This influential actor was born August 17, 1943, in New York City. A Lee Strasberg acting student, De Niro made his film debut in 1963's The Wedding Party (released in 1969). First noted in late-'60s underground comedies (Greetings and Hi, Mom!), De Niro gradually moved into studio films.His breakthrough came with two 1973 films: Bang the Drum Slowly and Mean Streets, which began a long association with director Martin Scorsese. De Niro won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar as the young Vito Corleone in The Godfather, Part II (1974); later, he gained 50 pounds to play Jake La Motta in Raging Bull (1980), which resulted in a Best Actor Oscar win.
He was also Oscar-nominated for Taxi Driver, The Deer Hunter, Awakenings and Cape Fear and was memorable in The Untouchables, Goodfellas and Wag the Dog. De Niro has branched into all genres and started his own film production company, TriBeCa.
AddGoodFellas: Special EditionJoe Pesci and Robert De Niro chew plenty of scenery, but the focus of this gripping Martin Scorsese opus is real-world mobster Henry Hill (Ray Liotta), a gangster who dreamed of making it big but landed in the Witness Protection Program instead. Nominated for six Oscars (including Best Picture), the... Read More
AddWhat Just Happened?A harried film producer (Robert De Niro) juggles a lunatic director, a temperamental actor (Bruce Willis) and an out-of-control production while courting a studio head (Catherine Keener) and dealing with his ex (Robin Wright Penn) in director Barry Levinson's witty and poignant exploration of the... Read More
AddRaging BullRobert De Niro won an Oscar for his portrayal of self-destructive boxer Jake LaMotta in Martin Scorsese's widely acclaimed biopic, which paints a raw portrait of a tormented soul unable to control his violent outbursts. Marked by De Niro's powerful performance and Scorsese's gritty, black-and-white... Read More
AddBrazilPart social commentary, part outrageous fantasy, Terry Gilliam's black comedy set in an Orwellian future stars Jonathan Pryce as a daydreaming civil servant who, through one bureaucratic error after another, is mistaken for an enemy of the state. By turns grimly disturbing and darkly hilarious, the... Read More
AddThe ScoreIn director Frank Oz's tense, well-acted crime drama, ready-to-retire safecracker Nick (Robert De Niro), flamboyant fence Max (Marlon Brando) and aspiring, talented -- and volatile -- thief Jackie (Ed Norton) team up to rob the Montreal Customs House. The score could put them all on easy street, but... Read More
