Mexican actor and film director Mario Cain Van Peebles was born 67 years ago in Mexican City, is married and has 5 children.
As a kid, he frequently travelled between Europe and the US with his parents. In later years, he attended college where he majored in economics.
Mario’s first acting debut was on TV when he appeared in the soap opera ‘One Life to Life’ in 1968. Three years later, he starred along with his father in the American historical movie ‘Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song’. His dad not only starred in this movie which also became a hit, but also wrote, co-produced and directed it. That same year, Mario also starred in a TV film named ‘Crosscurrent’.
After a 10-year hiatus, Van Peebles resumed his career and appeared in the TV series ‘The Sophisticated Gents’ in 1981. For the rest of the 80s, Mario appeared in 15 movies, both on the small and on the big screen. These include: ‘Exterminator 2’, ‘The Cotton Club’, ‘Rappin’, ‘Delivery Boys’, ‘3:15’, ‘L.A. Law’, ‘Heartbreak Ridge’, ‘Jaws: The Revenge’ and ‘Identity Crisis’, amongst others. He also directed episodes of the series ’21 Jump Street’ and ‘Wiseguy’.
In the next decade, Mario made a career breakthrough when in 1991 he directed the episode ‘Malcolm takes a Shot’ as part of a teenagers’ series, for which he was nominated for a DGA Award. Moreover, that same year he also acted as director of the black gangster movie ‘New Jack City’ starring Wesley Snipes and Ice-T as well as himself. It went extremely well in the US box office, so much so that it was that year’s highest grossing film.
For the past 3 decades, Van Peebles proceeded with his career and appeared in over 50 movies and more than 25 TV productions. He also directed around 34 films and TV series episodes. Mario is expected to star in an upcoming movie named ‘Outlaw Posse’ which he also wrote and directed.
*Image: no infringement intended. Source: imdb.com