Robert De Niro, Jr. (born August 17, 1943) is an American actor, director, and producer.
De Niro won his first Academy Award as Best Supporting Actor for
The Godfather Part II (1974), followed by a Best Actor Academy Award win for
Raging Bull (1980). His film roles include John 'Johnny Boy' Civello in
Mean Streets, the young
Vito Corleone in
The Godfather Part II, cabbie Travis Bickle in
Taxi Driver, soldier Michael Vronsky in
The Deer Hunter, boxer
Jake LaMotta in
Raging Bull, mobster David "Noodles" Aaronson in
Once Upon a Time in America, plumber/terrorist Harry Tuttle in
Brazil, bounty hunter
Jack Walsh in
Midnight Run, mobster
Jimmy Conway in
Goodfellas,
Al Capone in
The Untouchables, Louis Gara in
Jackie Brown, Jack Byrnes in
Meet the Parents and
Meet the Fockers, Max Cady in
Cape Fear, Cop. Moe Tilden in
Cop Land, Neil McCauley in
Heat, Sam Rothstein in
Casino and Frank Goode in
Everybody's Fine.
Early life
Robert De Niro was born in
New York City,
New York, the son of
Virginia Admiral, a painter, and
Robert De Niro, Sr., an
abstract expressionist painter and sculptor.
De Niro's father was of Italian and Irish descent, and his mother was of German, French, and Dutch ancestry. His Italian great-grandparents, Giovanni De Niro and Angelina Mercurio, immigrated from
Ferrazzano, in the
province of Campobasso, Molise,
and his paternal grandmother, Helen O'Reilly, was the granddaughter of Edward O'Reilly, an immigrant from Ireland.
