Robert De Niro

Robert De Niro is a multi-Academy Award winning actor, probably best known for his roles in Martin Scorsese's films, such as Raging Bull and Taxi Driver, as well as his portrayal of a young Vito Corleone in The Godfather Part II.

Robert De Niro was born in 1943 to two artist parents in New York City. Despite the fact that in a large percentage of his films he plays an Italian, De Niro is actually more Irish than Italian.

De Niro's first true role was in Brian De Palma's The Wedding Party (1969). In the years following, he started to gain respect from critics for his acting talent. He won the New York Film Critics' Award for Best Supporting Actor twice in his early film career. The first time was for the baseball movie Bang the Drum Slowly(1973), where De Niro plays a catcher who has cancer. The second time was for the early Scorsese flick Mean Streets (1973). This would be the first of many Scorsese films De Niro would star in.

The next movie De Niro would be in would cause his career to skyrocket. The Godfather Part II was the very successful sequel to the classic mafia movie. De Niro played a young Vito Corleone, growing up in Sicily and New York City. De Niro not only won a best supporting actor Oscar for this role, but he got in some Academy Award record books for it as well:

First, to this year (2001), he is one of the 3 people who have won an acting award for a role primarily in another language. Second, both De Niro and Marlon Brando won awards for playing the same character. That had not, and has not, been done by anyone else.

After The Godfather Part II, De Niro would collaborate with Scorsese for the second time in Taxi Driver. De Niro, a method actor, prepared for the role by driving a taxi for 12 hour days for a month. He was nominated for another Academy Award for this movie, but lost to Peter Finch (Network), who won it posthumously.

The next gem on De Niro's resume is The Deer Hunter. This Best-Picture Vietnam movie had an all-star cast, also including Christopher Walken, John Cazale (Fredo from the Godfather movies) and Meryl Streep. The film seemed to rotate around Russian Roulette, which was not factual at all, nothing like that had been proven to have happened in Vietnam. Nevertheless, it is considered one of the best Vietnam films ever made.

Then came the 80's and Raging Bull. This was De Niro's fifth collaboration with Scorsese, and definitely one of his best. De Niro played Jake LaMotta, in a film based on the true life of the boxer. De Niro gained an amazing 60 pounds for this movie, and it paid off. His acting was praised and awarded a best actor Oscar, and the movie itself is still considered to be one of, if not the best boxing movie of all time.

De Niro spent the rest of the 80's acting in a pleasant combination of films, some of them crime (Once Upon a Time in America, The Untouchables) some of them drama (Falling in Love) and some of them just plain strange (Brazil).

De Niro began the 90's with Goodfellas, once more a Scorsese film with De Niro as a lead character. Goodfellas was another mobster movie, a genre De Niro was quite familiar with. The rest of the 90's had De Niro in a wide variety of movies, some gangster movies, some Scorsese--near the end of the 90's, De Niro even branched out to comedy, a genre he had visited only once before (and in a strange way) with The King of Comedy. De Niro certainly deserves the opportunity to star in films that aren't as serious as Taxi Driver and The Deer Hunter, for he has more than proven to the audience that he knows how to act.

Academy Awards:

1. The Godfather: Part II (1975) (won)
2. Taxi Driver (1977) (nominated)
3. The Deer Hunter (1979) (nominated)
4. Raging Bull (1981) (won)
5. Awakenings (1991) (nominated)
6. Cape Fear (1992) (nominated)

1. Hide and Seek (2005) .... David Callaway
2. The Bridge of San Luis Rey (2004) .... The Archbishop
3. Meet the Fockers (2004) .... Jack Byrne
4. Shark Tale (2004) .... Don Lino
5. Godsend (2004) .... Richard Wells
6. Analyze That (2002) .... Paul Vitti
7. City by the Sea (2001) .... Detective Vincent Lamarca
8. Showtime (2002) .... Mitch
9. The Score (2001) .... Nick
10. 15 Minutes (2001) .... Eddie Fleming
11. Meet the Parents (2000) .... Mr. Jack Byrnes
12. Men of Honor (2000) .... Leslie W. "Billy" Sunday
13. The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle (2000) .... Fearless Leader
14. Flawless (1999) .... Walt Koontz
15. Analyze This (1999) .... Boss Paul Vitti
16. Ronin (1998) .... Sam
17. Great Expectations (1998) .... Prisoner Arthur Lustig
18. Jackie Brown (1997) .... Louis Gara
19. Wag the Dog (1997) .... Conrad Brean
20. Cop Land (1997) .... Lt. Moe Tilden, Internal Affairs
21. Marvin's Room (1996) .... Dr. Wally
22. Sleepers (1996) .... Father Bobby
23. The Fan (1996) .... Gil Renard
24. Heat (1995) .... Neil McCauley
25. Casino (1995) .... Sam "Ace" Rothstein
26. Les Cent et une nuits (1995) .... Actor for a Day
27. Frankenstein (1994) .... The Creature
28. This Boy's Life (1993) .... Dwight Hansen
29. A Bronx Tale (1993) .... Lorenzo Anello
30. Mad Dog and Glory (1993) .... Wayne 'Mad Dog' Dobie
31. Night and the City (1992) .... Harry Fabian
32. Mistress (1992) .... Evan Wright
33. Cape Fear (1991) .... Max Cady
34. Guilty by Suspicion (1991) .... David Merrill
35. Backdraft (1991) .... Lieutenant Donald 'Shadow' Rimgale
36. Awakenings (1990) .... Leonard Lowe
37. Goodfellas (1990) .... James "Jimmy" Conway
38. Stanley & Iris (1990) .... Stanley Everett Cox
39. Jacknife (1989) .... Joesph "Jacknife" Megs
40. We're No Angels (1989) .... Ned
41. Midnight Run (1988) .... Jack Walsh
42. Angel Heart (1987) .... Louis Cyphre
43. The Untouchables (1987) .... Al Capone
44. The Mission (1986) .... Mendoza
45. Brazil (1985) .... Archibald "Harry" Tuttle
46. Falling in Love (1984) .... Frank Raftis
47. Once Upon a Time in America (1984) .... David "Noodles" Aaronson
48. The King of Comedy (1983) .... Rupert Pupkin
49. True Confessions (1981) .... Des Spellacy
50. Raging Bull (1980) .... Jake La Motta
51. The Deer Hunter (1978) .... Michael Vronsky
52. New York, New York (1977) .... Jimmy Doyle
53. The Last Tycoon (1976) .... Monroe Stahr
54. 1900 (1976) .... Alfredo Berlinghieri
55. Taxi Driver (1976) .... Travis Bickle
56. The Godfather: Part II (1974) .... Vito Corleone
57. Bang the Drum Slowly (1973) .... Bruce Pearson
58. Mean Streets (1973) .... Johnny Boy Cervello
59. Born to Win (1971) .... Danny
60. The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight (1971) .... Mario Trantino
61. Jennifer on My Mind (1971) .... Mardigian, Gypsy Cab Driver
62. Bloody Mama (1970) .... Lloyd Barker
63. Hi, Mom! (1970) .... Jon Rubin
64. Sam's Song (1969) .... Sam Nicoletti
65. The Wedding Party (1969) (as Robert Denero) .... Cecil
66. Greetings (1968) .... Jon Rubin
67. Trois chambres à Manhattan (1965) (uncredited) .... Extra

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