137 Facts About De Niro

De Niro is particularly known for his nine collaborations with filmmaker Martin Scorsese, and is the recipient of various accolades, including two Academy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, the Cecil B DeMille Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award.

In 2009, De Niro received the Kennedy Center Honor, and received a Presidential Medal of Freedom from US President Barack Obama in 2016.

De Niro won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of world middleweight boxing champion Jake LaMotta in Scorsese's biographical drama Raging Bull, his first Oscar in this category.

De Niro portrayed gangster Jimmy Conway in Goodfellas, a catatonic patient in the drama Awakenings, and a criminal in the psychological thriller Cape Fear.

De Niro then starred in This Boy's Life, and directed his first feature film with 1993's A Bronx Tale.

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De Niro is known for his comic roles in latter Wag the Dog, Analyze This, and Meet the Parents.

In 2017, De Niro portrayed Bernie Madoff in The Wizard of Lies, earning a Primetime Emmy Award nomination.

De Niro then starred in the psychological thriller Joker and Scorsese's crime epic The Irishman.

Six of De Niro's films have been inducted into the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

De Niro's father was of Irish and Italian descent, while his mother had Dutch, English, French, and German ancestry.

De Niro was raised by his mother in the Greenwich Village and Little Italy neighborhoods of Manhattan.

De Niro's father lived nearby, and remained close with De Niro during his childhood.

De Niro's mother was raised Presbyterian but became an atheist as an adult, while his father had been a lapsed Catholic since the age of 12.

Against his parents' wishes, his grandparents had De Niro secretly baptized into the Catholic Church while he was staying with them during his parents' divorce.

De Niro attended PS 41, a public elementary school in Manhattan, through the sixth grade.

De Niro began acting classes at the Dramatic Workshop and made his stage debut in school at age 10, playing the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz.

De Niro later went to Elisabeth Irwin High School, the upper school of the Little Red School House, for the seventh and eighth grades.

De Niro was then accepted into the High School of Music and Art for the ninth grade, but attended for only a short time before transferring to a public junior high school: IS 71, Charles Evans Hughes Junior High School.

De Niro attended high school at McBurney School and later, Rhodes Preparatory School.

De Niro found performing as a way to relieve his shyness, and became fascinated by cinema, so he dropped out of high school at 16 to pursue acting.

De Niro studied with Stella Adler, of the Stella Adler Conservatory, where he was exposed to the techniques of the Stanislavski system.

De Niro's had minor film roles in Encounter, Three Rooms in Manhattan and Les Jeunes Loups.

Shortly afterwards, De Niro landed a major role in Greetings, a satirical film about men avoiding the Vietnam War draft.

De Niro, who was still unknown at the time, gained a favorable review from The New York Times Howard Thompson: "This farcical comedy, modestly produced by a trio of young people and utilizing some unfamiliar faces, is great fun".

De Niro then appeared in Roger Corman's low-budget crime drama Bloody Mama, a loose adaptation of Ma Barker's life, who was the mother of four American criminals, of which De Niro portrayed one: Lloyd Barker.

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De Niro had a small role in Jennifer on My Mind and in Ivan Passer's Born to Win.

In 1972, De Niro starred in two performances at The American Place Theatre, directed by Charles Maryan.

De Niro then returned to the big screen with Bang the Drum Slowly, in which he played the lead role as Bruce Pearson, a Major League Baseball player with Hodgkin disease.

The Hollywood Reporter wrote, "De Niro proves himself to be one of the best and most likable young character actors in movies with this performance".

Variety magazine's Alex Belth took note of De Niro's "touching" portrayal, while Gardenia was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

In 1973, De Niro began collaborating with Martin Scorsese when he appeared in the crime film Mean Streets, co-starring Harvey Keitel.

De Niro had a pivotal role in Francis Ford Coppola's crime epic The Godfather Part II, playing the young Vito Corleone.

De Niro had previously auditioned for the first installment, The Godfather, but quit the project in favor of doing The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight.

In preparation for the role, De Niro spent time with members of a US army base to learn their Midwestern accent and mannerisms.

De Niro lost 30 pounds in weight, took firearm training and studied the behavior of taxi drivers.

De Niro starred in 1900, a historical drama directed by Bernardo Bertolucci.

De Niro learned to play the saxophone from musician Georgie Auld, to portray saxophonist Jimmy, who falls in love with a pop singer.

In 1978, De Niro starred in Michael Cimino's epic war film The Deer Hunter, in which he played a steelworker whose life was changed after serving in the Vietnam War.

De Niro co-starred with Christopher Walken, John Savage, John Cazale, Meryl Streep, and George Dzundza.

De Niro, impressed by the script and director's preparation, was among the first to sign on to the film.

Co-starring Joe Pesci and Cathy Moriarty, De Niro later said it was one of the toughest roles to prepare for because he had to gain 60 pounds, and had to learn to box.

De Niro was strongly considered for the role of Jack Torrance in Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, but it ended up going to Jack Nicholson, the director's first choice for the role.

De Niro returned to the crime genre with True Confessions, adapted from the 1977 novel of the same name by John Gregory Dunne.

Less challenging than his previous film, De Niro played a priest who clashes with his brother, a detective investigating the murder of a prostitute.

De Niro found it in The King of Comedy, in which he played the struggling stand-up comedian Rupert Pupkin.

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De Niro was first to bring the script to the attention of Scorsese, who then gave it a New York setting and darker tone.

One year later, De Niro starred in a science fiction for the first time, Brazil, about a daydreaming man living in a dystopian society.

In May 1986, De Niro returned to the stage at Longacre Theatre, playing the lead role in the production Cuba and His Teddy Bear.

Vincent Canby reviewed the film negatively, and was critical of De Niro's casting: "De Niro, who was very fine as the street-wise priest in True Confessions, is all right here until he opens his mouth".

De Niro has reduced himself in scale here, too, and it's a relief to see him drop the great-actor mantle, and the theatricality.

De Niro turned down an opportunity to play Jesus Christ in Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ, although he told the director that he would do it as a favor if needed.

In 1989, De Niro starred in several films that were not widely seen.

De Niro starred alongside Ed Harris and Kathy Baker in the drama Jacknife.

De Niro played James Conway, an Irish truck carjacker and gangster.

Also in 1990, De Niro appeared in the lead role for Awakenings, directed by Penny Marshall.

De Niro then had a minor role in the mystery drama Backdraft, playing a veteran fire inspector.

De Niro portrays convicted rapist Max Cady, who seeks revenge against a former public defender who originally defended him.

De Niro starred in his directorial debut, A Bronx Tale, a coming-of-age story about an Italian-American boy who is torn between the temptations of organized crime, racism in his community, and the values of his decent father.

De Niro portrays Sam "Ace" Rothstein, a mob-connected casino operator in Las Vegas.

In 1995, De Niro had minor roles in the French comedy One Hundred and One Nights and in the drama Panther.

In 1996, De Niro starred in the sports thriller The Fan, based on the novel of the same name by Peter Abrahams.

De Niro plays Gil Renard, a baseball fanatic who loses his sanity.

De Niro plays priest Bobby Carillo, a father figure to the four boys.

The film opened to a generally warm response, although Barbara Shulgasser of San Francisco Examiner criticized De Niro's acting in certain scenes, suggesting Mangold put De Niro in a "manufactured situation", preventing him from realizing his full potential.

De Niro had a supporting role in Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown in that same year.

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De Niro began 1998 with an appearance in Great Expectations, a modern adaptation of Charles Dickens' 1861 novel of the same name, in which he played Arthur Lustig.

De Niro plays Sam, an American mercenary formerly associated with the CIA.

In 1999, De Niro ventured back into crime-comedy; he was cast as an insecure mob boss opposite Billy Crystal and Lisa Kudrow in Harold Ramis' Analyze This.

In Flawless, De Niro appeared as a homophobic police officer, who suffers a stroke, and is assigned to a rehabilitative program with a gay singer.

The critic from the BBC gave the film 3 out of 5 stars, and thought De Niro gave a "refreshingly low-key" performance, in comparison to his previous work.

In 2000, De Niro produced and starred in his first live-action animation comedy, The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle.

De Niro voiced the character Fearless Leader, who is a dictator and employer of two mobsters.

De Niro played Master Chief 'Billy' Sunday in the biographical drama Men of Honor, based on the life of Carl Brashear, the first African-American to become a US Navy Master Diver.

De Niro, who had been seeking comic roles at the time, was encouraged by his producing partner Jane Rosenthal, to take on the role.

De Niro followed up with a heist, in Frank Oz's The Score, starring Edward Norton, Angela Bassett and Marlon Brando.

De Niro plays a retiring thief when a young man persuades him into doing one last heist together.

The reviewer from LA Weekly remarked "De Niro isn't actually playing a part but riffing on his own legend", and thought the references to Taxi Driver were "cheap".

De Niro appeared in Analyze That, a sequel to 1999's Analyze This.

De Niro returned to the screen in 2004, playing a doctor in the fantasy drama Godsend.

De Niro voiced a character in DreamWorks' animation of Shark Tale.

In 2005, De Niro starred in the horror Hide and Seek opposite Dakota Fanning, playing Dr David Callaway who leaves the city with his traumatized daughter after the mother's suicide.

In 2006, De Niro turned down a role in The Departed to direct his second film, the spy thriller The Good Shepherd, a fictional account about the growth of the CIA during its formative years.

The film was generally well received, although one critic from New York magazine thought De Niro's performance was "god-awful – yet his gung-ho spirit wins him Brownie points".

The film was met with a divided reception; Toronto Star critic thought De Niro delivered a respectable performance due to Jovovich's support.

That year, De Niro was cast in Edge of Darkness, but he left the project citing creative differences.

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De Niro appeared in three other films: Killer Elite, Limitless, and New Year's Eve.

De Niro was appointed President of the Jury for the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, making it the second time he has served.

De Niro appeared in the thrillers Red Lights and Freelancers.

De Niro made his first appearance in a David O Russell film, in the romantic comedy Silver Linings Playbook, as the father of Pat Solatano, who is released from a psychiatric hospital and moves back in with his parents to rebuild his life.

In 2012, De Niro served as an executive producer for the television series NYC 22.

In 2014, De Niro appeared in a documentary about his father, Robert De Niro, Sr.

The latter fared better with critics; Mark Olsen of the Los Angeles Times cordially remarked "De Niro brings a fresh, relaxed lightness to his performance, tinged with the gruff charm of Spencer Tracy".

De Niro's performance won him a nomination from the Critics Choice Movie Awards for Best Actor in a Comedy.

De Niro starred in the biographical drama Joy, opposite Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper, about an American inventor Joy Mangano; it gained generally mixed reviews.

De Niro appeared in Hands of Stone, a biographical sports drama about the career of Panamanian former professional boxer Roberto Duran.

In 2017, De Niro starred as Bernie Madoff in Barry Levinson's HBO film The Wizard of Lies, a performance which earned him critical praise and a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Television Movie.

In 2019, De Niro won acclaim for portraying Robert Mueller alongside Alec Baldwin's Donald Trump in various episodes of Saturday Night Live, earning him an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series.

De Niro received another Emmy nomination for his work as a producer on Ava DuVernay's acclaimed limited series When They See Us.

In 2019, De Niro returned to the screen by playing talk show host Murray Franklin in Todd Phillips' Joker, a possible origin story for the Batman character The Joker.

Also that year, De Niro reunited with Scorsese for The Irishman, based on the 2004 book I Heard You Paint Houses by Charles Brandt.

In September 2020, De Niro appeared in Nancy Meyers' comedy short film Father of the Bride Part 3.

Also in that year, De Niro was cast in James Gray's period drama Armageddon Time, but he dropped out of the project by the time production began.

In January 2021, De Niro signed on for the new David O Russell film Amsterdam.

De Niro will be joining an ensemble that includes Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, John David Washington, Michael Shannon, Mike Myers, Timothy Olyphant and Anya-Taylor Joy.

In 2009, he was announced as one of the Kennedy Center Honorees with the commemoration: "One of America's greatest cinematic actors, Robert De Niro has demonstrated a legendary commitment to his characters and has co-founded one of the world's major film festivals".

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Many De Niro's films have become classics of American cinema, with six of his films inducted into the US National Film Registry as of 2020.

In 2006, De Niro donated his collection of film-related materials, such as scripts, wardrobe pieces and props, to the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin.

De Niro owns Tribeca Grill, a New American restaurant located at 375 Greenwich Street in Tribeca, Manhattan.

De Niro is a stakeholder in Paradise Found Nobu Resort, a company planning to build a luxury resort on the island of Barbuda.

In 1998, De Niro lobbied US Congress against impeaching President Bill Clinton.

On February 4,2008, De Niro supported Barack Obama at a rally at the Izod Center in New Jersey before Super Tuesday.

In 2012, De Niro joined the anti-fracking campaign Artists Against Fracking.

De Niro is an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump.

De Niro endorsed Democrat Pete Buttigieg in the 2020 US presidential election, and then switched to Joe Biden after Buttigieg dropped out of the race.

De Niro adopted Abbott's daughter Drena De Niro from a previous relationship.

De Niro has twin sons, Julian and Aaron, conceived by in vitro fertilization and delivered by a surrogate mother in 1995.

De Niro has four grandchildren; one from his daughter Drena, and three from his son Raphael.

On 19 April 2021, De Niro's lawyer argued in a virtual divorce hearing presided by a Manhattan judge that he is "working at an unsustainable pace" in order "to support Hightower and pay off all his back taxes".

Hightower's lawyer claimed that since the pair filed for divorce in 2018, De Niro had been "unfairly decreasing" the agreed-upon payments to her.

De Niro underwent surgery at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in December 2003.

De Niro is long-term resident of New York City, and has been investing in Manhattan's Tribeca neighborhood since 1989.

De Niro has properties on the east and west sides of Manhattan.

De Niro has a 32-hectare estate in Gardiner, New York, which serves as his primary residence.

In 2006, De Niro received Italian citizenship, despite opposition by the Sons of Italy, who believe that De Niro damaged the public image of Italians by portraying criminals.

In 2016, De Niro initially defended the inclusion of a controversial documentary, Vaxxed, at the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival.

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De Niro explained that his interest in the film was from his personal experience with his autistic son, Elliot.

In February 2017, De Niro took part in a joint presentation with Robert F Kennedy Jr.

De Niro has stated that he is not anti-vaccination, but does question their efficacy.

In February 1998, De Niro was held for questioning by French police in connection with an international prostitution ring.

De Niro denied any involvement, and later filed a complaint against the examining magistrate for "violation of secrecy in an investigation".

De Niro stated he would not return to France, but has since traveled there several times including for the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.

In 1999, De Niro threatened to sue the owners of "De Niro's Supper Club" in Vancouver, under section 3 of the BC Privacy Act.

De Niro was unaware that a lawsuit was filed; the trust's accountants took responsibility citing fiduciary duty.

Shortly afterwards, De Niro directed his lawyer, Tom Harvey, to withdraw the suit and reimburse the town's legal bills of $129,000.

De Niro has been recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the following performances:.

De Niro has won two Golden Globe Awards: Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama for Raging Bull and a Cecil B DeMille Award for "outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment".

De Niro was the 56th recipient of Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award; Leonardo DiCaprio, who co-starred with De Niro in This Boy's Life, presented him the award, citing him as an inspiration and influence.