Diesel's first film role was a brief uncredited appearance in Awakenings (1990). He then wrote, directed, produced, and starred in the short film Multi-Facial (1994), a short semi-autobiographical film which follows a struggling actor stuck in the audition process. The film was selected for screening at the 1995 Cannes Festival. He made his first feature-length film, Strays (1997), an urban drama in which he played a gang leader whose love for a woman inspires him to try to change his ways. Written, directed, and produced by Diesel, the film was selected for competition at the 1997 Sundance Festival, leading to an MTV deal to turn it into a series. He was then cast in Steven Spielberg's 1998 Oscar-winning film Saving Private Ryan on the poignancy of his performance in Multi-Facial. In 1999, he provided the voice of the title character in the animated film The Iron Giant.

2000s

Fast Five cast with Natalie Morales for NBC's Today.

Diesel had a major role in the drama thriller Boiler Room (2000) appearing alongside Giovanni Ribisi and Ben Affleck. He got his breakthrough leading role^{[citation needed]} as the anti-hero Riddick in the science-fiction film Pitch Black later that year. Diesel attained action hero stardom with two box office hits: the street racing action film The Fast and the Furious (2001), and the action thriller xXx (2002). In 2004, Diesel reprised his role as Riddick in The Chronicles of Riddick, which was a box office failure considering the large budget. He also voiced the character in two spin-off video games. In 2005, he played a lighthearted role in the comedy film The Pacifier, which became a box office success.^{[citation needed]}
In 2006, he chose a dramatic role playing real-life mobster Jack DiNorscio in Find Me Guilty. Although he received critical acclaim for his performance, the film did poorly at the box office.^{[citation needed]} Later that year, Diesel made a cameo appearance in The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, reprising his role from The Fast and the Furious.
In 2007, Diesel was set to produce and star as Agent 47 in the film adaptation of the video game Hitman, but eventually pulled back and served as executive producer on the film instead. In 2008, he starred in the science-fiction action thriller Babylon A.D.. Diesel returned to the The Fast and the Furious series, alongside all the actors from the original film, in Fast & Furious, which was released in April 2009.

2010s

Diesel reprised his role as Dominic Toretto in the fifth, sixth and seventh installments in The Fast and the Furious franchise, Fast Five (2011), Fast & Furious 6 (2013) and Furious 7 (2015). He reprised his role as Riddick in the third film of the Riddick series, simply titled Riddick (2013). In August 2013, Diesel received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.^[20] He voiced Groot in the 2014 Marvel Cinematic Universe film Guardians of the Galaxy.^[21] Diesel is the star of The Last Witch Hunter.^[22] He is also set to appear in an updated version of Kojak.^[22] In addition, Diesel is stated to return to the starring role in a third xXx movie;^[22] as well as reprise his role as Dominic Toretto in Fast & Furious 8, which is scheduled to be released on April 14, 2017;^[23][24] and as the role of Groot in Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 (2017). Over the course of several years, Diesel has discussed playing two separate roles within the Marvel Cinematic Universe.^[25][26]

Personal life