Mario Van Peebles (born January 15, 1957) is an American film director and actor best known for directing New Jack City in 1991. He is the son of actor and filmmaker Melvin Van Peebles, whom he portrayed in the 2003 biopic Baadasssss! that he also co-wrote and directed.
Mario "Chip" Cain Van Peebles was born Mario Cain Van Peebles in Mexico City, Mexico, the son of writer, director and actor Melvin Van Peebles and German actress and photographer Maria Marx. He graduated from Saint Thomas More School in Connecticut in 1974 and from Columbia University in 1978 with a bachelor's degree in economics.
Over the next three decades, Van Peebles starred in and directed many television shows & films.
Van Peebles played the lead in the short-lived detective show Sonny Spoon. The show ran for two brief seasons, both of which aired in 1988, before being canceled. He directed several episodes of the show as well as episodes of 21 Jump Street. Van Peebles also directed Malcolm Takes a Shot, a CBS Schoolbreak Special about an aspiring high-school basketball star whose obstacles include epilepsy and his own arrogance. Van Peebles appeared in the special in a cameo, as Malcolm's doctor.