Spike Lee’s 5 Siblings: All About His Brothers and Sister

Spike Lee’s siblings also inherited the family's creative talents

Spike Lee always puts his family first.

The famed filmmaker is the eldest son of his parents, Bill and Jacquelyn Lee. After his birth in 1957, the couple welcomed four more children — his brothers Chris, David and Cinqué, as well as his sister Joie. It wasn’t until Jacquelyn died in 1976 and Bill’s subsequent second marriage that Spike’s half-brother Arnold was born.

The siblings grew up in their family’s Brooklyn brownstone and were taught to appreciate music and the arts. Bill, a jazz musician, and Jacquelyn, an English and art teacher, took their children to concretes and the movies — which proved to have a major impact on the rest of their lives. As Spike began his journey as a filmmaker, he brought his siblings along for the ride, making sure to utilize their artistic talents on set.

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To Spike, it just “made sense” to collaborate with his brothers and sister behind the scenes and on-screen for his early films. Although he admits people can find working with family difficult, he doesn’t remember it that way.

“You will always get the dynamics of being a big brother, and that does come into play. But I don’t remember it being hard,” Spike shared in his biography Spike Lee: That’s My Story and I’m Sticking To It.

Here’s everything to know about Spike Lee’s siblings — Chris, David, Joie, Cinqué and Arnold — and their relationship with their Academy Award-winning director brother.

Spike and his siblings grew up in Brooklyn

Spike was born in Atlanta on March 20, 1957, and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., by his parents Bill and Jacquelyn Lee. He was the couple’s firstborn, and by the time he was 11 years old, his father and mother had welcomed four more children: Chris, David, Joie and Cinqué.

The family spent their early years in the Crown Heights neighborhood before moving to Cobble Hill — where they were one of the first Black families to move to the area.

“In 1962, when we moved from Crown Heights to Cobble Hill, an Italian-American neighborhood, we were the first Black family there. But New York City is so diverse that at that young age I never really thought of myself in terms of color,” Spike wrote in Spike Lee: That’s My Story and I’m Sticking To It.

Spike’s family later moved to the Fort Greene area, where his mother decided they would purchase a brownstone with their savings.

While Spike’s siblings attended the nearby St. Ann’s School, where his mom was an English and art teacher, he attended John Dewey High in Gravesend. Despite going to different schools, Spike grew close with his siblings, and during summer breaks, the five would head to Atlanta, where his mother’s family lived.

“Like a lot of Black people, I have roots that are in the South," he told The Talks. "It was very interesting to go down to Atlanta, on my mothers side, and visit my other grandmother on the fathers side in Alabama."

Spike continued, “Me and my brother, man, we’d say, ‘This stuff is too slow down here.’ We liked going down, but after a while we were ready to go back, because everything was too slow!”

He has a half-brother from his father’s second marriage

Spike’s youngest brother, Arnold, wasn’t born until the director was an adult. In 1976, Spike’s mother, Jacquelyn, died after being diagnosed with cancer, and shortly after, Bill began dating a woman named Susan Kaplan.

In Spike Lee: That’s My Story and I’m Sticking To It, Spike admitted that he didn’t approve of the relationship because he felt it had happened too soon after his mom's death, according to the Los Angeles Times. The relationship caused tension in the family, and when Susan began living with Bill, Spike says his siblings were forced to move out of their home.

“In retrospect, I blame my father. He could have stopped her from systematically kicking all of us out of the house, but he didn't. And one by one we got the boot,” Spike shared in his biography.

Bill went on to tie the knot with Susan, and in 1985, they welcomed their son Arnold. While Arnold has grown into his own as a musician, Spike has not spoken out about his relationship with his half-brother.

Still, Spike told The Daily Show in 2021 that he loved his father despite their differences. Bill later died at age 94 on May 24, 2023.

Spike and his siblings enjoyed the arts as kids

Growing up, Spike’s dad and mom encouraged their children to excel at school and in the arts. While Bill loved sports, Jacquelyn often brought Spike to the movies and musical performances.

“My mother was driving me and my siblings to Broadway plays instead of museums. We didn’t want to go, but we had no choice," he told Office magazine. "It was great, because every time we would go kickin’ and cryin’, and at the end we’d say ‘That was good, Mommy,’ ”

Spike continued, “So my mother understood at an early age that you never know what gifts your children might have, what might interest them, but you’re not going to find out unless they’re exposed to it."

While Spike’s parents fostered an appreciation of the arts, they also expected their kids to be excellent students. Looking back, he recalled them telling him that because of racial prejudices at the time, they had to work harder than their White peers.

“My parents were woke. They would tell me and my siblings what was happening. So we were very aware of the world," he explained. "I come from a generation where Black parents told their children that they had to be ten times better than their White classmates. So we came up in a time where we were taught we had to excel."

While his parents were strict, Spike says they were always encouraging and supportive of his siblings’ goals and dreams.

“I’ve always been the product of a loving and supporting family. If your family is behind you, that's half the battle. I've always felt that children’s dreams are killed by their parents more than anybody else, but my parents were not like that — my grandparents weren’t like that,” Spike shared in Spike Lee: That’s My Story and I’m Sticking To It.

He worked with his brothers and sister on films

As Spike became a prominent filmmaker, he recruited his family to assist in the creation of his movies. Through the years, he has had the chance to work with David, Joie and Cinqué, all contributing to various projects.

As an actress, his sister Joie has appeared in several of Spike’s films, including the original She’s Gotta Have It, School Daze, Do the Right Thing and Mo’ Better Blues. Reflecting on their collaborations in the '90s, Joie shared that she was “grateful” to appear in Spike’s projects because of his positive female roles — but they did go “at it all the time” as siblings, per the Los Angeles Times.

Cinqué also starred in a few of Spike’s films, including School Daze, but almost got fired for messing up his lines. In Spike Lee: That’s My Story and I’m Sticking To It, Cinqué explained that he was an apprentice editor on the film but also an actor, and Spike reprimanded him when he got his lines wrong.

“The one thing Spike hates is people who don't know their lines; it’s like sabotage to him," Cinqué wrote. "I kept on saying ‘Pee’ instead of ‘Phi.’ Spike made me stand in the corner and face a wall in front of everyone for a couple of minutes. That was my first brutal experience with Spike on a film set."

Joie and Cinqué later worked as writers and producers on Crooklyn and All the Invisible Children. In addition, the brother-sister duo collaborated on their own projects independent of Spike, including the short film Snapped and the movie Window on Your Present.

Apart from the filmmaking process, Spike's brother David lent his still photography skills. Looking back in Spike’s book, David revealed his older brother initially “dragged me out of the house to work for him.” Following years of documenting his films, Spike told The Daily Show in 2021 that David became the “top unit photographer in New York City.” Still, David explained it didn't come without challenges that pushed him to be greater.

“Forty-three years old and I’m still like one of his younger brothers that he has got to occasionally reprimand," he shared. "But to me it’s part of his personality; he is the archetypal or stereotypical elder brother — so opinionated and self-assured and stubborn, and really good at giving demands — and it serves him perfectly well as a director.”

Spike’s film Crooklyn is based on the lives of his siblings

Spike’s 1994 film Crooklyn is semi-autobiographical and loosely based on his childhood with his siblings. The film follows a 9 year old named Troy, who is the only girl out of her five siblings. Her father is a musician, and her mother is a teacher, who unexpectedly dies one summer after falling ill.

The movie came to fruition with a script by Spike’s siblings Joie and Cinqué. Joie explained that she wanted to pen a film set in the '70s, hoping to become a filmmaker independent of her brother Spike. When she shared the idea with Cinqué, he joined in, and the pair began to write, drawing on their childhood experiences.

“The script didn’t start out as a piece on our family. I was going through stuff and I was talking to Cinqué about it. Cinqué was saying, ‘Just write it down...’ And that is how things germinate — Cinqué and I were sharing ideas. Cinqué was my muse, to be honest,” Joie shared in Spike Lee: That’s My Story and I’m Sticking To It.

While Joie had wanted to produce and Cinqué planned to direct, things changed when they showed an early script to Spike. Shortly after, Spike bought the script from his siblings and went on to create the film. Although it was a personal project, Spike says it wasn’t difficult, and the group “had a lot of fun” making it.

“I co-wrote the film with them. I didn’t know it at the time, but it’s really a love letter to the mother we all lost at a young age,” Spike later told Vulture.

Cinqué sometimes struggled being known as Spike’s brother

Cinqué admits that he had trouble living in his older brother’s shadow at certain periods in his life. In response, he started a band called Spike Lee’s Brother’s Band to publicly acknowledge that he felt that his identity had been taken from him.

There were also moments when Cinqué's friends would discover his connection to Spike and try to use him to get their work to the famed director.

"I’d tell them, ‘No, you would have more of a chance if you went through the regular channels,’ " Cinqué recalled in Spike Lee: That’s My Story and I’m Sticking To It.

Spike honored his brother Chris after his death in 2014

As an adult, Spike had a falling out with his brother Chris, who used recreational drugs at points in his life. While Spike tried to convince Chris to work with him on She’s Gotta Have It, the brothers couldn’t make amends.

“When you have kids in a family, the same parents, the same food, the same house and the same love for parents, why would one son go this way and the other son in another direction? What is the explanation?” Spike wrote in his biography of Chris’ drug use.

Then, in 2007, Chris told the National Enquirer that the brothers had once again fallen out over a family inheritance dispute. Meanwhile, Spike said Chris’ statements were untrue.

“My brother’s statements to the Enquirer are falsehoods," Spike responded, per BET. "Nonetheless, my siblings and I still love him. I’m not the first nor will I be the last public figure who will be accused by a sibling of not doing enough. My question is, ‘When is enough enough?’ ”

Chris died at the age of 55 from a heart attack on Dec. 30, 2013. While the filmmaker didn’t share specific details about his death, he posted a tribute to the graffiti artist on social media.

“Mr. Christopher Lee R.I.P December 23,1958-December 30,2013. Chris Is My Brother Born Right After Me.Not A Good Way To Start The New Year.May God Bless His Soul,” Spike wrote on Instagram.

In another post, he added that he would be hosting a memorial service in his hometown of Brooklyn.

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