Spike Lee and wife Tonya Lewis Lee, children's book authors

Writer, director, producer Spike Lee met his wife Tonya Lewis Lee in 1992 at a Congressional Black Caucus dinner. In a 2004 interview with Avenue Magazine, Tonya said, "We walked past each other. He circled back around and proceeded to give me the third degree. 'Are you an actress? A model? A singer? Who are you here with? What do you do? Do you have a boyfriend?"

Born in Atlanta, Ga., March 20, 1957, Spike Lee was given the name Shelton Jackson Lee. When he met Tonya, he was in the midst of promoting one of his acclaimed films, Malcolm X, which starred Denzel Washington, but the world came to know Lee six years before in 1986 for his movie She's Got to Have It. He produced the film on a shoestring budget of $160,000. It grossed $700,000, surprising Hollywood.

He followed that success with movies on bigger budgets such as School Daze, Do the Right Thing, Crooklyn, Get on the Bus, Summer of Sam, and Inside Man. His most recently released Hollywood drama is Miracle at St. Anna, 2008, a film about black soldiers in World War II based on the book by James McBride.

According to a variety of news sources, Tonya was born March 15, 1966. A 2004 Town and Country article defines her as "a lawyer, television producer, writer and hands-on mother of two children (son Jackson is seven; daughter Satchel, nine)."

While she's made her mark as a children's television producer for networks such as Disney and Nickelodeon and is "the executive producer of the award-winning documentary I Sit Where I Want: The Legacy of Brown v. Board of Education," at cable network The N/Noggin, readers may also know of her as the author of a novel for adults, The Gotham Diaries, a fictional journey through the lives and foibles of wealthy African-Americans. However, Tonya started her writing career with books for children.

Her early writing efforts were geared to a young audience. "When you become a mother,” Lee says, "you look at the market and wonder, “what is there for them to read?'" She and Spike wrote a children's book called Please Baby Please, which followers of his movies will recognize as the signature line of the character he played in his breakout film She's Gotta Have It. Tonya has also written and produced thought-provoking television documentaries for young people. (Avenue article, source)

The couple followed up Please, Baby, Please with Please Puppy Please. Artist Kadir Nelson illustrated the books.

The photo up top is featured at Blackosity.com, where the writer informs readers of Spike Lee's documentary about Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant. Spike is a highly visible Lakers fan. While he's known mainly as an award-winning movie director and producer and for being a black activist, he's also produced television commercials for athletic shoe manufacturer, Nike. In the commercials, Spike plays his old character from She's Gotta Have It, Mars Blackmon and faces off with basketball star Michael Jordon. So, it may have only been a matter of time before he produced a film about basketball.

Next to filmmaking, basketball is one of the director's greatest loves, and with his focus increasingly shifting toward nonfiction features (When the Levees Broke, Passing Strange), it was only a matter of time before Lee got around to shooting some hoops. (Time Magazine)

The documentary, Kobe Doin' Work, airs on ESPN.

Just as her husband is known as an activist, Tonya also shows that she's concerned about the African-American community as well. Below is video of a PSA in which she appeared, addressing the higher infant mortality rate among African-Americans.

This brief profile is a companion piece to posts on Children's Book Week. The Lees' children's books have ranked high with readers sending in names of their favorite African-American children's stories.

Links

• Tonya Lewis Lee's official website
• The Lees Do the Write Thing
• Spike Lee's biography at Biography.com
• Spike Lee on Kobe Bryant, Time Magazine
• Photo from Blackosity.com
• Rise of African-American Children's Books