Nancy Krulik - Vin Diesel. Fueled for Success

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First Simon Pulse edition November 2002

Text copyright 2002 by Nancy Krulik

SIMON PULSE
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Library of Congress Control Number 2002112028

ISBN 0-689-85982-1
ISBN 978-0-6898-5982-3
eISBN 978-1-4391-1485-8

For Mandy and Ian, two soon-to-bE-famous NEw York Ers

Home Is Where the Heart Is!

Never let it be said that Vin Diesel has forgotten his roots.

On September 11, 2001, Vin was far from his native Manhattan. He was across the country, in California. But while his bodymay have been in L.A., Vins thoughts and prayers were with his friends and family back home. He had to do something for them. So he arranged to host a benefit party at the home of white-hot Hollywood producer Lawrence Bender. All the money raised at the event would go toward setting up a scholarship fund for the families of firefighters affected by the terrorist attacks.

That Vin would want to help the families of New Yorks Bravest came as no surprise to the people who knew him best. After all, Vin has a heart bigger than anything, including his considerable muscles. And no matter where his career might take him, Vins heart has always been in New York. He was born and raised in Manhattans Greenwich Village, a fact he proudly reveals in just about every interview he gives.

So no, it was definitely no big shock to the folks at home that Vin would want to help out. What was kind of amazing, though, was the fact that Vin was sharing his hosting duties with two of Hollywoods most established stars:Sylvester Stallone and Ellen DeGeneres.

Who would have predicted that a former bouncer from the Village would be sharing a stage with them?

And that was just the tip of the star-studded iceberg. The benefits guest list included Leonardo DiCaprio, John Travolta, Kelly Preston, Tobey Maguire, Harrison Ford, Minnie Driver, Jeff Goldblum, and David Hyde Pierce.

Strictly A-list.

No one questioned Vins right to be there. In fact the established stars seemed thrilled to be in the presence of Hollywoods hottest new action heroespecially when Vin took the stage to lead them in the Pledge of Allegiance in front of a massive American flag.

Vin Diesel stealing the spotlight from Leo, Sly, John, and Harrison! Now that had to impress the folks at homeno easy feat, considering how hard it is to impress New Yorkers!

His family always knew he was destined for stardom, and he seeked attention whenever he could. As Vin told Gallery magazine, I was an extrovert, the guy who was loud.

Still, being the loud kid in the neighborhood who got the most attention isnt quite the same as being a Hollywood hotshot with your face plastered on billboards from coast to coast and millions of dollars riding on your next blockbuster film.

Thats exactly who Vin Diesel has become. And even he has to admit that success can be overwhelming. It changed me, he confided to Gallery magazine. Ive started to become more introverted. Now youll find me staying at home. I try to walk into a room undetected.

Undetected? Good luck, Vin. These days it seems everyone recognizes his facea mug Rolling Stone once described as the unholy spawn of Sly Stallone and a shiny chrome hog.

Even when hes on vacation, theres no escaping the trappings of fame. I took a little vacation through Europe, he toldVeronica magazine. Just with a few friends of mine who I knew since high school. We could only stay in one place about three days until the first cameras and press would show up and it was time to move on.

Apparently theres no escaping the stardom steamroller once it starts rolling.

To some, it may seem that Vin Diesel is an overnight success: an actor plucked from obscurity by Steven Spielberg (he gave him a small role in Saving Private Ryan), who quickly rose to fame in action flicks like Pitch Black, The Fast and the Furious, and XXX.

But Vin is no overnight success. In fact his career has been more than twenty-five years in the making. He started acting in local theater companies when he was only seven years old. From there he went the whole starving-artist routetaking jobs as a bouncer at New York hot spots just so he could use the daylight hours to audition and study acting.

Many people think my success came from one day to the next, he told Veronica magazine. It didnt. As Al Pacino once said, sudden breakthrough is the result of ten years of hard work In my case it was twenty years. Did you know I didnt have health insurance for years because my income wasnt high enough? That alone took me nine years, so dont tell me everything just happened.

Vin is the first to admit hes thrilled that all his hard work has finally paid offbig-time! Hes gone from the unemployment line to earning twenty million dollars for the upcoming sequel to his spy thriller XXX. Anyone whos anyone in Hollywood is completely convinced that Vin is Americas next big action hero, following in the footsteps of Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Sly Stallone.

Many people believe that action films dont require a huge display of talent on the part of the actor starring in them. Whats an action hero have to do, anyway? Flex his muscles and say a few well-scripted catchphrases? Its kind of easy, actually.

Or is it?

Vin Diesel is not the kind of man to take the easy way out. As he told Gallery magazine, Ive heard a lot of people say that Im going to be the next action hero. Well, thats incredibly flattering. But honestly, I dont approach an action film any differently than I would something like Saving Private Ryan. If I am going to be an action hero, dont think for a moment that Im going to disregard the acting and think that the action can take over. The acting is what I need to do. Hopefully people see that in the work.

In fact Vin would prefer playing a villain to playing the hero. We dont learn anything from the whitewashed heroes, he explained. We learn from the imperfect. You learn more from guys like Robert De Niro in Raging Bull than you do from James Bond.

A muscle-bound superstar who feels a need to use his characters to teach the audience life lessonsnow thats something new in Hollywood. But its obviously a trend thats catching on. Because as long as Vin Diesel is the teacher, there are millions of fans who are eager to buy tickets and move to the head of the class.

Its a New York Thing

Vin Diesel made his first public appearance on July 18, 1967. That was the day he was born in a New York City hospital. His emergence into the world was quickly followed by his supporting casta twin brother, born fourteen minutes after Vin.