Date of birth 17 August 1943 Birth place New York, USA. Birth name Robert Mario De Niro, Jr. Height 5' 8.5 " (174 cm)
Robert De Niro is an Award wining actor who has made it to the Hall of Fame with his stunning performances.
Some people call him a living legend in the showbiz industry, and some say that he is the only person who could sit on Marlon Brando’s throne. De Niro was born in 1943, to Italian-Irish parents in New York City. His great grand parents were Italian emigrants settled down in the US back in the early 20th Century. De Niro is said to be a rebellious kid who dropped out of school at the age of 13, to join a little Italian street gang.
De Niro started his acting career in 1963, working for popular director Brian De Palma in his ‘The Wedding Party’. Throughout the 60’s De Niro did some off-Braodway productions and did many roles in foreign films. It was in 1973, that he started gaining recognition for his role in ‘Mean Streets’, as a mafia member. He plays the role of Johnny Boy alongside popular actor and producer Harvey Keitel. ‘Mean Streets’ was the first film that he had done for Martin Scorsese, which was the start of a fruitful collaboration between them. His skills earned him the role of young Don Vito Corleone in ‘Godfather II’, which was directed by Francis Ford Coppola. His performance earned him an Oscar for best supporting actor.
His second role on a Scorsese movie was the ever memorable Trevor Bickle, in the 1976 film ‘Taxi Driver’. De Niro was at his best doing this role and even created a trade mark for the movie and his role, doing the ‘You talking to me?” monologue. He was once again nominated for an Academy Award for his performance. The very next year both Scorsese and De Niro worked on ‘New York New York’, which didn’t get the required recognition but their fourth movie together in 1980 ‘Raging Bull’, is considered as one of the best movies ever made. De Niro plays the title role of Jake LaMotta who is a boxer who works his way to become the best. De Niro gained 75lbs and learned how to box for his role. His efforts were paid off by winning an Oscar for Best actor for that year.
De Niro was had done many roles throughout the 80s and was very well known for his method acting capabilities. He was the very few actors to practice method acting and believed that he had to become the character in order to give out a memorable performance. In 1990, he worked with Scorsese again on ‘Goodfellas’. He plays the role of an Italian thug along with fellow actors Joe Pesci and Ray Liotta. His performance was both stunning and hilarious. In 1995, he starred with Al Pacino for the second time in the movie ‘Heat’. Even though this was their second movie together, it was their first to appear on the same screen. The two acting maestros are rumored to do another film which is anticipated soon to be released.
De Niro was asked to do the role of Frank Costello for the Scorsese movie ‘The Departed’, which he turned down due his busy schedule directing ‘The Good Shepard’. The role went off to Jack Nicholson, who did a lot of justice to the role. Nevertheless he has planned to work with Scorsese again in a movie in which both will invest their directing skills.
