Wesley Trent Snipes (born July 31, 1962) is an American actor, film producer and
martial artist. He is best known for his role as the
Marvel Comics character
Blade in the
Blade film trilogy. He formed a production company, Amen-Ra Films, in 1991, and a subsidiary, Black Dot Media, to develop projects for film and television. He has been training in martial arts since the age of 12, earning a 5th
dan black belt in
Shotokan Karate and 2nd dan black belt in
Hapkido.