Robert De Niro

Robert Mario De Niro, Jr. an American actor, director, and producer born August 17, 1943 in New York. De Niro is well-known for his method acting and portrayals of conflicted, troubled characters and for his enduring collaboration with director Martin Scorsese. He has appeared in 99 films and television shows, De Niro's first appearance was when a collaboration with Brian De Palma materialized in 1963 at the age of 20, when he appeared in The Wedding Party; released in 1969. He spent much of the 1960s working in theater workshops and off-Broadway productions.

Den Niro’s small role was in 1965 in Three Rooms in Manhattan. He gained popular attention with his role as a dying Major League baseball player in Bang the Drum Slowly (1973). The same year, he began his fruitful collaboration with Scorsese when he played a memorable role as the smalltime hood "Johnny Boy" alongside Harvey Keitel's "Charlie" in Mean Streets.

Culminating in his first Academy Award® as best Supporting Actor for the role of the young Vito Corleone in Francis Coppola's The Godfather Part II (1974). He became the first actor to win an Academy Award® speaking mainly a foreign language, (in this case, multiple Sicilian dialects, although he delivered a few lines in English). De Niro and Marlon Brando, who played the older Vito Corleone in the first film, are the only actors to have won leading-role Oscars portraying the same fictional character.
After working with Scorsese in Mean Streets, he had a very successful working relationship with the director in films such as Taxi Driver (1976), New York, New York (1977). Raging Bull (1980), The King of Comedy (1983), Goodfellas (1990), Cape Fear (1991), and Casino (1995). They also acted together in Guilty by Suspicion and provided their voices for the animated feature Shark Tale.

Fearing he had become typecast in mob roles, De Niro began expanding into occasional comedic roles in the mid-1980s and has had much success there as well, with such films as Brazil (1985); the hit action-comedy Midnight Run (1988), Showtime (2002), opposite Eddie Murphy; the film-and-sequel pairs Analyze This (1999) and Analyze That (2002), both opposite actor/comedian Billy Crystal, Meet the Parents (2000) and Meet the Fockers (2004), both opposite Ben Stiller. Also in 2004, De Niro provided the voice of Don Lino, the antagonist in the animated film Shark Tale, opposite Will Smith and was featured in Stardust.
He directed The Good Shepherd (2006), and costarred with Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie. The movie also reunited him onscreen with Joe Pesci, with whom De Niro had starred in Raging Bull, Goodfellas, A Bronx Tale, Once Upon A Time In America and Casino.

De Niro has won two Academy Awards: Best Actor for his role in Raging Bull, and Best Supporting Actor for The Godfather, Part II.