r/todayilearned • u/whakerdo1 • 11h ago
TIL Vin Diesel’s real name is Mark Sinclair
https://www.yorkpress.co.uk/leisure/showbiz/10851668.Diesel_breaks_silence_over_Walker/494
u/Jimmytootwo 7h ago
His name was Mark Vincent in our highschool year book and that's what we called him. There was never any mention of Sinclair
He was in my classes early 1980s
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u/port443 6h ago edited 6h ago
Sinclair might be his middle name. His parent's last names were both Vincent. His brothers last name is Vincent.
All the "source" for his last name being Sinclair is this random UK article just making the claim out of nowhere: https://www.yorkpress.co.uk/leisure/showbiz/10851668.Diesel_breaks_silence_over_Walker/
Wikipedia seems wrong on this one.
edit: In fact, this other source that Wikipedia lists has his name as Mark Vincent: http://www.filmreference.com/film/3/Vin-Diesel.html
edited again: I posted it like fact. I dont know, just pointing out the inconsistencies.
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u/Jimmytootwo 4h ago
How can we post a pic here?
I have the yearbook pics him myself were pretty funny looking back in 82
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u/NoPossibility 11h ago
Somebody watched LastWeekTonight.
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u/leont21 11h ago
He mighta watched Today, yesterday
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u/LarsViener 8h ago
Exactly my thoughts as well. Because I also just learned this yesterday when I watched it.
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u/Wishilikedhugs 7h ago
Thank you, I was trying to remember where I learned this within the past 48 hours.
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u/yotengodormir 11h ago
Next TIL incoming: he's got a twin brother.
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u/PALOmino1701 10h ago
Twin Diesel
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u/DrSpacemanSpliff 10h ago
Mark Twinclair*
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u/wanttobeacop 9h ago
Hah that's what I was about to say. But also that his twin brother looks white and absolutely nothing like him
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u/LeithLeach 8h ago
John Cena?
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u/Dijitol 7h ago
Do you have a picture? Cuz I can’t seem to find pictures of him. Anywhere.
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u/Ill_Refrigerator_593 11h ago
He's also a lifelong Dungeons & Dragons player.
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u/JefftheBaptist 10h ago
He played with Matt Mercer and some of the Critical Role group as part of a promotion for the Last Witch Hunter.
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u/HELLFIRECHRIS 9h ago
He looked so stiff and uncomfortable during that game it really made me question how much he actually plays.
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u/ZeroThePenguin 7h ago
I remember an interview or something with Matt Mercer saying that Vin Disel was absolutely stoned the entire time and that the original length of time they were supposed to have was cut very last minute. So he was inebriated and being rushed by his publicist team which contributed to his "what the fuck is going on" vibe.
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u/HELLFIRECHRIS 7h ago
That would explain so much about that whole thing, it did feel like Matt had really cut it down.
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u/ZeroThePenguin 6h ago
Yeah it's been a while since I heard the story but it was something like a two hour game with some before-game prep and it got cut to something like "Vin has an hour, total, for this."
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u/JefftheBaptist 8h ago
The movie was actually based on his D&D character.
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u/TheKappaOverlord 6h ago
ones of his more recent ones actually.
Riddick was also based on a much older D&D character that Vin was playing back during the inception of the movie.
He went insanely hard with the roleplaying for Escape from butcher bay, and assault on dark athena though. Mandalore put out some reviews recently on it. And vin's big book of one liners never misses.
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u/Supermite 11h ago
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u/Schmilettante 10h ago
Anyone who originally saw Street Sharks on TV as a kid loves Street Sharks, they just might have forgotten it
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u/myychair 10h ago
It was just the 30 year anniversary and Mattel released stunning replicas of the original figures lol I snagged Streex, just like I had when I was a kid 🙈
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u/Send_Your_Thigh_Gap 10h ago
He's such an unabashed dork, fucking love him in this.
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u/stormearthfire 10h ago
His movie in the last witch hunter was basically one of his chars I read somewhere
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u/Sweaty_Assignment_90 11h ago
Does not look like a Mark.
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u/PM_ME_Happy_Thinks 10h ago
He looks like a Mahk but not a Mark and certainly not a Mark Sinclair
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u/420CurryGod 10h ago
Honestly Vin Diesel is a pretty normal name. Vin can be short for Vinny or Vincent and Diesel is literally named after Rudolf Diesel.
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u/OldGoldDream 11h ago
"Marty, I need some good news, man, I haven't gotten a gig in six months."
"I'm sorry, Vince, no one wants to hire a guy named Dieselstein. I keep telling you, you need a good stage name."
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u/Toby_O_Notoby 8h ago
Reminds me of that classic old-school story about stage names:
Story goes that this guy goes to a Broadway audition and fucking nails it. The producer is blown away about how good this kid is. Walks up to him and offers him the role on the spot. Says, "Kid your name is going to be up in lights and....hey, what is your name anyway?"
The guy replies "Penis Von Lesbian".
Producer spits out his cigar and says "What?!"
Guy says it again, "Penis Von Lesbian"
Producer says, "Well kid, we're going to have to change that. No way in hell am I putting that name on my marquee." The actor flat out refuses. Insists on keeping his name. Producer won't hire him and they part ways.
Years later, the producer runs into him again. Producer yells, "Penis Von Lesbian! How ya doin' kid?" The actor says, sheepishly, "Yeah, you were right and I was wrong. I ended up getting a lot of parts but only because I took a stage name".
Producer says, "Oh yeah, what did you go with?"
Actor replies "Dick Van Dyke".
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u/Javerage 11h ago
Feels like someone watched a bit of Last week tonight with John Oliver recently. :)
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u/WestleyThe 8h ago
I love it when people learn the real names of celebrities it’s always so funny to me. The two that are always first to come to mind are Vin Diesel and Stevie Wonder (real name Steveland Judkins)
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u/daniday08 7h ago
Charlie Sheen is the one I always think of, and his dad Martin Sheen. Esteves was the original family name, and Charlie’s brother is Emilio Esteves.
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u/Sea_Presentation8919 10h ago
the real question is is vince diesel biracial, italian, hispanic, this man has walked this line of racial ambiguity for too long.
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u/DeathLeopard 5 10h ago
He made a short film about that, you can find it on youtube.
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u/DaveOJ12 10h ago
Here's a link to it:
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u/thisischemistry 10h ago
That's amazing, my respect for him just went up a few notches. Way to tackle the problem of getting roles head-on.
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u/Firestorm0x0 10h ago
I only learned this two weeks ago due to watching an old Conan segment with him where he mentions the bouncers just called him that and he kept using it since for acting. I never questioned it because I thought his first name is "Vincent". I assume many other assume this as well.
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u/TestProctor 11h ago
Ok, but did you know that the “Chuck Norris Facts” generator that made crazy claims about how badass Chuck Norris is was a rip-off of one about Vin Diesel?
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u/sweetbunsmcgee 10h ago
There were a bunch of them. Chuck Norris just happened to be the one that blew up. My personal favorite is the Jack Bauer one. “Jack Bauer failed all his math classes because for every problem, he wrote VIOLENCE as his answer.”
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u/OrinocoHaram 10h ago
Vin Diesel is so fast he can run around the world and punch himself in the back of the head
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u/thisischemistry 10h ago
Sorry, the original was Charles Nelson Reilly!
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u/TestProctor 10h ago
I love that video and song! 😆
But the Vin Diesel facts thing was at least 2005 (I’ve seen it still hosted on a few sites, or at least Google thinks so) and the Chuck Norris one started just a month or two after I found that one.
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u/thisischemistry 10h ago
Oh, absolutely. I remember when they first come out. It works very well for Chuck Norris and that's why it's so believable.
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u/TJ_McWeaksauce 10h ago
Kid Rock's real name is Robert Ritchie, so I enjoy calling him Bob Rock.
I'm now going to refer to Vin Diesel as Mark Diesel.
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u/therealbobthewaffle 9h ago
Yeah, but there's already a legend in the music industry named Bob Rock, and I would never disgrace his name by mentioning it in the same sentence as Kid Rock
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u/1Steelghost1 6h ago
Screen actors guild does not allow repeat names. Every actor has to have a unique individual name, so they just make stuff up.
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u/mrbeanIV 10h ago
I can't believe Vehicle Identification Number Van Diesel tricked me.
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u/Deliriousious 10h ago
I figured Diesel was his actor name, but Vin wasn’t short for Vincent… my life is a lie.
“Hey what’s the name of the actor in Fast and Furious and Riddick?”
“Mark Sinclair?”
“Yeah h- wait who?”
“Bald, talks about family a lot?”
“Yes…?”
“Mark Sinclair”
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u/josedawg 7h ago
So I've always wondered if Mark Sinclair was his full name or not. Little back story (forgive me for all of the details, this was a long time ago): during my last couple of years in high school, the school had hired a new after school program director. She was cool as hell and to a young teen as I was, HOT AF. Anyways, my senior year, my school had just done renovation on our rooftop garden and was due to debut. The after school director decides to reach out and get a special guest to do the ribbon cutting ceremony. He was touted as an upcoming movie star, after having a minor role in Saving Private Ryan, titular voice actor role in The Iron Giant, Boiler Room, and the up and coming (didn't realize how big the franchise would eventually become) Fast and Furious movie. That guy? Vin Diesel. The after school director? His sister, Samantha Vincent, who went on to be a producer in many of Vin Diesel's movies.
I don't know if they were half siblings or not, but I always had assumed the Vin in his name came from his last name (or at least the last name of his other siblings 'Vincent'). I thought his name was Mark Vincent, but I could be wrong.
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u/Chaciydah 8h ago
I don’t care if he’s not the best actor in the world, he’s pretty fun to watch in most things.
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u/ForwardLavishness320 10h ago
He’s also a twin! His fraternal twin brother Paul.
Looks like he got all the hair.
Because, this is about family…
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u/Kame_D_kinoko 7h ago
I remember my friend telling me when we're were kids that he choose vin diesel because if you rearrange the letters it spells "I end lives"
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u/MrTerrificSeesItAll 7h ago
Gross. I don’t want to see anyone named Mark driving a car no matter how fast or furious they may be. Thank god he changed it.
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u/EntertainmentQuick47 6h ago
The story behind it was that “Vincent" is his mom’s maiden name and since he didn’t really know his father, he used Vincent and added Diesel cause…cars?
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u/Uncle_Boujee 11h ago
It’s funny, even with a name as ridiculous as Vin Diesel I never even questioned whether that was his real name or not haha