school. From there, Vin's
fledgling career progressed
from the New York repertory
company run by his father, to
the Off-Off-Broadway
circuit. At age seventeen and
already sporting a well-honed
physique, he became a
bouncer at some of New
York's hippest clubs to earn
himself some extra cash. It
was at this time that he
changed his name to Vin
Diesel.
Following high school, Vin
enrolled as an English major
at Hunter College, but
dropped out after three years
to go to Hollywood to further
his acting career. Being an
experienced theatre actor did
not make any impression in
Hollywood and after a year
of struggling to make his
mark, he returned to New
York. His mother then gave
JOY FEELINGS
him a book called "Feature
Films at used Car Prices" by
Rick Schmidt. The book
showed him that he could
take control of his career and
make his own movies. He
wrote a short film based on
his own experiences as an
actor, called MultiFacial (1995), which was
shot in less than three days at
a cost of $3,000. MultiFacial (1995) was eventually
accepted for the 1995 Cannes
Film Festival where it got a
tumultuous reception.
Afterwards, Vin returned to
Los Angeles and raised
almost $50,000 through
telemarketing to fund the
making of his first
feature, Strays (1997)