This movie franchise star was a BREAKDANCER before shooting to fame in Hollywood alongside an iconic actor later killed in a tragic accident – can you guess who he is?
Before this famous actor rose to fame in one of Hollywood’s most beloved film franchises, he was better known for his impressive dance moves.
In the 1980s, this artist spent his youth breakdancing at Columbus Circle and, across town, in Washington Square Park.
In a resurfaced video of the entertainer instructing others on how to breakdance, he looks completely unrecognizable without his signature bald head and ripped physique.
Although his muscles now rivaled those of a professional bodybuilder, the boy in the video was just a tall, lanky teenager trying to impress the crowd by doing the reverse worm on the floor.
Can you guess who the ambitious young man with the sweatband over his head is?
Before this famous actor rose to fame in one of Hollywood’s most beloved film franchises, he was better known for his dance moves
In the 1980s, this artist spent his youth breakdancing at Columbus Circle and, across town, at Washington Square Park.
It’s Vin Diesel! Best known for his role as Dominic Toretto in the Fast & Furious franchise, alongside the late Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster and Tyrese Gibson.
Over the years, the father of three, 56, has spoken about his past as a breakdancer on several talk shows, including an appearance on the Tonight Show With Jay Leno in 2011.
After Leno pulled out the VHS tape featuring a group of young dancers, including a baby-faced Diesel, the actor laughed as he referred to that period of his life as “the good old days.”
Four years later, Kelly Ripa and her then-cohost Michael Strahan pulled out that same old tape and asked what it was like to be a street performer.
βIt was my first gig,β he said. “Those are the good days… people know I was a bouncer, but the real reason I started bouncing was because I loved dancing and dancing for free.”
In 2021, Jimmy Fallon asked about the video and asked Diesel if he remembered making it.
βYes, I remember doing this. It was the highlight of my life!’ he mused.
Diesel made his stage debut at the age of seven at Theater for the New City in Greenwich Village, when he appeared in the children’s play Dinosaur Door.
It’s Vin Diesel! Best known for his role as Dominic Toretto in the Fast & Furious franchise, alongside the late Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster and Tyrese Gibson
The star is pictured with Walker in 2001’s The Fast And The Furious
According to the Vin Diesel Handbook, he broke into the theater with his brother and friends with the intention of destroying it.
After being caught by a stage director, they were offered roles in the next show instead of the police getting involved.
He continued to be involved in theater while attending Hunter College for three years, where he studied creative writing.
At that time he worked at a nightclub called The Tunnel.
Considered one of the highest-grossing actors in the world, Diesel rose to fame after appearing in Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan in 1998.
He then landed films like Boiler Room, The Pacifier, Find Me Guilty and voice work for video games like The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena and the voices of Groot I and Groot II at Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).