author who revolutionized both the landscape of independent cinema and the role of black talent in film.
He is a graduate of Morehouse College and New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, where he is a tenured Professor of Film and Artistic Director. Lee's Production Company 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks is based in Da Republic of Brooklyn, NY.
Among them African-American painter Michael Ray Charles' work Bamboozled (1997) (which inspired Lee's 2000 film of the same title), an autographed Angela Davis FBI Wanted poster, and photographs of legendary Black figures James Baldwin and Fedrick Douglas.
Inducted into the Advertising Hall of Fame in 2015. His real sister plays his characters sister in the film Do the Right Thing,. Nephew of Consuela Lee Morehead. Nominated for a 2019 Academy Award in the Best Director category for his work on BlacKkKlansman (2018) but lost to Alfonso Cuarón for Roma (2018).
Shelton Jackson Lee earned his nickname early: his mama called him “Spike” as a baby because she noticed he was tough. The eldest of three children, Spike Lee was born in Atlanta, Georgia, though his family would move to what he calls “the Republic of Brooklyn” when he was two years old.
He is celebrated for his roles as a director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and writer. As of 2024, Spike Lee's wealth is estimated to be around $60 million.
After graduating from Morehouse, Lee attended the Tisch School of Arts graduate film program. He made a controversial short, Griffith's The Birth of a Nation (1915), a ten-minute film. Lee went on to produce a 45-minute film Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads (1983) which won a student Academy Award.
Lee, 67, has been a Knicks staple for decades. His dedication to New York City's NBA team has made him one of the most recognizable fans in the sport. The Oscar winner's allegiance to the Knicks has tied him to some of the biggest moments in the franchise's history.
Growing up in a relatively well-off African-American family, Lee was making amateur films by age 20. His first student film, Last Hustle in Brooklyn, was completed when he was an undergraduate at Morehouse College. Lee went on to graduate from the New York University Film School in 1982.
Lee has also directed several documentaries, including 4 Little Girls, When The Levees Broke, American Utopia and NYC Epicenters 9/11→2021½. In a career that spans decades, Lee has uncompromisingly tackled the uncomfortable truths of American politics and race relations.
In Lee's movies, the camera follows actors with dynamic and innovative blocking techniques, which serve to heighten the emotional and visual impact of a scene.
What marks Spike Lee's career as so unique and stellar, starts with him being an African American filmmaker, who with fresh vision and political/business instincts for his cohort, the mid-'80s "new black film wave", broke out of the pack with a series of "by any means necessary" financed, low-to-mid budget, independent ...
He has also received two special Oscars, a Student Academy Award for Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads (1983), and an Honorary Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2016.
Spike Lee is an award-winning writer, director, actor, producer and author who revolutionized the role of Black talent in cinema. Widely regarded as a premiere African-American filmmaker, Lee is a forerunner in the “do it yourself” school of independent film.
08In 1990, Lee won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival for his film “Do the Right Thing.” 09Spike Lee has been nominated for numerous Academy Awards throughout his career. 10He won his first competitive Academy Award in 2019 for Best Adapted Screenplay for “BlacKkKlansman.”
A lifelong cinephile and film scholar, Lee draws inspiration from other artists working across a range of eras, genres and global cinemas. He has also devoted much of his career to teaching the next generation of filmmakers.
