Wesley Snipes

Biography

Acting career

In 1985, while working the audition circuit in New York in between installing public telephones, Snipes auditioned for a role in the Warner Bros. Pictures comedy Wildcats, starring Goldie Hawn. The distinct impression he made on the casting agent earned him a call back to fill the role in the film. In 1987, Snipes appeared as Michael Jackson's rival gang leader in the Martin Scorsese-directed music video "Bad" (he is only seen in the long version of the video) and the feature film Streets of Gold, which brought him to the attention of director Spike Lee. He turned down a small role in Lee's Do the Right Thing for the larger part of Willie Mays Hays in Major League, beginning a succession of box-office hits for Snipes. Lee would later cast Snipes as the jazz saxophonist Shadow Handerson in Mo' Better Blues and as the lead in the interracial romance drama Jungle Fever. Another important role for Snipes was the drug lord Nino Brown in New Jack City, which was written specifically for him by Barry Michael Cooper.

Snipes often played tough characters in action movies, and has demonstrated considerable athletic and fighting ability. He is interested in martial arts, including Karate, Kung Fu, and Capoeira. This interest is reflected in the fact that many of his movies make reference to Sun Tzu's The Art of War.

Snipes has featured in films as diverse as the comedy White Men Can't Jump, the critically acclaimed The Waterdance, and the action/adventure Passenger 57 (which featured his martial arts expertise), Rising Sun, Demolition Man, Sugar Hill, Drop Zone, Money Train and The Fan. In a departure from type, Snipes played a drag queen (alongside Patrick Swayze and John Leguizamo) in the 1995 film To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar.

In 1997 he won the Best Actor Volpi Cup at the Venice Film Festival for his performance in New Line Cinema's One Night Stand. Snipes was also lauded by critics worldwide for his performance in U.S. Marshals, a sequel of sorts to the box-office hit, The Fugitive.

1998 was especially rewarding for Snipes with the opening of the year's cult hit Blade, for New Line Cinema, which has grossed over $150 million worldwide. He was also honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and received an honorary doctorate from his alma mater, SUNY/Purchase, for his outstanding achievements in film.

Snipes produced The Big Hit, starring Mark Wahlberg and executive produced by John Woo and Terrence Chang, and the critically acclaimed feature Down in the Delta, which marked Maya Angelou's directorial debut and garnered several awards including a Christopher Prism and nominations in multiple categories for the Acapulco Black Film Festival, as well as an NAACP Image Award for Best Motion Picture.

Additionally, television projects distinguished Snipes as a creative force with ABC's Futuresport, in which he starred with Dean Cain and Vanessa L. Williams. Snipes also produced the highest rated cable special of all time, TNT's "The First Tribute to the Martial Arts Masters of the 20th Century," which showcased some of the greatest innovators of the martial arts.

Snipes also served as executive producer of a series of documentaries that he personally financed through now defunct Black Dot Media. The company showcased prominent thinkers from the African and Afro-Caribbean culture. The first in the series, John Henrik Clarke: A Great and Mighty Walk, chronicled the life of John Henrik Clarke, an authority on African and Afro-Caribbean studies. The film won critical acclaim at the Sundance Film Festival in 1997 and won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary at the Urbanworld Film Festival in New York.

In 1991, Snipes formed the independent production company Amen Ra Films. It co-produced the first two Blade films and other titles that Snipes has starred in. In 2004 Snipes went on to star in his third Blade movie Blade Trinity.

Snipes played a drug kingpin Nino Brown in New Jack City, which was a contrast to his role as a New York City Detective in King of New York a year earlier. Another film in which his character was involved in drugs was the somber movie Sugar Hill.

Legal problems

Fake South African passport

In 2005, Snipes was detained at Johannesburg International Airport for allegedly trying to pass through the airport with a fake South African passport. Snipes later told South African officials that he had applied for the South African papers not only for himself but for his family. During the interview, it was established that Snipes did indeed have fraudulent South African documentation in his possession. Snipes and his attorney agreed to cooperate with the South African Inspectorate of the National Immigration Branch in their investigation. Snipes was allowed to return home because he had a valid U.S. passport, but the South African authorities reduced his immigration status to undesirable as a result of the incident. To date, no explanation has been offered as to exactly why Snipes attempted to enter South Africa on forged papers.

Tax fraud charges

On October 12, 2006, Wesley Snipes, Eddie Ray Kahn, and Douglas P. Rosile were charged in a superseding indictment with one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States under 18 U.S.C. § 371, one count of making or aiding and abetting the making of a false and fraudulent claim for payment against the United States, under 18 U.S.C. § 287 and 18 U.S.C. § 2, and six counts of willfully failing to timely file Federal income tax returns under 26 U.S.C. § 7203.

Also charged was Douglas P. Rosile, an accountant who allegedly prepared certain amended returns filed by Snipes. In 2002, the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida in Tampa granted an injunction against Rosile, prohibiting him from preparing or assisting in the preparation of Federal income tax returns for other people. Rosile allegedly prepared or helped prepare frivolous tax returns for 174 clients in 34 states, involving at least $29 million USD in taxes. Rosile "was released by a federal judge in Ocala after he surrendered to authorities Oct. 17".

Also charged was Eddie Ray Kahn, who ran the for profit businesses American Rights Litigators, Guiding Light of God Ministries and Eddie Kahn and Associates which according to the US Justice Department were illegal tax evasion operations. Eddie Ray Kahn was detained in Panama and flown back to Florida.

The conspiracy charge against Snipes includes allegations that he filed a false amended return including a false tax refund claim of over $4 million for the year 1996 and a false amended return including a false tax refund claim of over $7.3 million for the year 1997. The government alleges in the indictment that Snipes attempted to obtain fraudulent tax refunds using a discredited tax protester theory called the "861 argument" (essentially, an argument that the domestic income of U.S. citizens and residents should not be taxable). The indictment said Snipes used accountants who already had a history of filing false returns to obtain refund payments for their clients. Under the alleged deal, the firm American Rights Litigators was to receive, from the clients, an amount equal to 20 percent of the tax refunds obtained for those clients.

The government also charges that Snipes failed to file tax returns for the years 1999 through 2004.

If convicted, Snipes could face up to sixteen years in prison and substantial fines. On October 17, 2006, an arrest warrant was issued for Wesley Snipes on the tax charges. He was taken into custody on December 8, 2006, after arriving at Orlando International Airport and surrendering to authorities. Later that day he pleaded not guilty and was released on a $1 million dollar (USD) bond.

Snipes has been authorized by the court to return to Namibia to finish work on the Gallow Walker film, and Snipes must return to the United States by January 10, 2007. The trial is set for March 5, 2007, in the Federal District Court in Ocala, Florida.

Snipes said he was a scapegoat and unfairly targeted by prosecutors in connection with the federal tax fraud investigation.

Selected filmography