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Vincent D'Onofrio

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Biography

An actor whose hulking presence belies his ability to slip quietly into an astonishing variety of roles, Vincent D'Onofrio is one of Hollywood's most unpredictable and compelling performers. He can boast a body of work that has allowed him to play a diverse range of characters, ranging from Full Metal Jacket's fatally unhinged army recruit to a wholly convincing Orson Welles in Ed Wood to a bisexual porn star in The Velocity of Gary.

Born in Brooklyn, NY, on June 30, 1959, D'Onofrio was raised in the diverse locales of Hawaii, Colorado, and Miami's Hialeah section. His career as an actor began on the stage, with study under Sonia Moore of New York's American Stanislavski Theatre and Sharon Chatten at the Actors Studio. D'Onofrio's early years in the theater were filled with an obligatory helping of obscurity and miniscule paychecks (so miniscule that he worked for a time as a bouncer to help pay the bills). His fortunes began to shift in 1984, when he joined the American Stanislavski Theatre as a performer. There, he appeared in such well-regarded productions as Of Mice and Men and David Mamet's Sexual Perversity in Chicago, and also made his Broadway debut in Open Admissions.

D'Onofrio debuted onscreen in the straight-to-oblivion 1983 comedy The First Turn-On!, but it was not until his haunting portrayal of Pvt. Pyle (a role for which the actor gained 70 pounds) four years later in Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket that he earned much-deserved notice for his work. Defying easy categorization, D'Onofrio next appeared in the romantic comedy Mystic Pizza (1988), slimming down to his normal weight and giving a convincing portrayal as Lily Taylor's lovestruck boyfriend.

Having thus given audiences a glimpse of his remarkable versatility, D'Onofrio spent the next few years making his presence felt in such films as JFK (1991), in which he played assassination witness Bill Newman; The Player (1992), which cast him in the pivotal role of ill-fated screenwriter David Kahane; and Nancy Savoca's Household Saints (1993), which, through a particularly odd feat of casting, had him playing the father of Lily Taylor. Although D'Onofrio worked at a prolific pace, it was not until he portrayed Conan the Barbarian author Robert E. Howard in the 1996 The Whole Wide World that he really had his screen breakthrough. A low-key romantic drama about the relationship between Howard and a schoolteacher (Renee Zellweger), the film allowed D'Onofrio to take center stage, rather than lend support to better-known co-stars. Critics roundly applauded his performance, but although the actor kept working steadily, he was by no means a Hollywood fixture. Eschewing the limelight, he turned in particularly memorable performances in Feeling Minnesota (1996) as Cameron Diaz's cuckolded fiancé and in the 1997 blockbuster Men in Black, which cast him as the film's resident bad guy.

D'Onofrio had a host of projects lined up in 2000, lending support to the thrillers Imposter and The Cell, and starring as Marisa Tomei's endearingly freakish boyfriend in Brad Anderson's Happy Accidents. He also had one of his biggest roles to date in Steal This Movie!, in which he starred as legendary 1960s activist Abbie Hoffman. ~ Rebecca Flint, All Movie Guide

Filmography

Mudge Boy, The (2003)
Case of Evil (2002) (TV) .... Moriarty
... aka Sherlock (2002) (TV) (UK)
Salton Sea, The (2002) .... Pooh-Bear
Red Sneakers, The (2002) (TV) .... Mercado
Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys, The (2002) .... Father Casey
Bark (2002) .... Malcolm
Impostor (2002) .... Major D.H. Hathaway
"Law & Order: Criminal Intent" (2001) TV Series .... Detective Robert Goren
Chelsea Walls (2001) .... Frank
... aka Chelsea Hotel (2001)
Cell, The (2000) .... Carl Rudolph Stargher
Steal This Movie (2000) .... Abbie Hoffman
Happy Accidents (2000) .... Sam Deed
Spanish Judges (1999) .... Max
... aka Ruthless Behaviour (1999) (Australia)
That Championship Season (1999) (TV) .... Phil Romano
Thirteenth Floor, The (1999) .... Jason Whitney/Jerry Ashton
... aka Abwärts in die Zukunft (1999) (Germany)
Velocity of Gary, The (1998) .... Valentino
Claire Dolan (1998) .... Elton Garrett
... aka Claire Dolan (1998) (France)
Newton Boys, The (1998) .... Dock Newton
Taking of Pelham One Two Three, The (1998) (TV) .... Mr. Blue
Nunzio's Second Cousin (1997) .... Sgt. Tony Randazzo
Men in Black (1997) .... Edgar
... aka MIB (1997) (USA: promotional abbreviation)
Boys Life 2 (1997) .... Tony Randozza (segment "Nunzio's Second Cousin")
Good Luck (1997) .... Tony 'Ole' Olezniak
... aka Gimps (1997) (Australia: video title)
... aka Guys Like Us (1997)
... aka Ox and the Eye, The (1997)
Guy (1996) .... Guy
Feeling Minnesota (1996) .... Sam Clayton
Winner, The (1996) .... Philip
Whole Wide World, The (1996) .... Robert E. 'Bob' Howard
Hotel Paradise (1995)
Strange Days (1995) .... Burton Steckler
Stuart Saves His Family (1995) .... Donnie Smalley
Investigator, The (1994) (TV)
Imaginary Crimes (1994) .... Mr. Webster
Ed Wood (1994) .... Orson Welles
Being Human (1993) .... Priest
Mr. Wonderful (1993) .... Dominic
Household Saints (1993) .... Joseph Santangelo
Malcolm X (1992) .... Bill Newman
Salt on Our Skin (1992) .... Gavin
... aka Desire (1992/I) (USA)
... aka Salz auf unserer Haut (1992) (Germany)
Player, The (1992) .... David Kahane
JFK (1991) .... Bill Newman
... aka JFK (1991) (France)
Fires Within (1991) .... Sam
... aka Little Havana (1991) (USA)
Dying Young (1991) .... Gordon
Crooked Hearts (1991) .... Charley
Naked Tango (1990) .... Cholo
Signs of Life (1989) (as Vincent Phillip D'Onofrio) .... Daryl Monahan
... aka One for Sorrow, Two for Joy (1989)
Blood of Heroes, The (1988) (as Vincent Phillip D'Onofrio) .... Young Gar
... aka Salute of the Jugger (1988)
Mystic Pizza (1988) (as Vincent Phillip D'Onofrio) .... Bill
Adventures in Babysitting (1987) (as Vincent Phillip D'Onofrio) .... Dawson ('Thor')
... aka Night on the Town, A (1987) (UK: TV title)
Full Metal Jacket (1987) .... Pvt. Leonard 'Gomer Pyle' Lawrence
... aka Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket (1987) (USA: poster title)
It Don't Pay to Be an Honest Citizen (1984) .... Bennie
First Turn-On!!, The (1983) .... Lobotomy

Links

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