Robert Mario De Niro, Jr. (born August 17, 1943) is an Italian American actor, director, and producer.
Robert De Niro is well known for portrayals of conflicted, troubled characters and for his enduring
collaboration with director Martin Scorsese. De Niro gained critical acclaim in the early 1970s, culminating in his first Academy Award as best Supporting Actor for
The Godfather Part II (1974), followed by a Best Actor Academy Award win for
Raging Bull (1980). His film roles include the young
Vito Corleone in
The Godfather Part II, cabbie Travis Bickle in
Taxi Driver, soldier Michael Vronsky in
The Deer Hunter, boxer
Jake LaMotta in
Raging Bull, mobster David Aarenson
Once Upon A Time in America, plumber/terrorist Harry Tuttle in
Brazil, mobster
Jimmy Conway in
Goodfellas,
Al Capone in
The Untouchables, Louis Gara in
Jackie Brown, Jack Byrnes in
Meet the Parents and
Meet the Fockers, Max Cady in
Cape Fear, Cop. Moe Tilden in
Cop Land, Neil McCauley in
Heat and Sam Rothstein in
Casino.
Early life
Robert De Niro was born in
New York City,
New York, the son of
Virginia Admiral, a painter, and
Robert De Niro, Sr., an
abstract expressionist painter and sculptor.
De Niro's father was of Italian and Irish descent, and his mother was of German, French, and Dutch descent. His Italian great-grandparents, Giovanni De Niro and Angelina Mercurio, immigrated from
Ferrazzano, in the
province of Campobasso, Molise,
and his paternal grandmother, Helen O' Reilly, was the granddaughter of
Edward O'Reilly, an immigrant from Ireland.
De Niro's parents, who had met at the painting classes of
Hans Hofmann in
Provincetown, Massachusetts, divorced when he was two years old. De Niro grew up in the
Little Italy area of Manhattan. He was raised in New York's Greenwich Village by his mother. Nicknamed "Bobby Milk" for his pallor, the youthful De Niro joined a Little Italy street gang, but the direction of his future had already been determined by his stage debut at age ten playing the Cowardly Lion in his school's production of
The Wizard of Oz. Along with finding relief from shyness through performing, De Niro was also entranced by the movies, and he quit high school at age 16 to pursue acting. Studying under
Stella Adler and
Lee Strasberg, De Niro first attended the
Little Red School House and was then enrolled by his mother at the
Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music and Art in New York, a division of which (officially named
The School of Performing Arts: A Division of the Fiorello H. La Guardia High School of Music and the Arts) was attended by fellow
Godfather II actor
Al Pacino. De Niro attended the
Stella Adler Conservatory as well as
Lee Strasberg's
Actor's Studio, and used his membership there mostly as a professional advantage. He is considered, by many fans and critics alike, to be one of the greatest film actors of all time.
Early film career
De Niro's first film role in collaboration with
Brian De Palma was in 1963 at the age of 20, when he appeared in
The Wedding Party; however, the film was not released until 1969. He spent much of the 1960s working in theater workshops and
off-Broadway productions. He was an
extra in the French film
Three Rooms in Manhattan (1965) and made his official film debut after he reunited with De Palma in
Greetings (1968). He later reprised his
Greetings role in
Hi, Mom (1970). [
with DeNiro.jpg|thumb|right|240px|De Niro on the set of Raging Bull with [[Jake LaMotta]]]
He gained popular attention with his role as a dying
Major League baseball player in
Bang the Drum Slowly (1973). The same year, he began his fruitful collaboration with Scorsese when he played a memorable role as the smalltime hood "Johnny Boy" alongside
Harvey Keitel's "Charlie" in
Mean Streets (1973). In 1974, De Niro played a pivotal role in
Francis Coppola's
The Godfather, Part II, playing young
Don Vito Corleone, having previously auditioned for the roles of
Sonny Corleone,
Michael Corleone,
Carlo Rizzi and Paulie Gatto in
The Godfather. His performance earned him his first Academy Award, for
Best Supporting Actor, although Coppola accepted the award, as De Niro was not present at the Oscar ceremony. He became the first actor to win an Academy Award speaking mainly a foreign language, in this case, multiple
Sicilian dialects (although he delivered a few lines in English). De Niro and
Marlon Brando, who played the older Vito Corleone in the first film, are the only actors to have won leading-role Oscars portraying the same fictional character.
After working with Scorsese in
Mean Streets, he had a very successful working relationship with the director in films such as
Taxi Driver (1976),
New York, New York (1977),
Raging Bull (1980),
The King of Comedy (1983),
Goodfellas (1990),
Cape Fear (1991), and
Casino (1995). They also acted together in
Guilty by Suspicion and provided their voices for the
animated feature Shark Tale.
In many of his films, De Niro has played likable or sympathetic sociopaths.
Taxi Driver is particularly important to De Niro's career; his iconic performance as
Travis Bickle shot him to stardom and forever linked De Niro's name with Bickle's famous "
You talkin' to me?" monologue, which De Niro largely improvised.
In 1976, De Niro appeared (along with
Gérard Depardieu and
Donald Sutherland) in
Bernardo Bertolucci's epic biographical exploration of life in Italy before World War II,
Novecento (
1900), seen through the eyes of two Italian childhood friends at the opposite sides of society's hierarchy.
In 1978, De Niro played "Michael Vronsky" in the acclaimed Vietnam War film
The Deer Hunter, for which he was nominated
Best Actor in a Leading Role.
Later film career
Praised for his commitment to roles (stemming from his background in
method acting), De Niro gained 60 pounds (27 kg) and learned how to
box for his portrayal of
Jake LaMotta in
Raging Bull; ground his teeth for
Cape Fear; lived in
Sicily for
The Godfather, Part II; worked as a cab driver for three months for
Taxi Driver; and learned to play the
saxophone for
New York, New York. He also put on weight and shaved his hairline to play
Al Capone in
The Untouchables.
De Niro's brand of method acting includes employing whatever extreme tactic he feels is necessary to elicit the best performance from those he is acting with. During the filming of
The King of Comedy, for example, he directed a slew of anti-Semitic epithets at costar
Jerry Lewis in order to enhance and authenticate the anger demonstrated by his onscreen character. According to
People magazine, the technique was successful. Lewis recalled, "I forgot the cameras were there... I was going for Bobby's throat."
Fearing he had become typecast in mob roles, De Niro began expanding into occasional comedic roles in the mid-1980s and has had much success there as well, with such films as
Brazil (1985); the hit action-comedy
Midnight Run (1988),
Showtime (2002), opposite
Eddie Murphy; the film-and-sequel pairs
Analyze This (1999) and
Analyze That (2002), both opposite actor/comedian
Billy Crystal,
Meet the Parents (2000) and
Meet the Fockers (2004), both opposite
Ben Stiller.
Other films include
Falling in Love (1984),
The Mission (1986),
Angel Heart (1987),
The Untouchables (1987),
Goodfellas (1990),
Awakenings (1990),
Heat (1995),
The Fan (1996),
Sleepers (1996),
Wag the Dog (1997),
Jackie Brown and
Ronin (1998). In 1997, he reteamed with
Harvey Keitel and
Ray Liotta along with
Sylvester Stallone in the crime drama
Cop Land. De Niro played a supporting role, taking a back seat to Stallone, Keitel, and Liotta.
In 1993 he also starred in
This Boy's Life, featuring then-rising child actors
Leonardo DiCaprio and
Tobey Maguire. Around this time, he was offered the role of Mitch Leary in
In the Line of Fire opposite
Clint Eastwood, but he turned the role down in favor of
John Malkovich (who received an
Academy Award nomination for the role) due to scheduling conflicts with
A Bronx Tale. De Niro would later reference
In the Line of Fire (along with
Dirty Harry and
Magnum Force, two more of Eastwood's films) in
Righteous Kill.
In 1995, De Niro starred in
Michael Mann's police action-thriller
Heat, along with fellow actor and long-time friend,
Al Pacino. The duo drew much attention from fans, as both have generally been compared throughout their careers. Though both Pacino and De Niro starred in
The Godfather, Part II, they shared no screen time. De Niro and Pacino once again appeared in a film together, in the crime thriller
Righteous Kill.
In 2004, De Niro provided the voice of Don Lino, the antagonist in the animated film
Shark Tale, opposite
Will Smith. He also reprised his role as Jack Byrnes in
Meet the Fockers, and was featured in
Stardust. All films were successful at the
box office but received mixed reviews. When promoting
Shark Tale, De Niro said that was his first experience with
voice acting, which he commented was an enjoyable time.
[] in Berlin in February 2007 for the premiere of
The Good Shepherd]]
De Niro had to turn down a role in
The Departed (
Martin Sheen taking the role instead) due to commitments with preparing
The Good Shepherd. He said "I wanted to. I wish I could've been able to, but I was preparing
The Good Shepherd so much that I couldn't take the time to. I was trying to figure a way to do it while I was preparing. It just didn't seem possible."
[ ]
He directed
The Good Shepherd (2006), and costarred with
Matt Damon and
Angelina Jolie. The movie also reunited him onscreen with
Joe Pesci, with whom De Niro had starred in
Raging Bull,
Goodfellas,
A Bronx Tale,
Once Upon A Time In America and
Casino.
In June 2006, it was announced that De Niro had donated his film archive — including scripts, costumes, and props — to the
Harry Ransom Center at
The University of Texas at Austin. On April 27, 2009, it was announced that the De Niro collection at the Ransom Center was open to researchers and the public. De Niro has said that he is working with
Martin Scorsese on a new project. "I'm trying to actually work...
[1] Eric Roth and myself and Marty are working on a script now, trying to get it done."
De Niro has won two
Academy Awards:
Best Actor for his role in
Raging Bull, and
Best Supporting Actor for
The Godfather, Part II.
De Niro and
Marlon Brando are the only actors who won Academy Awards for portraying the same character: Brando won for playing the elderly
Don Vito Corleone (though he declined the award) in
The Godfather, while De Niro later won the award for playing the young Vito in
The Godfather, Part II. Brando and De Niro came together onscreen for the only time in
The Score (2001). De Niro actually auditioned for the role of
Sonny in the first
Godfather film,
[The Godfather Family: A Look Inside (1990 documentary)] but the role was given to
James Caan. When
The Godfather, Part II was in preproduction, the director,
Francis Ford Coppola, remembered De Niro's audition and cast him to play the young Vito Corleone. De Niro is one of only five people to win an Academy Award for working in a foreign language, as he almost exclusively spoke Italian, with very few phrases in English.
De Niro is acting in the role of a mobster in
Paramount Pictures' upcoming movie,
Frankie Machine. He announced that he would appear in
Martin Campbell's
film version of the classic
BBC crime series
Edge of Darkness in 2010 alongside
Mel Gibson, but, just after he arrived to begin shooting, De Niro walked from the set due to creative differences.
He was then replaced by
Ray Winstone.
Film director
In 1993, De Niro made his directorial debut with
A Bronx Tale. The film, written by
Chazz Palminteri, was about Palminteri's turbulent childhood in the Bronx. De Niro agreed to direct the film after seeing Palminteri's one-man off-Broadway play. De Niro also played Lorenzo, the bus driver who struggles to keep his son away from local mobster Sonny, played by Palminteri.
De Niro hadn't directed another film until 2006's
The Good Shepherd, which starred
Matt Damon and
Angelina Jolie. The Good Shepherd depicts the origins of the
CIA, with Damon portraying one of the top counter-intelligence agents during World War II and the Cold War. De Niro has a small role as General Bill Donovan, who recruits Damon's character into the world of counter-intelligence.
Recent projects
CBS has made a deal with Tribeca Productions to develop three pilots that will be executive produced by Tribeca partners Robert De Niro and
Jane Rosenthal. The deal gives Tribeca a guarantee that one of the three projects will be produced as a series pilot. The first project, to be produced in partnership by
Media Rights Capital, is an hourlong pilot that will be written by
William Monahan, the Oscar-winning writer of
The Departed who will make his first foray into TV with an untitled drama set in New York.
Monahan, who recently scripted
Body of Lies and
Edge of Darkness, is writing the pilot targeted for the Eye's fall 2009 sked. Rosenthal wouldn't reveal the subject matter.
Tribeca continues to develop
Little Fockers and
The Undomestic Goddess for
Universal Pictures, and
Frankie Machine at Paramount, with
Michael Mann attached to direct and De Niro to star.
[www.variety.com/article/VR1117994013.html?categoryid=14&cs=1]
Personal life
De Niro, who lives in New York City, has been investing in the
TriBeCa neighborhood in
lower Manhattan since 1989. His capital ventures have included cofounding the film studio
TriBeCa Productions; the popular
TriBeCa Film Festival;
Nobu and TriBeCa Grill, which he co-owns with
Paul Wallace and Broadway producer
Stewart F. Lane,
[New York Times De Niro Is Trying Life Behind the Camera, By William H. Honan, August 23, 1989] The Greenwich Hotel,
[www.thegreenwichhotel.com/] located in Tribeca, and the restaurant inside the hotel, Locanda Verde, formally known as Ago, which is run by executive chef and co-owner,
Andrew Carmellini.
[ ]
In 1997, De Niro married his second wife, Grace Hightower (a former flight attendant), at their estate near
Marbletown in
upstate New York (De Niro also has residences on the east and west sides of
Manhattan). Their son Elliot was born in 1998.
In addition to Elliot, De Niro has a son, Raphael, a former actor who now works in New York real estate
[New York Real Estate - Prudential Douglas Elliman] with first wife
Diahnne Abbott. He also adopted Abbott's daughter (from a previous relationship),
Drena. In addition, he has twin sons, Julian Henry and Aaron Kendrick (conceived by
in vitro fertilization and delivered by a surrogate mother in 1995), from a long-term live-in relationship with former model
Toukie Smith.
All of De Niro's partners have been African Americans.
In February 1998, during a film shoot in France, he was taken in for questioning by French police for nine hours and was then questioned by a magistrate over a prostitution ring. De Niro denied any involvement, saying that he had never paid for sex, "...and even if I had, it wouldn't have been a crime."
The magistrate wanted to speak to him after his name was mentioned by one of the call girls. In an interview with the French newspaper
Le Monde, he said, "I will never return to France. I will advise my friends against going to France," and he would "send your
Legion of Honor back to the ambassador, as soon as possible." French judicial sources say the actor is regarded as a potential witness, not a suspect.
De Niro was due to be granted with Italian citizenship at the
Venice Film Festival in September 2004. However, the
Sons of Italy lodged a protest with Italian Prime Minister
Silvio Berlusconi, claiming De Niro had damaged the image of Italians and
Italian-Americans by frequently portraying them in criminal roles. Culture Minister Giuliano Urbani dismissed the objections, and the ceremony was rescheduled to go forward in Rome in October. Controversy flared again when De Niro failed to show for two media appearances in Italy that month, which De Niro blamed on "serious communication problems" that weren't "handled properly" on his end, stating, "The last thing I would want to do is offend anyone. I love Italy." The citizenship was conferred on De Niro on October 21, 2006, during the finale of the Rome Film Festival. De Niro is registered in the electoral district of
Molise, the Italian homeland of his great-grandparents.
De Niro is a supporter of the
Democratic Party, and vocally supported
Al Gore in the
2000 presidential election. De Niro publicly supported
John Kerry in the
2004 presidential election. In 1998, he lobbied Congress against impeaching President
Bill Clinton.
De Niro also narrated
9/11, a documentary about the
September 11, 2001 attacks, shown on
CBS and centering on video footage made by
Jules and Gedeon Naudet that focused on the role of
firefighters following the attacks. While promoting his movie
The Good Shepherd with co-star
Matt Damon on the December 8, 2006 episode of
Hardball with Chris Matthews at
George Mason University, De Niro was asked whom he would like to see as President of the United States. De Niro responded, "Well, I think of two people:
Hillary Clinton and
Obama." On February 4, 2008, De Niro supported Obama at a rally at the
Izod Center in
New Jersey before
Super Tuesday.
Filmography
Awards and nominations
Academy Award
BAFTA Award
Golden Globe Award
- Nominated: Best Actor - Motion Picture , Taxi Driver (1976)
- Nominated: Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical/Comedy, New York, New York (1978)
- Nominated: Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama, The Deer Hunter (1979)
- Won: Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama, Raging Bull (1980)
- Nominated: Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical/Comedy, Midnight Run (1989)
- Nominated: Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama, Cape Fear (1991)
- Nominated: Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical/Comedy, Analyze This (2000)
- Nominated: Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical/Comedy, Meet the Parents (2002)
