As a boy, Diesel was a skilled breakdancer who appeared in an instructional breakdancing video.[1] He appeared as a dancer in music videos for his cousin, rapper Kwamé.[2]
Diesel was a player of Dungeons & Dragons and other role playing games, a fact he proudly mentions in various interviews.[3] He occasionally makes D&D references in his films, such as in xXx where one of the tattoos on his Xander Cage character reads "Melkor", the name of an older game character of Diesel's. (Melkor was the original name for the fallen angel character of the Tolkien Legendarium). It has been said that his portrayal of Richard Riddick in the Pitch Black series of movies and games is loosely based on this character, a Drow "witch-hunter" who was a loner, and that Diesel actually has the character's image tattooed on his arm. He has also written the foreword to the commemorative book 30 Years of Adventure: A Celebration of D&D, a collection of stories and essays which chronicles the history of D&D.