Robert De Niro

Robert De Niro
Born	August 17, 1943 (1943-08-17) Manhattan, New York, United States
Other names	Robert DeNero
Occupation	Actor, producer
Years active	1963–present
Children	6
Parents	Robert De Niro, Sr. Virginia Admiral

Robert De Niro (born August 17, 1943) is an American actor and producer who has starred in over 90 films. His first major film roles were in the sports drama Bang the Drum Slowly (1973) and Martin Scorsese's crime film Mean Streets (1973). In 1974, after being turned down for the role of Sonny Corleone in the crime film The Godfather (1972), he was cast as the young Vito Corleone in The Godfather Part II (1974), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He stands at 5’11”

De Niro's longtime collaboration with Scorsese later earned him an Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Jake LaMotta in the 1980 film Raging Bull. He also earned nominations for the psychological thrillers Taxi Driver (1976) and Cape Fear (1991), both directed by Scorsese. De Niro received additional Academy Award nominations for Michael Cimino's Vietnam war drama The Deer Hunter (1978), Penny Marshall's drama Awakenings (1990), and David O. Russell's romantic comedy-drama Silver Linings Playbook (2012). His portrayal of gangster Jimmy Conway in Scorsese's crime film Goodfellas (1990) earned him a BAFTA nomination in 1990. De Niro has earned four nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, for his work in the musical drama New York, New York (1977), opposite Liza Minnelli, the action comedy Midnight Run (1988), the gangster comedy Analyze This (1999), and the comedy Meet the Parents (2000). He has also simultaneously directed and starred in films such as the crime drama A Bronx Tale (1993) and the spy film The Good Shepherd (2006). De Niro has also received the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2003 and the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2010. Also in 2006, he received the Italian nationality.

Film career

De Niro's first film role came at the age of 20, when he appeared in Brian De Palma's 1963 film The Wedding Party, but the film was not released until 1969. He then appeared in Roger Corman's film Bloody Mama (1970). He gained popular attention with his role as a dying Major League Baseball player in Bang the Drum Slowly (1973) and began his collaboration with Martin Scorsese when he played the small-time criminal Johnny Boy in Mean Streets (1973).

De Niro had a pivotal role in the Francis Ford Coppola film The Godfather Part II (1974), playing the young Vito Corleone. Coppola had remembered his previous auditions 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 ceremony. De Niro 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. He and Marlon Brando, who played the older Vito Corleone in the first film, are the only actors to have won Oscars for portraying the same fictional character. The two came together onscreen for the only time in The Score (2001).

After working with Scorsese in Mean Streets, De Niro went on to have a successful working relationship with him in films such as Taxi Driver (1976), York, New York (1977), Raging Bull (1980), The King of Comedy (1982), Goodfellas (1990), Cape Fear (1991), and Casino (1995). They also acted together in Guilty by Suspicion (1991) and provided their voices for the animated feature Shark Tale (2004). Taxi Driver was particularly important to De Niro's career; his iconic performance as Travis Bickle catapulted him to stardom and forever linked his name with Bickle's famous "You talkin' to me?" monologue, which De Niro largely improvised. The role of Bickle earned him his first Academy Award Nomination for Best Actor. His portrayal of Jake LaMotta in Raging Bull was lauded, as well as his interpretation of Max Cady in Cape Fear.

In 1976, De Niro appeared in 1900, Bernardo Bertolucci's biographical exploration of life in Italy before World War II, seen through the eyes of two Italian childhood friends at the opposite sides of society's hierarchy. He also starred in The Last Tycoon (1976), directed by Elia Kazan. Kazan recalls that De Niro "would do almost anything to succeed" and noted that he cut his weight down from 170 to 128 pounds for the role in this film. Kazan adds that De Niro "is one of a select number of actors I've directed who work hard at their trade, and the only one who asked to rehearse on Sundays. Most of the others play tennis. Bobby and I would go over the scenes to be shot. Bobby is more meticulous... he's very imaginative. He's very precise. He figures everything out both inside and outside. He has good emotion. He's a character actor: everything he does he calculates. In a good way, but he calculates." Kazan developed and used those personality traits for his character in the film. And although the film did poorly at the box office, reviewers praised De Niro's acting. Film critic Marie Brenner wrote that "for De Niro, it is a role that surpasses even his brilliant and daring portrayal of Vito Corleone in The Godfather Part II... his performance deserves to be compared with the very finest".

De Niro played Michael Vronsky in the acclaimed Vietnam War film The Deer Hunter (1978), for which he was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role. Fearing he had become typecast in mob roles, he began expanding into occasional comedic roles in the mid-1980s and has had much success there as well, with such films as Brazil (1985), Midnight Run (1988), Analyze This (1999), Meet the Parents (2000), and Meet the Fockers (2004). Other films include True Confessions (1981), Falling in Love (1984), Once Upon a Time in America (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 (1997), Ronin (1998) and Flawless (1999).

In 1987, De Niro was the President of the Jury at the 15th Moscow International Film Festival. He appeared in This Boy's Life (1993). Around this time, he was offered the role of Mitch Leary in In the Line of Fire (1993). However, due to scheduling conflicts with his directorial debut A Bronx Tale (1993), he gave up the role to John Malkovich, who later received an Academy Award nomination for it. In A Bronx Tale, which De Niro agreed to direct after seeing the screenwriter's one-man off-Broadway play, he played a bus driver who struggles to keep his son away from a local mobster. At the 20th Moscow International Film Festival in 1997, he was awarded an Honorable Prize for contribution to cinema.

De Niro would reference In the Line of Fire, along with Dirty Harry (1971) and Magnum Force (1973), two more of Eastwood's films, in Righteous Kill (2008). He also appeared in the crime drama Cop Land (1997). He starred in the police action-thriller Heat (1995), 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 Pacino and De Niro both starred in The Godfather Part II (1974), they shared no screen time. They once again appeared together in Righteous Kill (2008).

De Niro played Master Chief Billy Sunday in the biographical film Men of Honor (2000), based on the life of Carl Brashear, the first African American to become a U.S. Navy Master Diver. He also hosted 9/11 (2002), a documentary about the 9/11 attacks, shown on CBS and focusing on video footage made by Jules and Gedeon Naudet that showed the role of firefighters following the attacks. He reprised his role as Jack Byrnes in Meet the Fockers (2004) and was featured in Stardust (2007). All of the films were successful at the box office, but received mixed reviews. When promoting Shark Tale, De Niro said that his first experience with voice acting was enjoyable.

De Niro had to turn down a role in The Departed (2006) due to commitments with preparing The Good Shepherd (2006). 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." 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 directed and starred in The Good Shepherd (2006). The film reunited him onscreen with Joe Pesci, with whom he had starred in Raging Bull, Goodfellas, A Bronx Tale, Once Upon a Time in America, and Casino. The same year, De Niro appeared as himself in an episode of the BBC series Extras, as Ricky Gervais' character claimed it was his ambition to meet De Niro.

De Niro announced that he would appear in the film version of the BBC crime series Edge of Darkness in 2010; however, just after he arrived to begin shooting, De Niro left the film due to creative differences. He was replaced by Ray Winstone. He appeared as Senator John McLaughlin in the action film Machete (2010), and starred in the thriller Stone (2010). He again reprised his role as Jack Byrnes in Little Fockers (2010). He appeared in the action film Killer Elite (2011), Limitless (2011) and the romantic comedy film New Year's Eve (2011).

De Niro starred in the film Manuale d'amore 3 (2011). In January 2011, CBS picked up De Niro's crime pilot, NYC 22 (originally titled Rookies), but it was cancelled after airing only four episodes. In 2011, De Niro was the President of the Jury for the 64th Cannes Film Festival. In 2012, he starred in the films Silver Linings Playbook, Freelancers, Red Lights, and Being Flynn. He received a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Silver Linings Playbook.

De Niro has said that he is working with Martin Scorsese on a new project: "I'm trying to actually work... [screenwriter] Eric Roth and myself and Marty are working on a script now, trying to get it done."

On April 8, 2015, De Niro revealed that he'll play Enzo Ferrari in a movie to be released in 2016.

Filmography

Acting

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1965	Three Rooms in Manhattan	Client at the diner	Uncredited(citation needed)
1968	Jeunes Loups !Les Jeunes Loups	Client at the club Chez Popov
1968	Greetings	Jon Rubin
1969	Sam's Song	Sam
1969	Wedding Party !The Wedding Party	Cecil
1970	Bloody Mama	Lloyd Barker
1970	Hi, Mom!	Jon Rubin
1971	Jennifer on My Mind	Mardigian, Cab driver
1971	Born to Win	Officer Danny
1971	Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight !The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight	Mario Trantino
1973	Bang the Drum Slowly	Bruce Pearson
1973	Mean Streets	John "Johnny Boy" Civello	First collaboration with Martin Scorsese
1974	Godfather Part II !The Godfather Part II	Vito Corleone	Won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
1976	Taxi Driver	Travis Bickle
1976	1900	Alfredo Berlinghieri
1976	Last Tycoon !The Last Tycoon	Monroe Stahr
1977	New York, New York	Jimmy Doyle
1978	Deer Hunter !The Deer Hunter	Michael Vronsky
1979	Swap !The Swap	Sam Nicoletti	Re-release of Sam's Song
1980	Raging Bull	Jake LaMotta	Won the Academy Award for Best Actor
1981	True Confessions	Monsignor Desmond "Des" Spellacy
1983	King of Comedy !The King of Comedy	Rupert Pupkin
1984	Once Upon a Time in America	David "Noodles" Aaronson
1984	Falling in Love	Frank Raftis
1985	Brazil	Archibald 'Harry' Tuttle
1986	Mission !The Mission	Rodrigo Mendoza
1987	Angel Heart	Louis Cyphre
1987	Untouchables !The Untouchables	Al Capone
1988	Midnight Run	Jack Walsh
1989	Jacknife	Joseph "Jacknife" Megessey
1989	We're No Angels	Ned
1990	Stanley & Iris	Stanley Everett Cox
1990	Goodfellas	James "Jimmy" Conway
1990	Awakenings	Leonard Lowe
1991	Guilty by Suspicion	David Merrill
1991	Backdraft	Donald 'Shadow' Rimgale
1991	Father of the Bride	Officer in the Background	Only line is very short
1991	Cape Fear	Max Cady
1992	Mistress	Evan M. Wright
1992	Night and the City	Harry Fabian
1993	Mad Dog and Glory	Wayne "Mad Dog" Dobie
1993	This Boy's Life	Dwight Hansen
1993	Bronx Tale !A Bronx Tale	Lorenzo Anello	Also director
1994	Mary Shelley's Frankenstein	The Creature
1995	Hundred and One Nights !A Hundred and One Nights	Le mari de la star-fantasme en croisière
1995	Casino	Sam 'Ace' Rothstein	Last collaboration with Martin Scorsese
1995	Heat	Neil McCauley
1996	Fan !The Fan	Gilbert "Gil" Renard
1996	Sleepers	Father Bobby
1996	Marvin's Room	Dr. Wally
1997	Cop Land	Lt. Moe Tilden
1997	Jackie Brown	Louis Gara
1997	Wag the Dog	Conrad Brean
1998	Great Expectations	Arthur Lustig
1998	Ronin	Sam
1999	Analyze This	Paul Vitti
1999	Flawless	Walter Koontz
2000	Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle !The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle	Fearless Leader
2000	Men of Honor	Chief Leslie William "Billy" Sunday
2000	Meet the Parents	Jack Tiberius Byrnes
2001	15 Minutes	Det. Eddie Flemming
2001	Score !The Score	Nick Wells
2002	Showtime	Det. Mitch Preston
2002	City by the Sea	Vincent Anthony LaMarca
2002	Analyze That	Paul Vitti
2004	Godsend	Dr. Richard Wells
2004	Shark Tale	Don Lino	Voice
2004	Meet the Fockers	Jack Tiberius Byrnes
2004	Bridge of San Luis Rey !The Bridge of San Luis Rey	Archbishop of Lima
2005	Hide and Seek	David Callaway / Charlie
2006	Arthur and the Invisibles	The King	Voice
2006	Good Shepherd !The Good Shepherd	General Bill Sullivan	Also director
2007	Stardust	Captain Shakespeare
2008	Righteous Kill	Det. Thomas "Turk" Cowan
2008	What Just Happened	Ben
2009	Everybody's Fine	Frank
2010	Machete	Senator McLaughlin
2010	Stone	Jack Mabry
2010	Little Fockers	Jack Tiberius Byrnes
2011	Manuale d'amore 3	Adrian
2011	Killer Elite	Hunter
2011	Limitless	Carl Van Loon
2011	New Year's Eve	Stan Harris
2012	Being Flynn	Jonathan Flynn
2012	Red Lights	Simon Silver
2012	Freelancers	Sarcone
2012	Silver Linings Playbook	Pat Solitano, Sr.
2013	Big Wedding !The Big Wedding	Don Griffin
2013	Killing Season	Benjamin Ford
2013	Family !The Family	Fred Blake/Giovanni Manzoni	Also known as Malavita
2013	Last Vegas	Paddy
2013	American Hustle	Victor Tellegio	Uncredited
2013	Grudge Match	Billy "The Kid" McDonnen
2014	Bag Man !The Bag Man	Dragna	Also known as Motel
2015	Bus 657	Frank "The Pope" Silva	In post-production
2015	Intern !The Intern	Ben Whittaker
2015	Hands of Stone	Ray Arcel
2015	Joy		In post-production
2016	Dirty Grandpa	Dick Kelly	In post-production

Producing

Year	Title	Role
1989	We're No Angels	Executive producer
1991	Cape Fear	Producer (uncredited)
1992	Thunderheart	Producer
1992	Mistress	Producer
1993	The Night We Never Met	Producer (uncredited)
1993	A Bronx Tale	Producer
1994	Mary Shelley's Frankenstein	Associate producer
1995	Panther	Producer (uncredited)
1996	Faithful	Producer
1996	Marvin's Room	Producer
1997	Wag the Dog	Producer
1998	Witness to the Mob	Executive producer
1999	Entropy	Producer
1999	Flawless	Producer
2000	The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle	Producer
2000	Meet the Parents	Producer
2000	Holiday Heart	Executive producer
2001	Prison Song	Producer
2002	About a Boy	Producer
2004	Stage Beauty	Producer
2004	Meet the Fockers	Producer
2005	Rent	Producer
2006	The Good Shepherd	Producer
2008	What Just Happened	Producer
2009	Public Enemies	Executive producer (uncredited)
2010	Little Fockers	Producer
2010	20% Fiction	Executive producer
2010	36	Producer
2011	Warrior Queen	Producer
2011	The Undomestic Goddess	Executive producer
2014	Mercury	Co-producer