Vin Diesel has been creating films for more than 20 years. In that time his projects have ranged from sci-fi anti-heroes to babysitters, all the while maintaining his impressive, intimidating physique. However, the Fast and Furious star's life is pretty hidden from the public eye. Here are 30 awesome facts about Vin Diesel.

3/30. Diesel is known for having a very deep voice; he has said that his voice changed into a deep baritone at around age 15, giving him a particularly mature sounding voice on the telephone.

4/30. As a teenager he appeared in an instructional breakdancing video called "Breakin' in the USA."

5/30. Diesel attended Hunter College, where his creative writing studies led him to begin screenwriting. However, he never got to finish his degree. He dropped out and headed to Hollywood after three years.

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6/30. At the age of 17, he began working as a bouncer at a nightclub in New York called The Tunnel, where he got the name Vin Diesel. The name "Vin" is simply a shortened version of the name "Vincent." But his friends gave him the nickname "Diesel." They said that he ran off diesel fuel, referring to his non-stop energy.

7/30. Vin Diesel gained 35 pounds so he could portray Fat Jackie in "Find Me Guilty" (2006). Although he received critical acclaim for his performance, the film did poorly at the box office.

8/30. He is a huge fan of "Dungeons & Dragons" and has been playing the game since he was 12 years old. He even wrote the foreword in "30 Years of Adventure: A Celebration of Dungeons & Dragons."

9/30. His mother's background is Scottish, English, and German. But he has never met his biological father, and has stated that "all I know from my mother is that I have connections to many different cultures." However, he identifies himself as a person of colour.

10/30. His breakthrough role was his infamous portrayal of the anti-hero Riddick in the science-fiction film "Pitch Black" (2000).

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11/30. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Vin Diesel said he had to mortgage his house to get his new movie, "Riddick," the latest installment in a franchise that began with 2000's "Pitch Black," made. "If we didn't finish the film, I would be homeless," he told the magazine.

12/30. The first movie in which he wrote, directed, starred and produced was called "Multi-Facial." He was only 26 years old when he took on such a challenging job. The film was released in 1994 and it screened a year later during the Cannes Film Festival. The movie was shot in less than three days at a cost of $3,000.

13/30. Vin Diesel started a cool initiative following his role in Guardians of the Galaxy to help the environment. He accepted the ALS Ice Bucked Challenge, and challenged Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn to plant a tree for Groot (Diesel's character in the film). While some might have thought that Vin Diesel was just making a clever joke, he actually wasnt kidding about the tree planting.

Diesel followed up his video challenge with a photo of himself getting down and dirty with a shovel to dig a hole for a new tree. Director James Gunn also responded to Vin Diesels challenge writing, Challenge accepted Vin Diesel - I will plant a tree for Groot! As well, a number of Diesels Facebook followers have even jumped on the bandwagon, posting photos of themselves planting trees. The Plant A Tree For Groot challenge also gained momentum on Twitter with many expressing the hope it would catch on.

14/30. Diesel started the video game company Tigon Studios in 2002. They in turn worked on the game based on the popular film "The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay" (2004). Tigon Studios is now working on more next gen games and they have a hand in all Vin Diesel-based games.

15/30. In August of 2013, Diesel received an honorary star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame because of his contributions to cinema. His girlfriend and children accompanied him, making a rare appearance in the public spotlight.

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16/30. Vin Diesel's net worth is a whopping $75 million.

17/30. When he was very young, Vin Diesel, his brother and some friends broke into a theatre with intentions to vandalize it. They were confronted by the theatre's artistic director, Crystal Field, who, instead of calling the police, handed them scripts and offered them parts in the upcoming show. This was how he landed his first acting role.

18/30. He prefers to maintain his privacy regarding his personal life. And, following the lead of other famous actors, has said "I'm not gonna put it out there on a magazine cover like some other actors. I come from the Harrison Ford, Marlon Brando, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino code of silence."

19/30. In 2007, Diesel was set to produce and star as Agent 47 in the film adaptation of the video game Hitman, but he eventually pulled back from the role and served as an executive producer on the film instead.

20/30. While first pursuing acting he worked in telemarketing, a skill that later helped him raise nearly $50,000 to fund his first full length feature movie, "Strays."

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21/30. Diesel made "Strays" in 1997 which is an urban drama in which he played a gang leader whose love for a woman inspires him to try to change his ways. The film was selected for competition at the 1997 Sundance Festival, leading to an MTV deal which turned it into a series.

23/30. Vin Diesel made a Fast & Furious cameo in order to retain the rights to the "Riddick" film franchise.

24/30. Vin Diesel was offered the role of Matt Murdock/Daredevil for the 2003 action movie "Daredevil." However, the role ended up going to Ben Affleck instead.

25/30. He currently holds the third highest number of fans on Facebook by a celebrity with 99,121,341. Both Shakira and soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo are ahead of him with more than 100 million fans each.

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26/30. Vin Diesel voiced the main character in "The Iron Giant" (1999) and it remains his highest rated film to this day.

27/30. "Guardians of the Galaxy" director James Gunn said that "All of the 'I am Groots' that were earlier voices didn't sound very good at all. It just didn't really work. Then Vin came in and in one day, laid down all these 'I am Groot' tracks, and he's a perfectionist. So he made me explain to him with every 'I am Groot,' exactly what he was saying. Then Vin would sit there and he would do it and he would it again and again and again, and his voice is so rich and so beautiful and he really opened up and really was this character. It was amazing when we first put his voice in there how much the character changed and how much he influenced the character."

28/30. Diesel has said that his biggest fear is of walking into a wall and busting his lip, which is perhaps the strangest biggest fear in the history for the human race.

29/30. He was incredibly close with his late co-star Paul Walker. So much so that he became the godfather to Paul Walkers daughter, Meadow Rain Walker, and named his third child Pauline after him.

30/30. Vin Diesel revealed that he had a scary premonition during the filming of Furious 7. He said, These actions films can be very dangerous, no matter what anyone tells you. I started to think, What would happen to Paul Walker if I died? Diesel said that thought came to him during the filming of an action sequence in Furious 7. After the scene wrapped, he headed to Walkers trailer straight away to see him. The last thing he told him was that, If I do die, let them know what kind of brother Ive been to you. Apparently Walker gave him a hug and the two men parted. Ive played that over in my head countless times. Thats the last time I ever saw him. This was their last day together before the film's Thanksgiving break. Walker passed away in a car crash in November of 2013.

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