Spike Lee says he will be remembered for being a teacher alongside his films when he dies

And the Academy Award winner hopes teaching the next generation of moviemakers will be a part of his lasting legacy.

Asked what his legacy will be after his death, Lee, 68, told People: "It's two things: it's the films, and also I'm a teacher. So my students ... a lot of them have gone and made careers in it.

"I've been teaching 31 years. But not all those years were tenured. That came around recently. So they can't fire me. NYU can't fire me."

The Jungle Fever creator previously said his children will be a big part of his legacy.

In July 2012, Lee - who has daughter Satchel, 31, and son Jackson, 28, with his 59-year-old wife, attorney Tonya - told Vulture: "Well, my No. 1 legacy is going to be through my children.

"My daughter, Satchel, and my son, Jackson, [who] is going to be 15 tomorrow. They both are definitely going to do something in the arts.

"And they are going to be successful, too. I know they are going to be the best legacy that my wife, Tonya, and I leave behind."

Lee and Tonya met in Washington, D.C. at the Congressional Black Caucus Dinner in September 1992 - and the filmmaker previously said he was on a date with another woman when he asked Tonya for her number.

In May 2024, Lee - who married Tonya in a beautiful church in New York City in October 1993 - said on the Kelly Corrigan Wonders podcast: "So I had a date that night. So I'm going to the restroom, and I see this woman coming to me - and I know it might sound corny, but it's true - time stopped.

"I said, 'Damn!' And so later on, she said the same thing. So we just looked at each other and then couldn't see [each other] anymore.

"So the night is going on. You know, I'm there, I got to introduce the trailer for Malcolm X. And it's time to go, so we're leaving - Tonya has her version, I have my version, and there's the real version ...

"I'm going down the escalator, and she's going up the escalator. So I'm going down the escalator, I gotta think quick. So tell the person I'm with, 'I think I left my Montblanc pen upstairs,' you know, something like that.

"So I make a U-turn, go back on the escalator and find her and ask her for, you know, her number."

Lee was presented with the Career Achievement Award at the Critics Choice Celebration of Black Cinema and Television for his "extraordinary body of work that has made an indelible mark on popular culture over the last four decades" on Tuesday (09.12.25) in Los Angeles, California.