Spike Lee has been captivating and provoking audiences since the 1980s with his frank depictions of America's racial tensions, infused with his signature mix of entertainment, activism and rage.
He is the first Black man to head the jury at the Cannes Film Festival, which helped launch his career back in 1986 when his shoestring debut She's Gotta Have It won the Youth Award.
'Cerebral kind of cat'
Born Shelton Jackson Lee in Georgia on 20 March, 1957, Spike was the son of a jazz musician father and an English teacher mom.
He was primarily raised in Brooklyn, which is home to his production company 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks.
'Storyteller'
"Spike was always quiet. He kept to himself but I called him the idea man," recalls Herbert Eichelberger, an associate professor of film at Clark Atlanta University whom Lee calls his mentor.
"He would come with all kinds of ideas about doing films and making certain kinds of approaches to a situation."
Full circle
But Lee has refused to be typecast and has tried his hand in many different genres.
These have included a heist drama, Inside Man, and a remake of Korean martial arts revenge flick Old Boy.
Though always shot through with political commentary, his recent films have returned to some of his earlier themes, to great critical success.
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