Vin Diesel's birthday: Top films that aren't 'Fast & Furious'
One of the world's highest-grossing actors and a successful producer, Vin Diesel, turned 56 on Tuesday. The Fast & Furious actor began his career in 1990 and has done around 40 films and appeared in four television series. He is also popular for giving voice to the Marvel superhero character Groot. Let's look at his top films other than the Fast & Furious franchise.
'XXX' franchise
Diesel stars as Xander Cage in the popular XXX franchise. Cage is a thrill-seeking aficionado of extreme sports, a stuntman, and a disobedient athlete who reluctantly joins the National Security Agency as a spy. After Fast & Furious, this is the most popular franchise of the actor. XXX: Return of Xander Cage, the third installment marked the Hollywood debut of Deepika Padukone.
'Strays'
The 1997 American urban drama film Strays marked Diesel's first feature film as a producer and director. He portrays a drug dealer and gang leader fed up with his lifestyle who meets the love of his life who motivates him to attempt to change his ways. The film premiered at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival and performed average at the box office.
'The Pacifier'
The usually tough action guy was seen in a comedy role for the first time in the 2005 American family action comedy film The Pacifier. The film follows a Navy SEAL, Shane Wolfe who's assigned the duty of a babysitter to a dead man's family after a failed rescue mission. In 2015, a sequel was said to be happening but it never came out.
MCU Films
After Fast & Furious and the XXX franchise, Diesel is most loved for lending his voice to the Marvel superhero character Groot in the Guardians of the Galaxy and Avengers franchises. Both Groot I and II are depicted as tree-like humanoids, with the original being Rocket's associate. The first becomes a Guardians of the Galaxy member and the second is his adoptive son.
'Find Me Guilty'
A year after The Pacifier, he again chose a dramatic role of a real-life mobster in the 2006 American courtroom comedy-drama film Find Me Guilty. Based on the "longest Mafia trial in American history," the film features the original court transcripts that served as the basis for most of the testimony given in court. Diesel received widespread critical acclaim for his performance.
