(photo by Bob Freeman)

On April 1, Vin Diesel, star of “Furious 7”, put his handprints and footprints in cement in the world-famous forecourt of the TCL Chinese Theatre IMAX.

A native of New York City, Diesel is best known for his work in the “Fast & Furious” and “Riddick” franchises.

He also wrote and directed the original short film “Los Bandoleros”. The short, which was showcased on the “Fast & Furious” DVD, tells the back-story of the characters and events leading up to the oil-truck heist in the film.

Diesel created the video game company, Tigon Studios, which created and produced 2004’s top-selling Xbox game, “The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay”.

Diesel has previously starred in “Babylon A.D.,” “Find Me Guilty”, “The Pacifier”, “XXX”, “Saving Private Ryan”, “Boiler Room”, “A Man Apart” and “The Iron Giant”.

In the future, Diesel will play the title role in “Hannibal the Conqueror”, which tells the story of the Carthaginian general who rode an elephant across the Alps to attack Rome in the third century B.C. In addition to this film, Diesel’s One Race Films will produce “Hannibal the Barbarian”, a children’s animated series based on the stories of Hannibal, for the BET network.