The deep-voiced, muscular actor landed a high profile supporting role as the tough New Yorker Private Carparzo in Steven Spielberg's acclaimed WWII drama "Saving Private Ryan" (1998). After voicing the title character in the delightful--if underperfoming--animated adventure "The Iron Giant" (1999) Diesel got his first taste of leading man success in director David Twohy's cult sci-fi film "Pitch Black" (2000), in which the actor played a convict who, after his starship crash lands on a hostile planet, proves to be the salvation for the survivors. He also was a strong presence in the ensemble of the Wall Street-centered thriller "Boiler Room" (2000), but his true breakout role came with his performance as hard-driving car thief and street gang racer Dominic Toretto (sample dialogue: "I live my life a quarter-mile at a time. For those 10 seconds, I'm free.") in the surprise summer blockbuster "The Fast and the Furious" (2001), in which New York Times critic Elvis Mitchell characterized Diesel as a "slacker Robert Mitchum, if that's not redundant."

In between writing and directing his second feature, "Doormen," based in part on his own experiences as a bouncer at NYC nightclubs, Diesel found time to star in his "The Fast and the Furious" helmer Rob Cohen's action yarn,"XXX" (2002), a box-office bonaza that was routinely panned by the critics but nevertheless solidified the actor's status as an heir apparent to A-list action stars like Stallone and Schwarzenegger; and in the mob comedy, "Knockaround Guys", playing tough-guy Taylor, a young mobster-in-training desperate to retrieve a bag full of stolen cash. Released in 2001 in Italy, under the title "Dangerous Company", "Knockaround Guys", an ensemble film in which Diesel co-stars alongside Barry Pepper, Seth Green, John Malkovich and Dennis Hopper, was released in the United States in 2002, in an attempt to cash in on Diesel's high-wattage star power as a result of "XXX"'s healthy box office earnings.

Instead of opting for a big payday on the sequel "Too Fast, Too Furious," which he declined to appear in, Diesel instead opted for features like the crime drama "A Man Apart" (2003), an action-lite tale that offered the actor prime opportunity to emote instead; many critics took minor swings at Diesel's sensitive side, but few could deny his strong screen presence and charisma, even in a middle-of-the-road film. The actor returned to the explosive, big budget world of sci-fi action when he reprised the role of "Pitch Black's" Richard Riddick for Twohy's inflated sequel "The Chronicles of Riddick" (2004). Taking a page from Arnold Schwarzenegger, Diesel next tried to expand his repertoire with a stint at broad comedy in Disney's "The Pacifier" (2005), playing a disgraced Navy SEAL charged with protecting the bratty brood of a deceased government scientist whose enemies are searching for his top secret experiment.