Wesley Trent Snipes (born July 31, 1962) is an American actor, film proucer, martial artist. He has starred in action-adventures, thrillers and dramatic feature films. He is best known for his role as Blade, in the three films. In 1991, he formed a production company called Amen Ra Films, and its subsidiary Black Dot Media, to develop projects for film and television. Snipes has been training in martial arts since he was twelve. He is a fourth dan Black Belt in Shotokan Karate and a student of Capoeira under Mestre Jelon Vieira. Snipes has also pursued training in a number of other disciplines including Kung Fu.