Ving Rhames made his screen debut in the 1984 American made-for-television drama film ‘Go Tell It on the Mountain’ directed by Stan Lathan. The film currently holds a 6.8 out of 10 rating on IMDb. The following year, he made his first big-screen appearance in the Jerrold Freedman-directed American drama film, ‘Native Son.’ The film received a 50% approval score on Rotten Tomatoes. He was next seen in films like ‘Patty Hearst’ (1988), ‘Casualties of War’ (1989), ‘The Long Walk Home’ (1990), ‘Jacob's Ladder’ (1990), ‘Flight of the Intruder’ (1991), ‘The People Under the Stairs’ (1991), ‘Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot’ (1992), ‘Blood In Blood Out’ (1993), and ‘Dave’ (1993). In 1994, he played the role of ‘Marsellus Wallace’ in the American crime film ‘Pulp Fiction’ directed by Quentin Tarantino. The film received massive acclaim upon release and later came to be known as one of the greatest films ever made. It was also a massive box office success and grossed over $213.9 million on a budget of $8–8.5 million. In 1995, he starred as ‘FBI Agent Omar’ in the Barbet Schroeder-directed American crime thriller film ‘Kiss of Death.’ The film currently holds a 68% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The following year, he portrayed ‘Luther Stickell’ in the 1996 American action spy film, ‘Mission: Impossible’ directed by Brian De Palma. While the reviews for the film were somewhere between positive and mixed, it nevertheless managed to gross over $457.7 million on a budget of $80 million.
Rhames became a recipient of the ‘Golden Globe Award’ and ‘Emmy Award’ for his portrayal of ‘Don King’ in the 1997 American television film ‘Don King: Only in America’ directed by John Herzfeld. The film has a 7.0 out of 10 rating on IMDb. He next starred in films such as ‘Out of Sight’ (1998), ‘Entrapment’ (1999), ‘Mission: Impossible 2’ (2000), ‘Baby Boy’ (2001), ‘Undisputed’ (2002), ‘Dark Blue’ (2002), ‘Sin’ (2003), ‘Dawn of the Dead’ (2004), ‘Back in the Day’ (2005), ‘Mission: Impossible III’ (2006), ‘Idlewild’ (2006), ‘I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry’ (2007), ‘Day of the Dead’ (2008), ‘Phantom Punch’ (2008), ‘The Tournament’ (2009), ‘Surrogates’ (2009), ‘Operation: Endgame’ (2010), and ‘Piranha 3D’ (2010). In 2011, he reprised his role as ‘Luther Stickell’ in the American action spy film, ‘Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol’ directed by Brad Bird. The film was praised by critics and was a major box office success, grossing over $694.7 million on a budget of $145 million. He continued to star in films such as ‘Piranha 3DD’ (2012), ‘Soldiers of Fortune’ (2012), ‘Death Race 3: Inferno’ (2013), ‘Force of Execution’ (2013), ‘Jamesy Boy’ (2014), ‘Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation’ (2015), ‘Operator’ (2015), ‘A Sunday Horse’ (2016), ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2’ (2017), ‘Father Figures’ (2017), and ‘Mission: Impossible – Fallout’ (2018). Rhames last appeared in the 2022 American stop-motion horror comedy film ‘Wendell & Wild’ directed by Henry Selick. The film opened to a positive reception and received a 95% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
This independent neo-noir crime film is widely considered the most influential American movie of the 1990s. Peppered with pitch-black humor and strong violence, Pulp Fiction follows four interrelated stories—involving a boxer, a gangster and his wife—told out of chronological order.
Based on actual events, Rosewood is a drama film which takes us to 1923, Rosewood, Florida, a small peaceful town with mostly middle-class African-American people. Things get ugly when a lynch mob from a neighboring white community storms the town. Few people take a stand against the invaders, in order to help the people of the town escape.
Joseph is a 20 year old who is quite childish and misguided. Although he still lives with his own mother, he is the father of two children with two different women. Unable to find any balance in his chaotic life, he continues to have affairs with other women.
Bound by Honor is a crime drama film which tells the story of three cousins who get involved in a life of violence and crime as well as influence of narcotics.
After failing to secure three plutonium cores from the Syndicate, who are now known as the Apostles, IMF agent Ethan Hunt is forced to team up with Special Agent August Walker. Walker betrays Ethan and team and they must stop him and Solomon Lane from detonating nuclear bombs over the Siachen Glacier.
A heavyweight boxing champion, George Chambers, ends up in prison after he is convicted of rape. A resident gangster arranges a boxing match between George and the current prison champion Hutchens.
With the IMF disbanded because of recklessness, Ethan Hunt is now being hunted as a fugitive by the CIA and embarks on a personal mission to prove the existence of the Syndicate, an international rogue organization. He gathers his team and joins forces with disavowed MI6 agent Ilsa Faust, who is now a Syndicate operative.
Ex-army ranger, Sergeant Cameron Poe, is granted parole and must fly back to his wife and child on board the Jailbird, a flight carrying some of the most violent prisoners. He must also survive a plot by Cyrus the Virus Grissom who wants to escape with all the prisoners.
Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 finds Peter Quill and his gang of misfits Gamora, Drax, Rocket, and Baby Groot going on a journey across the cosmos to learn more about Quill’s father Ego. Quill eventually defeats Ego, the main antagonist of the movie and is saved by Yondu Udonta who sacrifices his own life in doing so.
Poindexter Williams and his family are evicted by their landlords, the Robesons. He decides to break into the Robesons’ house along with two of his associates. But he comes across a disturbing scenario where a number of boys are kept imprisoned in their creepy house.
The first installment in the Mission: Impossible film series, the movie follows Ethan Hunt and his mission to expose the mole who has framed him for the murders of many of his Impossible Missions Force (IMF) team. A commercial success, it became one of the highest-grossing films of 1996.
Vietnam War Veteran, Jacob Singer, is bayoneted during an attack and returns home to find his sanity gradually disintegrating. With hallucinations and fragmented visions haunting him, Jacob tries to find the truth and uncovers a much deeper conspiracy involving an experimental drug called Ladder.
After her husband is killed by a zombified neighbor, Ana flees from her neighborhood and unites with a group of survivors who seek shelter at a nearby shopping mall. However, as new survivors flock there amidst dwindling supplies and draw attention of the undead towards the shelter, the group devises an escape plan to avoid being surrounded.
A preacher who is forced to work as a laborer to make ends meet, takes out his anger and frustration upon his family.
This war drama film takes us to the Vietnam War, and it tells the story of Private Eriksson who must not only fight against the enemy but also his own squad leader, Sergeant Tony Meserve, when he orders the squad members to kidnap and rape a poor farm girl.
IMF Agent, Ethan Hunt is retired from field work but makes a comeback when one of his own student is captured by arms dealer Owen Davian. As the situation gets more dangerous, Ethan has to find out about a mysterious object code named the Rabbit's Foot, deal with IMF’s double agent and simultaneously protect his wife Julia.
Jack Foley, a bank robber, breaks out of jail along with a friend, and ends up kidnapping Federal Marshal Karen Sisco, who happens to witness their escape. But the mutual attraction, which develops as they both travel in the same car-trunk, doesn’t deter Sisco from hunting him as he plots his final big job. Can she bring herself up to arrest him?
A Jewish detective is trying to catch a murderer, whom even the FBI was unable to track down. However, he is soon assigned to a different case, where he has to investigate the murder of a Jewish lady. Her family believes that her murder was an anti-Semitic hate crime. Although he is initially not convinced, he soon begins to discover a larger conspiracy.
Gin Baker, an insurance investigator, goes undercover as a thief to entrap Robert ‘Mac’ MacDougal, an aging master-thief after a priceless Rembrandt is stolen. But when Mac starts to doubt her true intentions, Gin plans a US $8 billion heist and asks Mac for help.
Dark Blue is an action crime thriller film which tells the story of two police officers who try their best to hunt down few cold-blooded killers who are responsible for multiple homicides. However, the chief officer of the investigation is opposed to this mission.
Frank Pierce, a Manhattan paramedic working on two-man ambulance team, is exhausted and worn out after witnessing deaths and near-death patients. He starts losing his sanity, and hallucinates about the patients he couldn’t save. While working with three different eccentric colleagues, he even tries to get fired. Then, he clutches to a ray of hope as he befriends a heart-patient’s daughter, Mary.
Dave is a political comedy film, which revolves around the life of Dave Kovic, a man who bears an uncanny resemblance with the President of the United States, Bill Mitchell. When Mitchell suffers a stroke, Dave is hired by the Secret Service to impersonate the President on an ongoing basis.
Won’t Back Down is a drama film which tells the story of two mothers who are determined to provide their children with a proper education. Therefore, they try their best and risk everything in order to transform their city’s failing school.
In future, barring few, most of the humans interact via their Robotic Surrogates. Any harm to surrogates does not harm its operators; however, when the operators of two surrogates die, the ideal world is shaken and FBI agents Tom Greer and Peters are tasked to investigate the case. As Tom investigates, he loses his own surrogate and in many years, he comes out in the world as himself.
It’s based on true life story. Teenager James Burns, who has been in juvenile detention, gets into many criminal activities while working for a street gang and thus lands in a maximum security prison. Amidst the tough criminals, he tries to keep to himself by writing poetry. With a guiding help from a murder convict, Conrad, James determinedly continues to better himself.
Ethan Hunt returns on another mission to seize and destroy Chimera, a deadly virus, and its cure Bellerophon, both of which are in possession of rogue IMF agent Ambrose. He must infiltrate enemy stronghold with help from Nyah Hall, a skilled thief and former lover of Ambrose, before the latter sells the virus to an international terrorist group.
Idlewild is a romantic crime drama film which tells the story of Rooster, a club manager, who tries to save his club from a group of gangsters.
Thirty of the world’s deadliest assassins take part in a contest where the survivor will win an amount of $ 10 million and will also gain the opportunity to become the costliest assassin in the world. Meanwhile, the contest is being watched by several wealthy men, who are betting on which one of them will survive and win the prize.
Close firefighter friends, womanizer Chuck Levine and widower Larry Valentine, get into a domestic partnership after Larry learns that he cannot name his children as beneficiaries for insurance policy. They are forced to move in together after the pension department begins investigation of possible fraud, and making things more complicated, Chuck falls for their beautiful lawyer Alex McDonough.
Jimmy is a former con-man who goes undercover into a gang with a detective’s help, in order to ensnare a mobster.
This action thriller film revolves around a private detective and hired gun named Malone, who has been hired to retrieve an extremely valuable briefcase from a building that is filled with armed mobsters.
The film revolves around the life of Don Ready, who is a used-car salesman. He is hired by an auto dealership having poor sales, as they think he might be the right person who can turn their Fourth of July sale into a hugely profitable event.
Max Peterson, a computer engineer, receives an anonymous gift of phone which helps him earn a fortune through text messages. But he finds himself being chased by security chiefs and government agents. Searching for more information, Max realizes that the earlier receivers of such messages met with death. With no intentions of being the next victim, he tries to unravel this mystery.
A-6 Intruder flier Lt. Jake Grafton, whose friend-bombardier Lt. Morg McPherson is shot during Vietnam air-war, is distressed by restraints on their missions. He is next paired with Virgil Cole who dissuades a frustrated Grafton from unsanctioned bombing. But when another colleague is shot dead, Cole agrees and both plan an unauthorized air attack knowing well that it’d lead to Court Martial.
An earthquake releases pre-historic vicious carnivorous piranhas into Lake Victoria. As students on spring break, reach the lake, thousands of partying students start falling victim to the piranhas. Vastly outnumbered, Sheriff Julie, her son Jake, and a few others unite to kill the piranhas.
Father Figures is a comedy film which tells the story of two brothers, who realize that their mother is hiding the truth about their father from them. Therefore, both of them set out on a journey, hoping to meet different men, who might be their long-lost father.
A spy finds his boss murdered in their underground facility. In addition, the place has been rigged with explosives by the killer. Now, it is up to him to find the man responsible for the crime.
Erin Grant, former FBI secretary, loses her job due to her criminal ex-husband and also loses custody of her daughter, Angela. She turns stripper to earn money for an appeal in custody case. David Dilbeck, a congressman, gets interested in her and even extends personal invitation. But as she starts suspecting Dilbeck’s involvement in unlawful operations, it puts her life in danger.
Joe, a cop decides to break up with his girlfriend. Shortly after, his mother pays him a visit. However, she starts to interfere in all his activities, and even gets involved in his career.
Soldiers of Fortune is an action thriller film which tells the story of a group of wealthy thrill-seekers who pay huge money to have themselves inserted into military adventures. McCenzie and Reed, two former soldiers, are hired to act as tour guides and bodyguards, so that they can not only provide them a realistic experience, but also protect them from harm.
A crazy extra-terrestrial scientist illegally creates a strong and a brainy creature that is also a troublemaker. The creature is exiled but escapes to earth where it is adopted as a dog—Stitch—by a six year old girl, Lilo. The two form a close bond but Stitch is being chased by the scientist and an agent which results in a lot of destruction and chaos.
Aliens have conquered the earth, forcing the surviving humans to take shelter in areas protected by energy shields. However, time is running out and in desperation General Hein is determined to use space cannon to destroy the aliens. Knowing that it might also damage the earth, a team of scientists proposes a more peaceful means to battle the enemy, but the General is not convinced.
Following a botched infiltration mission in Kremlin that ended in an explosion, the US Government initiates Ghost Protocol, disavowing IMF. Agent Ethan Hunt is forced to go off the grid, but must team up with other fugitive agents to clear the organization's name and apprehend a dangerous terrorist with access to Russian nuclear launch codes.
Piranha 3DD is a horror comedy film, which revolves around a school of blood-thirsty piranhas who make their way into a newly opened water park. Three friends having fun at the park, decide to take on the man-eating creatures.
Ving Rhames Awards
| Don King: Only in America | Best Performance by an Actor in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television | 1998 |
