Robert Anthony De Niro Jr. is an American film actor, director, and producer.
Place of Birth, Education
He was born on August 17, 1943 in New York City, United States of America (USA). He was the only child in a family of artists, Virginia Admiral and Robert De Niro Sr.
When the future actor was 2 years old, his parents divorced. After that, the future actor lived with his mother in the bohemian area of Greenwich Village.
He received his primary education at PS 41 Public School in Manhattan, where he studied until the 6th grade. At the age of 10, he first appeared on stage – in the school production of “The Wizard of Oz”, where he played the role of the Cowardly Lion. In particular, he began to attend acting classes at the Dramatic Workshop.
After that, he studied at Elizabeth Irwin School and Little Red School House.Later he entered the High School of Music & Art, but then transferred to IS 71 – Charles Evans Hughes Junior High School. He also attended McBurney School and Rhodes Preparatory School.
At the age of 16, De Niro left school, deciding to devote himself entirely to his acting career.
Career
1960 – 1980
In 1960, he began performing on Broadway.
He first appeared in the cinema 5 years later – in Marcel Carnet’s film “Three Rooms in Manhattan”, where he played a small role.
In the early 1970s, he met director Martin Scorsese. They were united by a common origin and similar conditions in which they grew up. The first joint work was the crime drama “Mean Streets”, which was released in 1973 and attracted the attention of film critics.
After that, the actor got the role of young Vito Corleone in the film “The Godfather 2”. For this work, he won an Academy Award as a supporting actor, ahead of his mentor Lee Strasberg among the nominees.
In 1976, director Bernardo Bertolucci invited the actor to the film “The Twentieth Century”. There, De Niro played Alfredo Berlingieri, a wealthy landowner who supports the Nazis during World War II.
One of De Niro’s most famous works was the film “Taxi Driver”, shot by Scorsese in 1976. The actor played Vietnam War veteran Travis Bickle, who works as a night taxi driver in New York and gradually plunges into the world of violence. In preparation for the role, De Niro worked as a taxi driver in the city for several weeks. For this work he received an Academy Award nomination, but the award was posthumously awarded to Peter Finch that year.
In the same year, the actor starred in the film “The Last Tycoon” directed by Elia Kazan based on the novel by Francis Scott Fitzgerald, where he played the role of Hollywood producer Monroe Starr, whose prototype was Hollywood producer Irwin Thalberg.
During the preparation for the film “New York, New York”, directed by Scorsese, the actor learned to play the saxophone in a few months. Participation in the cinema brought him a nomination for the Golden Globe Award.
The theme of the consequences of the Vietnam War has repeatedly appeared in films with the participation of De Niro. The actor revealed it most fully in the film “The Deer Hunter”, released in 1978. To prepare for the role, he visited the Ohio Valley, where the film was set, and studied the environment of Russian emigrants, among whom his hero lived. For this work, De Niro was again nominated for an Oscar, but the award was then received by Jon Voight for the film Homecoming.
1980 – 2000
In 1981, the actor won his second Oscar – for the role of boxer Jake La Motta in the film “Raging Bull” by Scorsese. For several months, De Niro trained with La Motta himself, and for the final scenes he gained about 25 kg.
Also, another notable role was the character David Aaronson, nicknamed “Noodles” in Sergio Leone’s film Once Upon a Time in America, which was released in 1983.
In the second half of the 1980s, the actor acted less often, mainly playing small roles in the films “Brazil” and “Angel Heart”.
In 1990, De Niro was again in the spotlight thanks to two roles. In Scorsese’s crime drama “Celebrity Boys”, he played a violent gangster. In the same year, in Penny Marshall’s film “Awakening”, the actor played the role of a patient with encephalitis paralysis who comes back to life. For this work, De Niro was nominated for an Academy Award, but the award went to Jeremy Irons for the film “A Twist of Fortune”.
In 1991, the actor was again among the Oscar nominees. He was nominated for the role of Max Cady in Scorsese’s thriller Cape Fear. However, the award was then won by Anthony Hopkins for “The Silence of the Lambs”.
Since the 1990s, De Niro has been actively acting in films. Only in 1991, 4 films with his participation were released.
2000 – tep. Time
Since 2000, the actor began to act in comedies more often. That year he played in the film “Meet the Parents”, which was a great commercial success, after which the actor returned to this role in the sequels released in 2004 and 2010.
In 2012, he appeared in David Russell’s film “A Collection of Rays of Hope”. For this role, he was nominated for an Academy Award as a supporting actor.
In 2019, he played talk show host Murray Franklin in the psychological thriller “Joker” directed by Todd Phillips. The film grossed over $1 billion at the box office and became the first R-rated film to achieve such a result.
In the same year, the actor once again worked with Scorsese in the film “The Irishman”. In the film, he played the role of Frank Sheeran, a truck driver who finds himself in the mafia world. De Niro’s work was highly appreciated by film critics.
In 2023, he collaborated with Scorsese again – in the film “Killers of the Flower Full Moon”.
Marital Status
The first wife of the actor was actress and singer Dianne Abbott. During the marriage, he adopted her daughter Drena, with whom he later acted in films on several occasions. In the same marriage, a son, Rafael, was born.
After the breakup, De Niro was in a relationship with model Tookie Smith. The couple had two twins thanks to surrogacy.
Since 1997, the actor has been married to Grace Hightower, a former flight attendant. A year later, they had a son, Elliot, and in 2011, a daughter, Helen. The couple divorced in 2019.
In 2023, the actor became the father of his seventh child. Daughter Jia was born to his partner Tiffany Chen, a martial arts trainer.
