Vin Diesel was born as Mark Sinclair Vincent in New York City on July 18, 1967 to Delora Sinclair. Delora later married Irving H. Vincent, who adopted Diesel and his twin brother Paul. Diesel made his stage debut at the age of seven in Theatre for the New City, which was produced in Greenwich Village. He continued to be involved with the theatre throughout his adolescence, and he went on to attend the city's Hunter College, where his studies in creative writing led him to begin writing screenplays.

Diesel became active in filmmaking in the early 1990s, first earning notice for the short Multi-Facial, which was selected for screening at the 1995 Cannes Festival. He followed up Multi-Facial with his first feature-length film, 1997's Strays, an urban drama in which he cast himself as a gang boss whose love for a woman inspires him to try to change his ways. Written, directed, and produced by Diesel, the film was selected for competition at the 1997 Sundance Festival, which led to a deal with MTV to turn it into a series.

In an interview on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, he stated that he changed his name to Vin Diesel while he was working as a bouncer because in that business, one's real name is not generally given out. The name "Vin" is a shortened version of Vincent. He received the name "Diesel" from bodybuilding. The term "diesel" refers to someone that has a very defined, toned body.