---
name: "RZA"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/rza"
fi1m_id: "rza"
imdb_id: "nm0753526"
tmdb_id: 150
wikidata_id: "Q52447"
roles: ["Producer","Director"]
born: "5 July 1969"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 9
average_as: "producer"
average_over: 1
updated: "2026-10-23T04:11:13.239472+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# RZA

## Identity

RZA

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/rza
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** rza
- **IMDb ID:** nm0753526
- **TMDB ID:** 150
- **Wikidata ID:** Q52447
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RZA, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q52447, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0753526/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/150

Producer and director. Born 5 July 1969 in Brooklyn, New York, USA.

## Details

- **Work:** Producer, Director
- **Born:** 5 July 1969, Brooklyn, New York, USA
- **Active:** 1999–present
- **Also known as:** The RZA,  Prince Rakeem, Bobby Steels, the Abbott,  the Rzarector, Bobby Digital, Wu-Tang Clan, Robert Fitzgerald Diggs
- **Titles on Fi1m:** 9: 4 acting, 1 directing, 1 producing, 3 crew
- **Frequently works with:** [Daryl Hannah](https://film.one/person/daryl-hannah.md), [David Carradine](https://film.one/person/david-carradine.md), [Lawrence Bender](https://film.one/person/lawrence-bender.md), [Quentin Tarantino](https://film.one/person/quentin-tarantino.md), [Uma Thurman](https://film.one/person/uma-thurman.md)
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1990s 80 (1), 2000s 67 (3), 2010s 48 (1), 2020s 60 (4)
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RZA, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q52447, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0753526/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/150

## Streaming the US now

- **Amazon Prime Video:** [*Kill Bill: Vol. 2*](https://film.one/film/kill-bill-vol-2.md) (77), [*Kill Bill: Vol. 1*](https://film.one/film/kill-bill-vol-1.md) (72)
- **The Criterion Channel:** [*Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai*](https://film.one/film/ghost-dog-the-way-of-the-samurai.md) (80)
- **AMC+:** [*V/H/S/Mixtape*](https://film.one/film/v-h-s-mixtape.md) (57)
- **Netflix:** [*The Disciple: A Wu-Tang Fable*](https://film.one/film/the-disciple-2026.md) (55)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on RZA

> RZA scores films the way he produced records, with a sample and a beat you can walk to, and in *Ghost Dog* and the *Kill Bill* films that gave the pictures a pulse they needed. Behind the camera he has yet to find one.

In *Kill Bill: Vol. 1* (2003), O-Ren Ishii's entourage comes into the House of Blue Leaves in slow motion and the music walks in with them: RZA's beats and Tomoyasu Hotei's strutting guitar riff, cut to the footsteps. That is how he works. The beat is programmed first, and the question of how much orchestra goes on top is settled afterwards, sometimes with the answer none. On *Kill Bill: Vol. 2* (2004) Robert Rodriguez, who orchestrated, chose to keep the electronics underneath, and what came out is a spare guitar and trumpet that let Tarantino's long final conversation go quiet.

He came to this from records. He ran Wu-Tang Clan as its producer from the early 1990s, starting with *Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)* in 1993, and it was Jim Jarmusch who asked him to score *Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai* (1999), his first film. He has said of that job: "Composing was starting to make more sense because before it was about stringing four or five samples together and playing some melodies on top of it—but now I actually knew my circle of fifths." Tarantino followed, then *Blade: Trinity* (2004) and *Afro Samurai* (2007). From 2012 he directed: *The Man with the Iron Fists* (2012), which he co-wrote with Eli Roth and scored, with Tarantino producing; *Love Beats Rhymes* (2017); *Cut Throat City* (2020); and *Wu-Tang: An American Saga* (2019–2023), which he co-created and partly directed.

*Ghost Dog* is still the best thing with his name on it. Jay Rabinowitz cuts it so that Forest Whitaker's pauses have room, and that costs the film pace whenever the gangster caricatures cannot hold us. RZA's beats put back the pulse the cutting takes out, and they let a Mafia comedy and a samurai hitman sit in the same film without strain. He writes themes for characters, a flute for a bird among them. What we remember of *Ghost Dog*, years on, is the sound of it before any single scene: a slow beat under Whitaker walking, which made the silences feel like the film's subject and not a gap in it. We did not expect a producer's first score to carry that much of a film, and it does.

The directing is another matter. He learned the job by spending ninety days in Tarantino's editing room on *Kill Bill*, and the features since lean on kung-fu and grindhouse homage before they get to story. The reviews of *Cut Throat City* (2020) found it ambitious and muddled in joining its social themes to its plot. We have not reviewed it and will not judge it here. What we have seen is his tape in *V/H/S/Mixtape* (2026), and of the six directors in that film his is the one we would struggle to describe to you a week later.

The beat was always the thing. Someone should hand him another film to put it under.

## Biography

RZA (also credited as The RZA) is an American composer, record producer and rapper. He is the de facto leader of the hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan and has produced most of the group's albums as well as many solo and affiliate projects. He has also released solo albums under the alter ego Bobby Digital.

RZA composed the music for *Kill Bill: Vol. 1* (2003) and *Kill Bill: Vol. 2* (2004). His other film scoring credits include *Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai* (1999), *Blade: Trinity* (2004) and *Afro Samurai* (2007). He made his directorial debut with *The Man with the Iron Fists* (2012), on which he also worked as composer and actor.

Born Robert Fitzgerald Diggs on 5 July 1969 in Brooklyn, New York, RZA has received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for his work on the series *Wu-Tang: An American Saga*.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, themoviedb.org, letterboxd.com, ign.com.*

## On Fi1m (9)

### Performed in (4)

- *Minions: The Rise of Gru* (2022), Fi1m 66, as Biker (voice) — [page](https://film.one/film/minions-the-rise-of-gru.md)
- *G.I. Joe: Retaliation* (2013), Fi1m 48, as Blind Master — [page](https://film.one/film/g-i-joe-retaliation.md)
- *Scary Movie 3* (2003), Fi1m 52, as RZA — [page](https://film.one/film/scary-movie-3.md)
- *Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai* (1999), Fi1m 80, as Samurai in Camouflage — [page](https://film.one/film/ghost-dog-the-way-of-the-samurai.md)

### Directed (1)

- *V/H/S/Mixtape* (2026), Fi1m 57, Director, Writer — [page](https://film.one/film/v-h-s-mixtape.md)

### Produced (1) — the average rests on these

- *The Disciple: A Wu-Tang Fable* (2026), Fi1m 55, as Self — [page](https://film.one/film/the-disciple-2026.md)

### Crew (3)

- *F9* (2021), Fi1m 64, Songs — [page](https://film.one/film/f9.md)
- *Kill Bill: Vol. 2* (2004), Fi1m 77, Music, Original Music Composer — [page](https://film.one/film/kill-bill-vol-2.md)
- *Kill Bill: Vol. 1* (2003), Fi1m 72, Music, Original Music Composer — [page](https://film.one/film/kill-bill-vol-1.md)

## Complete filmography (75)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *V/H/S/Mixtape* (2026), Director — Fi1m 57, [page](https://film.one/film/v-h-s-mixtape.md)
- *One Spoon of Chocolate* (2026), Director, Screenplay, Producer, Original Music Composer
- *BFFs* (2025), Producer
- *Nobody 2* (2025), as Harry Mansell
- *Blue Carbon* (2024), Original Music Composer
- *Problemista* (2024), as Bobby
- *Nyctophobia* (2024), Executive Producer
- *ODB: Wu Tang Forever* (2024), series, as As Himself
- *A Wu-Tang Experience: Live at Red Rocks Amphitheatre* (2023), Director, Original Music Composer
- *Not an Artist* (2023), as The Abbott
- *Poker Face* (2022), as Andrew Johnson
- *The Tiny Chef Show* (2022), series, as RZA
- *Minions: The Rise of Gru* (2022), as Biker (voice) — Fi1m 66, [page](https://film.one/film/minions-the-rise-of-gru.md)
- *Clean* (2022), as Pawn Shop Kurt
- *Hard Luck Love Song* (2021), as Louis
- *Handle with Care: The Legend of the Notic Streetball Crew* (2021), Executive Producer
- *F9* (2021), as Songs — Fi1m 64, [page](https://film.one/film/f9.md)
- *Nobody* (2021), as Harry Mansell
- *Life in a Year* (2020), as Ron
- *Cut Throat City* (2020), Director
- *Wu-Tang: An American Saga* (2019), series, Director, Writer, Original Music Composer, Creator
- *The Dead Don't Die* (2019), as Dean
- *Thriller* (2018), as Principal Hurd · Executive Producer, Music, Original Music Composer
- *Love Beats Rhymes* (2017), Director
- *Snowfall* (2017), series, as Swim
- *Marvel's Iron Fist* (2017), series, Director
- *Roxanne Roxanne* (2017), Original Music Composer
- *Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping* (2016), as RZA
- *Meet the Blacks* (2016), Original Music Composer
- *Mr. Right* (2016), as Shotgun Steve
- *AWOL-72* (2015), as Det. Adams
- *The Man with the Iron Fists 2* (2015), as The Blacksmith · Writer, Original Music Composer
- *Fresh Off the Boat* (2015), series, as The RZA
- *Gang Related* (2014), series, as Cassius Green
- *Brick Mansions* (2014), as Tremaine
- *The Protector 2* (2013), as LC
- *G.I. Joe: Retaliation* (2013), as Blind Master — Fi1m 48, [page](https://film.one/film/g-i-joe-retaliation.md)
- *Django Unchained* (2012), Thanks — Fi1m 78, [page](https://film.one/film/django-unchained.md)
- *The Man with the Iron Fists* (2012), as Blacksmith · Director, Screenplay, Original Music Composer, Story
- *A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas* (2011), as Lamar
- *Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair* (2011), Original Music Composer
- *The Next Three Days* (2010), as Mouss
- *Due Date* (2010), as Airport Screener
- *Wu-Tang Saga* (2010), Actor
- *Repo Men* (2010), as T-Bone
- *Funny People* (2009), as Chuck
- *Life Is Hot in Cracktown* (2009), as Sammy
- *Afro Samurai: Resurrection* (2009), as DJ (voice) · Original Music Composer
- *Gospel Hill* (2008), as Lonnie
- *American Gangster* (2007), as Moses Jones
- *War* (2007), Additional Music
- *Californication* (2007), series, as Samurai Apocalypse — Fi1m 63, [page](https://film.one/tv/californication.md)
- *Afro Samurai* (2007), series, Original Music Composer
- *The Box* (2007), as Duece
- *The Lather Effect* (2006), as Danny's Friend #1
- *Derailed* (2005), as Winston Boyko
- *Be Cool* (2005), as RZA
- *Blade: Trinity* (2004), Original Music Composer
- *Blade: Blood Thirsty* (2004), Music
- *Wu Tang Clan: Disciples of the 36 Chambers Chapter 2* (2004), Actor
- *Soul Plane* (2004), Original Music Composer
- *Kill Bill: Vol. 2* (2004), Original Music Composer, Additional Music — Fi1m 77, [page](https://film.one/film/kill-bill-vol-2.md)
- *Coffee and Cigarettes* (2004), as RZA (segment "Delirium")
- *Scary Movie 3* (2003), as RZA — Fi1m 52, [page](https://film.one/film/scary-movie-3.md)
- *Kill Bill: Vol. 1* (2003), Original Music Composer — Fi1m 72, [page](https://film.one/film/kill-bill-vol-1.md)
- *The Mindscape of Alan Moore* (2003), Music
- *Chappelle's Show* (2003), series, Actor
- *Hype Williams: The Videos Vol. 1* (2002), Actor
- *Ghost Dog: The Odyssey: The Journey Into the Life of a Samurai* (2001), Actor
- *Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai* (1999), as Samurai in Camouflage · Original Music Composer — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/film/ghost-dog-the-way-of-the-samurai.md)
- *Domestic Violence* (1999), Director, Writer
- *The Simpsons* (1989), series, as RZA (voice) — Fi1m 88, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-simpsons.md)
- *Blood Brothers*, Writer
- *Tangled Up in Blue*, Actor
- *VERZUZ: DJ Premier vs. Rza*, Actor

## Gallery

- ![RZA](https://film.one/media/person/9100/gallery-b862ceb0fb7e.jpg) RZA — Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b1/RZA_speaking_at_the_2018_San_Diego_Comic_Con_International_%28cropped%29.jpg/1280px-RZA_speaking_at_the_2018_San_Diego_Comic_Con_International_%28cropped%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Banks & Steelz @ Lincoln Hall, Chicago 9/8/2016](https://film.one/media/person/9100/gallery-2e146abfc771.jpg) Banks & Steelz @ Lincoln Hall, Chicago 9/8/2016 — swimfinfan from Chicago, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/93/Banks_%26_Steelz_%40_Lincoln_Hall%2C_Chicago_9-8-2016_%2829388339053%29.jpg/1280px-Banks_%26_Steelz_%40_Lincoln_Hall%2C_Chicago_9-8-2016_%2829388339053%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![RZA (left) and Ghostface Killah (right) at the Virgin Festival in 2007.](https://film.one/media/person/9100/gallery-366c773a4f3b.jpg) RZA (left) and Ghostface Killah (right) at the Virgin Festival in 2007. — Napalm filled tires from York, Pennsylvania, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f3/RZA_%26_Ghostface_Killah.jpg/1280px-RZA_%26_Ghostface_Killah.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Wu Tang Clan co-founder RZA in New York City's Union Square Barnes & Noble to read from The Tao of Wu, a book about the philosophy behind the Wu Tang Clan. (2009)](https://film.one/media/person/9100/gallery-61da5aedd439.jpg) Wu Tang Clan co-founder RZA in New York City's Union Square Barnes & Noble to read from The Tao of Wu, a book about the philosophy behind the Wu Tang Clan. (2009) — David Shankbone, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a3/RZA_10_Shankbone_2009_Tao_of_Wu.jpg/1280px-RZA_10_Shankbone_2009_Tao_of_Wu.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![RZA](https://film.one/media/person/9100/gallery-e778f4cd031d.jpg) RZA — Image via TMDB
- ![Wu Tang Clan co-founder RZA in New York City's Union Square Barnes & Noble to read from The Tao of Wu, a book about the philosophy behind the Wu Tang Clan. (2009)](https://film.one/media/person/9100/gallery-bb8e5a84af63.jpg) Wu Tang Clan co-founder RZA in New York City's Union Square Barnes & Noble to read from The Tao of Wu, a book about the philosophy behind the Wu Tang Clan. (2009) — David Shankbone, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/74/RZA_11_Shankbone_2009_Tao_of_Wu.jpg/1280px-RZA_11_Shankbone_2009_Tao_of_Wu.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Wu Tang Clan co-founder RZA in New York City's Union Square Barnes & Noble to read from The Tao of Wu, a book about the philosophy behind the Wu Tang Clan. (2009)](https://film.one/media/person/9100/gallery-cb067019ae52.jpg) Wu Tang Clan co-founder RZA in New York City's Union Square Barnes & Noble to read from The Tao of Wu, a book about the philosophy behind the Wu Tang Clan. (2009) — David Shankbone, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7f/RZA_12_Shankbone_2009_Tao_of_Wu.jpg/1280px-RZA_12_Shankbone_2009_Tao_of_Wu.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)

## Awards

### Other awards — 1 won

- Echo Pop Award for the Hit of the Year 2004: Echo Pop Award for the Hit of the Year (won)

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/rza