Home   Actors   Actresses   Supermodels  Movies  Musicians Athletes

                                            ACTORS

                      A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Link To Us

Robert DeNiro

Biography  Filmography   Links   Contact  Galleries

Biography

Robert De Niro Jr. was born in New York, NY, on the 17th of August, 1943. Born to a family of artists, his father, Robert De Niro Sr. was a Greenwich Village abstract expressionist, while his mother, Virginia Admiral, was a painter. De Niro, who was also known as "Bobby Milk" because he was so pale, was shy as a young boy. Rather than playing with the other children in his Little Italy neighborhood, he preferred reading novels.
Ironically, his first role on stage was as the cowardly lion in The Wizard of Oz at the age of 10. Getting over his shyness, De Niro hung out with the street kids and gangs from his neighborhood throughout most of his years as a teenager. Wanting to return to acting, De Niro performed in an onstage production of The Bear and continued touring for several years doing off-Broadway productions. While De Niro does seem like a natural at acting, he perfected his acting skills by studying with Stella Adler and Lee Strasberg, like most of the other actors of his generation.

De Niro's first films, The Wedding Party, Greetings, and Hi, Mom! (all shot in the late 1960's), marked the beginning of his relationship with director Brian De Palma. 1973 was the year that Hollywood and movie audiences would start to notice one of the era's greatest movie actors. De Niro's role in Bang the Drum Slowly received critical acclaim and De Niro won the award for Best Actor by the New York Film Critics.

His second film project that year marked the beginning of another relationship with a director, this time Martin Scorsese, who has directed De Niro in 8 films since the film Mean Streets.

In 1974 came one of the roles for which De Niro would always be remembered, that of the young Vito Corleone in Francis Ford Coppola's classic The Godfather, Part II. This was the role that made De Niro a superstar, earning him the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor and showing Hollywood his supreme acting capabilities. His role as the deranged Travis Bickle in Scorsese's Taxi Driver, further emphasized his talent. While receiving much critical acclaim, his "Are you talkin' to me?" line has become a classic movie quote.

In 1980, De Niro added a second Oscar to his mantle, this time for Best Actor for his performance as boxer Jake La Motta in Raging Bull. A plumber in the alternative film Brazil, a former violent Christian follower in The Mission and Al Capone in The Untouchables, all these films in the 1980's proved the actor's versatility.

The 1990's were split in terms of hits and misses in De Niro's career. While Goodfellas, Awakenings and Sleepers were successful, De Niro's roles in movies such as We're No Angels, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and The Fan made critics and audiences ask, "what was he thinking!?!" Playing a psychotic once again in Cape Fear in 1991, De Niro was frightfully convincing as the vengeful convict. He played a casino owner in Casino, co-starring Sharon Stone, and a bus driver in A Bronx Tale, again showing audiences his versatility.

Face to face with fellow legendary actor Al Pacino in Heat and an outstanding performance, he doesn't quite succeed in the film Ronin, which although has a fantastic car chase scene, does not quite make it as a high point in De Niro's career. Other notable roles in De Niro's films of the '90s include: Marvin's Room, Jackie Brown, Wag the Dog and Analyze This (both in more comedic roles), and Flawless. Great Expectations is worth seeing for Gwyneth Paltrow alone.

De Niro founded a production company called the Tribeca Film Center, with the goal of promoting New York film production. As for his love life, he was formerly married to Diahne Abbott, romantically linked to supermodel Naomi Campbell, and is presently divorced with his second wife, Grace Hightower.

De Niro is also the father of Elliott (whose mother is Grace Hightower); Aaron Kendrick and Julien Henry (twin sons of mother and ex-girlfriend, Toukie Smith); Raphael (whose mother is Diahnne Abbott); and daughter Dreena, who De Niro adopted from Diahnne Abbott.

De Niro was last seen in Meet The Parents and The Score.

Filmography

Good Shepherd, The (2004)
Godsend (2003) .... Dr. Richard Wells
Chaos (2003)
Analyze That (2002) .... Paul Vitti
City by the Sea (2002) .... Detective Vincent La Marca
Showtime (2002) .... Detective Mitch Preston
9/11 (2002) (TV) .... Himself/Host
Hello, He Lied & Other Truths From the Hollywood Trenches (2002) (TV) (uncredited) (archive footage) .... Himself
... aka Hello, He Lied (2002) (TV) (USA: short title)
E! Rank: 25 Toughest Stars (2001) (TV) .... Himself/#18
Concert for New York City (2001) (TV) .... Himself
America: A Tribute to Heroes (2001) (TV) .... Himself
Score, The (2001) .... Nick Wells
... aka Score, The (2001) (Germany)
15 Minutes (2001) .... Detective Eddie Fleming
... aka 15 Minuten Ruhm (2001) (Germany)
MTV Video Music Awards 2000 (2000) (TV) .... Himself
Meet the Parents (2000) .... Jack Byrnes
Men of Honor (2000) .... Master Chief Leslie W. 'Billy' Sunday
... aka Men of Honour (2001) (UK)
Book That Wrote Itself, The (2000) (uncredited) .... Himself
Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle, The (2000) .... Fearless Leader
... aka Abenteuer von Rocky und Bullwinkle, Die (2000) (Germany)
Ausverkauft! (1999) (archive footage) .... Himself
Flawless (1999) .... Walt Koontz
Analyze This (1999) .... Paul Vitti
New York City... Come Visit the World (1998) .... Himself
Lenny Bruce: Swear to Tell the Truth (1998) (voice) .... Himself/Narrator
Junket Whore (1998) .... Himself
Ronin (1998) .... Sam
Great Expectations (1998) .... Arthur Lustig
Jackie Brown (1997) .... Louis Gara
Wag the Dog (1997) .... Conrad Brean
Cop Land (1997) .... Lt. Moe Tilden, Internal Affairs
American Film Institute Salute to Martin Scorsese, The (1997) (TV) .... Himself
100 Years of Horror: The Frankenstein Family (1996) (V) .... Himself
100 Years of Horror: Witchcraft and Demons (1996) (V) .... Himself
Marvin's Room (1996) .... Dr. Wally
Sleepers (1996) .... Father Bobby
Fan, The (1996) .... Gil Renard
Heat (1995) .... Neil McCauley
Casino (1995) .... Sam 'Ace' Rothstein
... aka Casino (1995) (France)
67th Annual Academy Awards, The (1995) (TV) (uncredited) .... Himself
Cent et une nuits de Simon Cinéma, Les (1995) .... Le mari de la star-fantasme en croisière
... aka Cent et une nuits, Les (1995) (France: short title)
... aka Hundred and One Nights of Simon Cinema, A (1995)
... aka Hundred and One Nights, A (1995)
It's Alive: The True Story of Frankenstein (1994) (TV) .... Himself
Frankenstein (1994) .... The Creature
... aka Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994)
Bronx Tale, A (1993) .... Lorenzo Anello
Apollo Theatre Hall of Fame (1993) (TV) .... Himself
Aretha Franklin: Duets (1993) (TV) .... Himself
This Boy's Life (1993) .... Dwight
Mad Dog and Glory (1993) .... Wayne 'Mad Dog' Dobie
"Fame in the Twentieth Century" (1993) TV Series (uncredited) (archive footage) .... Himself
Godfather Trilogy: 1901-1980, The (1992) (V) .... Young Don Vito Corleone
... aka Godfather Saga, The (1992) (V) (USA)
... aka Godfather Trilogy, The (1992) (V)
Night and the City (1992) .... Harry Fabian
Mistress (1992) .... Evan M. Wright
Godfather Family: A Look Inside, The (1991) (TV) .... Himself
Cape Fear (1991) .... Max Cady
Backdraft (1991) .... Lieutenant Donald 'Shadow' Rimgale
Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse (1991) .... Himself
Guilty by Suspicion (1991) .... David Merrill
... aka Liste noire, La (1991) (France)
Awakenings (1990) .... Leonard Lowe
Goodfellas (1990) .... Jimmy Conway
... aka GoodFellas (1990) (USA: poster title)
Stanley & Iris (1990) .... Stanley Everett Cox
We're No Angels (1989) .... Ned
Jacknife (1989) .... Joseph 'Jacknife/Megs' Megessey
Midnight Run (1988) .... Jack Walsh
Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam (1988) (TV) (voice) .... Great sewer
... aka Dear America (1988) (TV)
Untouchables, The (1987) .... Al Capone
Angel Heart (1987) .... Louis Cyphre
Mission, The (1986) .... Mendoza
Brazil (1985) .... Archibald 'Harry' Tuttle
Falling in Love (1984) .... Frank Raftis
Once Upon a Time in America (1984) .... David 'Noodles' Aaronson
... aka C'era una volta in America (1984) (Italy)
King of Comedy, The (1983) .... Rupert Pupkin
True Confessions (1981) .... Des Spellacy
53rd Annual Academy Awards, The (1981) (TV) .... Best Actor Winner
Raging Bull (1980) .... Jake La Motta
Deer Hunter, The (1978) .... Michael
New York, New York (1977) .... Jimmy Doyle
America at the Movies (1976) .... (archive footage)
Last Tycoon, The (1976) .... Monroe Stahr
1900 (1976) .... Alfredo Berlinghieri
... aka 1900 - Gewalt, Macht, Leidenschaft (1976) (West Germany: first part title)
... aka 1900 - Kampf, Liebe, Hoffnung (1976) (West Germany: second part title)
... aka Nineteen Hundred (1977) (USA)
Taxi Driver (1976) (as Robert DeNiro) .... Travis Bickle
Bertolucci secondo il cinema (1975) .... Himself
... aka Cinema According to Bertolucci, The (1975)
... aka Making of '1900', The (1975)
Godfather: Part II, The (1974) .... Vito Corleone
... aka Mario Puzo's The Godfather: Part II (1974) (USA: complete title)
Mean Streets (1973) .... John 'Johnny Boy' Civello
Bang the Drum Slowly (1973) .... Bruce Pearson (C)
Born to Win (1971) .... Danny
... aka Addict (1971)
... aka Born to Lose (1971)
Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight, The (1971) .... Mario Trantino
... aka Gang That Couldn't Shoot, The (1971) (UK: cable TV title)
Jennifer on My Mind (1971) .... Mardigian, Gypsy Cab Driver
Hi, Mom! (1970) .... Jon Rubin
... aka Blue Manhattan (1970)
... aka Confessions of a Peeping John (1970)
... aka Son of Greetings (1970)
Bloody Mama (1970) .... Lloyd Barker
Sam's Song (1969) .... Sam Nicoletti
... aka Line of Fire (1969)
... aka Swap, The (1969) (USA: recut version)
Wedding Party, The (1969) (as Robert Denero) .... Cecil
Greetings (1968) .... Jon Rubin
Trois chambres à Manhattan (1965) (uncredited) .... Client at the diner
... aka Three Rooms in Manhattan (1965) (International: English title)

Links

Contact

C/O Tribeca Productions
375 Greenwich Street
New York, N.Y 10013
USA