Snipes grew up in The Bronx and he decided early on that he wanted to be a dancer--until he took some acting classes. He started at the High School for the Performing Arts, but his mother divorced and they moved back to Orlando. Snipes would eventually graduate from Jones High School in 1980. While in Florida, Snipes did puppet theater, mime and musical theater in competitions and festivals. He then attended the State University of New York College at Purchase and graduated with a Bachelors of Fine Arts in 1985.

He also played a cliche tough guy role in the Michael Jackson music video "Bad" released in September of 1987. He often plays tough characters in action movies, and has demonstrated considerable athletic and fighting ability. He is interested in martial arts, including Karate, Kung Fu, and Capoeira. This interest is reflected in the fact that many of his movies make reference to Sun Tzu's The Art of War.

Snipes was married from 1985 to 1990 and has a son from this marriage. He later married Korean painter Nakyung Park in 2003. They have three children.

In 1991, Snipes formed the independent production company Amen Ra Films. It co-produced the first two Blade films and other titles that Snipes has starred in. In 2004 Snipes went on to star in his third Blade movie "Blade Trinity."

Snipes played drug kingpin Nino Brown in New Jack City, which was a contrast to his role as a New York City Detective in King of New York a year earlier. Another film in which his character was involved in drugs was the hauntingly somber movie "Sugar Hill."

In 2005, Snipes was detained at Johannesburg International Airport for allegedly trying to pass through the airport with a fake South African passport. Snipes later told South African officials that he had applied for the South African papers not only for himself but for his family. During the interview, it was established that Snipes did indeed have fraudulent South African documentation in his possession. Snipes and his attorney agreed to cooperate with the South African Inspectorate of the National Immigration Branch in their investigation. Snipes was allowed to return home because he had a valid U.S. passport, but the South African authorities reduced his immigration status to undesirable as a result of the incident. To date, no explanation has been offered as to exactly why Snipes entered South Africa on forged papers.

In 2004, Snipes was named as the defendant in a paternity suit brought by an Indiana woman named Lanise Pettis. Pettis alleged that she had sex with Snipes in a Chicago crack house in 2000 and that Snipes had fathered a child with her. Snipes denied the allegations and reportedly twice refused to submit to a paternity test requested by Pettis. On July 25, 2004, a Manhattan Family Court judge issued an arrest warrant for Snipes' failure to submit to the paternity test. The judge also set bail at $250,000. *[1] Snipes subsequently sued New York City, charging that it had no jurisdiction to arrest him as part of an Indiana paternity case. However, on January 27, 2005, Snipes' bid to have a federal judge cancel the arrest warrant was denied. *[2] It was eventually determined that he was not the father and the case was dismissed accordingly.