Happy Birthday Vin Diesel: Lesser known facts about the Fast & Furious actor

Mark Sinclair, more popularly known as Vin Diesel turns 55 today. Known for his portrayal of Dominic Toretto in the Fast and Furious series, Diesel became a bouncer at the age of 17 to earn extra cash. It was during this time that he changed his name from Mark Sinclair to Vin Diesel.

Diesel dropped out of college after three years to further his acting career. Even though Vin Diesel had experience in theatre acting, his experience was not of much use in Hollywood and the actor struggled to make a mark. The actor then wrote a film based on his experience, titled Multi-Facial, which was accepted at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival. It was Saving Private Ryan (1998) and The Iron Giant (1999) which paved the way for Vin Diesel's career in Hollywood.

Here are some lesser-known facts about the Fast and Furious actor:

- Vin Diesel got his first role in a play after he and his friends decided to vandalise the theatre. The art director, however, did not punish the young goons and rather gave them money and scripts of The Dinosaur Door.

- Vin Diesel wrote the foreword for Thirty Years of Adventure, a hardcover retrospective book about the history of the game Dungeons & Dragons.

- Diesel has a twin brother, named Paul Vincent, who he refers to as Brother Pablo.

- Vin Diesel bonded over video games with Steven Spielberg.

- The actor used to call his biceps 'Kryptonics' along with his friends, according to a 2005 interview with Conan O'Brien.

- Diesel's mother was an astrologer, but she never did his chart, as per his interview with USA Today.

- Back in 1994, Vin Diesel picked up odd gigs, one of which was serving as a pitchman for Street sharks, a toy brand that looked like scary Ninja Turtles on steroids.

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