Multi Facial

In 1994, Vin Diesel,of Fast and Furious fame, wrote, directed, produced, and starred in a short film called Multi Facial. The twenty-minute film follows Vin Diesel's character, Mike, through several acting auditions in which Mike portrays a slew of different ethnicities.


Diesel highlights the frustration of being "racially ambiguous" in the acting industry. Not totally white. Definitely some Italian. Could pass as Latino. Too light to really be black. Despite Mike's well-performed audition pieces, he isn't cast for the roles because he doesn't quite fit the bill.

Multi Facial gave Diesel the chance to create a full feature film called Strays which he also wrote, directed, and produced. Strays would ultimately push Steven Spielberg, having already been impressed with Multi Facial, to cast Diesel in Saving Private Ryan, effectively launching the rest of his acting career.

The film exhibit's Vin Diesel's excellent range and performance as an actor in a way I did not expect. I was not familiar with Diesel until watching this film and doing some reading, but I knew he had starred as a tough guy in the Fast and Furious franchise. I'm thoroughly impressed by every aspect of this film, and it gave me a new perspective into a world about which I know little.