Mario Van Peebles

Mario Van Peebles is a Mexican‑born American actor and film director whose career spans more than five decades, beginning with a childhood appearance in the groundbreaking 1971 blaxploitation classic Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss!. Born Mario Cain Van Peebles on January 15, 1957 in Mexico City, he grew up traveling between Europe and the United States as the son of legendary filmmaker Melvin Van Peebles and Maria Marx, experiences that instilled in him a transnational perspective that later informed his diverse body of work. After majoring in economics at Columbia College, he launched his professional acting career in the soap opera One Life to Live (1968) and quickly moved into film, landing a supporting role in Clint Eastwood’s Heartbreak Ridge (1986) and a starring turn in the cult favorite Rappin' (1985). His breakthrough as a director came with the 1991 hit New Jack City, a gritty urban drama that topped the independent box office and cemented his reputation as a pioneer of contemporary black cinema. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s he continued to toggle between acting and directing, delivering notable projects such as Posse (1993), the historical biopic Baadasssss! (2003) in which he portrayed his own father, and the World War II‑era adventure USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage (2016). In addition to his film work, Van Peebles has directed numerous television episodes for series like Law & Order, Damages, and Empire, and has appeared in popular shows ranging from The X‑Files to Bloodline. An outspoken activist, he has supported the District of Columbia statehood movement and frequently uses his platform to champion social justice causes, reflecting the same fearless spirit that defined his father’s groundbreaking career.