Wesley Snipes (Actor)

"All I meet is other actors and models. With this crazy schedule it's hard to say, 'OK, baby, I'll be over at 4 a.m.' I just wish I could meet some normal woman. Because a lot of the people I meet just don't have heart." - Snipes to the Chicago Sun-Times, Nov. 7, 1997

"I see characters as having not only a physical life but a spiritual life. In Haiti, when people get possessed by the spirit, they take on a differenct form; they surrender themselves to a different manifestation. I ask the character to let me represent him the way he would represent himself, using my body. If you're operating from that kind of energy, you're going to get a performance that will jump off the screen." - Wesley Snipes quoted in Premiere, July 1991

"I'm a Bruce Willis fan and I'm seeing him and Mel Gibson, and they're making a lot of cash," he said in an interview last week at a downtown hotel here. "And I'm like, 'Wouldn't it be nice to be a part of that club?'" - Snipes quoted to the Toronto Sun, March 20, 2002

"I'm a physical type of actor and love projects in which I can get physical. The more action, the better." - Snipes quoted to The New York Times, Aug. 24, 1990

"If you really respect the artistic contribution of black folks, then we don't want to do no more movies about a nigga in the 'hood, 'cause a nigga in the 'hood ain't no more different from a pimp on the block back in the 70s, and you see what happened to that. After they didn't have no more pimps and they told every pimp story they could tell, BOOM, end of the industry. So we gotta change the movies, start doing movies that go beyond just a nigga in the 'hood." - Snipes quoted in Vibe, October 1993

He received the Victor Borge Scholarship, given by the Governor of Florida.

In 1993, Snipes was fined $1,000 and placed on two-year unsupervised probation in California after pleading no contest to a misdemeanor charge of carrying a loaded weapon.

In 2005, Snipes sued New Line Cinema, and David S. Goyer (director of Blade: Trinity) claiming that the studio didn't pay his full salary, that he was intentionally cut out of casting decisions and filmmaking process, despite being one of the producers. Snipes contends that Goyer, his fellow producers, and New Line kept him out of the project's decision process, which ended up harming the film's performance (it made just $52 million). He says that a portion of his salary - $3.6 million - was withheld as punishment. The suit is still pending.

In April of 1994, while on probation on the California gun conviction, Snipes was briefly detained and charged with reckless driving after he crashed his motorcycle at the end of a thirty mile, 120 mile per hour chase with a Florida Highway Patrol officer and police helicopters. Neither Snipes nor the officer was seriously injured in the crash. Snipes pleaded no contest to the charge of reckless driving, and was sentenced to perform 80 hours of community service.

In June of 2005, Snipes was detained in South Africa at Johannesburg International Airport for allegedly trying to pass through the airport with a fake South African passport. Snipes was allowed to return home because he had a valid U.S. passport.

In the late 90s, Snipes and his brother started a security firm called the Royal Guard of Amen-Ra dedicated to providing VIPs with bodyguards trained in law enforcement, military, and martial arts.

On April 24, 2008, Snipes was sentenced to three years in prison on tax charges.

Snipes is the owner of China One, a restaurant in L.A.

Snipes was indicted Oct. 17, 2006 on eight counts of tax fraud; these charges include trying to cheat the government of $12 million in false refund claims and failing to file tax returns for six years; Snipes returned from Namibia, where he was filming a movie to surrendered to authorities Dec. 8, 2006, two months after he was indicted. Snipes faced the possibility of up to sixteen years in prison and substantial fines if convicted on all the charges. On Feb. 1, 2008, Snipes was acquitted on one felony count of conspiracy to defraud the government and one felony count of filing a false claim with the government. He was, however, found guilty on three misdemeanor counts of failing to file Federal income tax returns.