He is one of the most famous personalities in the world of cinema. He’s an actor, film director and producer. In addition, he has innate talent, winning two Oscars for it. He is, without a doubt, one of the greatest artists of recent times. He has starred in such popular films as Taxi Driver, The Godfather: Part II, Casino, Goodfellas, The Irishman and many others.
But he doesn’t let himself be pinned down to one particular genre; he also starred in dramas and comedies (and acting-wise, he’s just as good as in the ones mentioned above!) So today, we bring you some interesting facts about one of the most important representatives of the seventh art.
Talented from the childhood
He’s the son of artists: His father, abstract expressionist painter, a sculptor and a poet. And his mother, a painter as well. It is clear that art flows in his veins. However, his personality that we see on canvas was not the same as the one he had as a child, as he was a timid and introverted child.
His Beginnings
He began studying acting at an early age, but when he was 16, he realized that he wanted to become a professional, so began working in the theater. To improve his acting skills, He decided to attend the Actors Studio, which taught many famous personalities such as James Baldwin, Marlon Brando, Dustin Hoffman, Sean Penn and others.
After many tries, he eventually got his first job as an extra in a French film in 1965. But his first significant role came in “The Wedding Party”, a movie directed by Brian De Palma. At age 30, he appeared in the Martin Scorsese film “Wild Streets”, which brought him to professional attention, and from that point on, his fame went uphill.
He is a left-handed actor
By nature, he tends to use the left side of his body, but if he has to play a right-handed character, he carries out the necessary activities with his right hand. That shows that he is an excellent professional who has completely changed his way of being and acting.
Moment to play a character
Once he got the role of Jake LaMotta in “Raging Bull”, having to go on a pretty strict diet, not in order to lose weight, but in order to gain 27 kilos. He learned how to box, too. And he became so absorbed in his role that he accidentally broke a rib for Joe Pesci during the filming of a scene when they were arguing.
He moved to Sicily for “The Godfather: Part II,” living there for four months to learn the Sicilian dialect so he could play Don Vito Corleone perfectly. And he did this because some of his dialogue was in Italian.
He had some professional details like this in all his movies to deepen his role and make the performance not so superficial: he learned to play the saxophone for “New York, New York”; in “The Untouchables” had his hair cut to play Al Capone, and worked as a cab driver for four weeks to understand his role in “Taxi Driver”.
His Monster role
Once again, Robert de Niro collaborated with Martin Scorsese for “Raging Bull”, the biographical film about the Italian-born New York boxer Jack LaMotta. In order to embody the athlete, the 37-year-old actor, who started in 1980, studied boxing and gained about 30 kilos. However, all his efforts paid off: he won the Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role. For the fight scenes alone, which in the film last a total of about ten minutes, filming lasted over a month. Raging Bull” is a cult film today, but it failed to excite audiences when it was released.
Private life
Three times married: with Diahnne Abbott, to whom he has a son and a daughter. Also to Toukie Smith, a model, and with whom he has two twins (one of them followed in his father’s footsteps, and the other is a real estate agent). Finally, he was with Grace Hightower, an air hostess who was younger than him and with whom he also had a child.
Business
This famous actor walks not only on the artistic path but also on the business one. What he owns is a restaurant in San Francisco called Rubicon, which he shares with Francis Ford Coppola and the late artist Robin Williams. In addition, he has another restaurant called Nobu, which belongs to his hotel chain, which he runs with two partners.
His first big role
“Mean Streets”: The movie launches the young actor’s career in 1973. To Martin Scorsese, Johnny Boy is him. He and Charlie are two small-time crooks who are looking for tricks to rule New York. However, while Charlie (Harvey Keitel) can rely on his mafia uncle to do it, this is not the case for Johnny. This cult film marks the beginning of the collaboration between Robert de Niro and Martin Scorsese.
The Oscar
He won this award for “The Godfather: Part II.” A young man, and one of the main characters in this story, played Vito Corleone. Here we see him in a role with unstable emotions sociopathic tendencies. Curiously, he and Marlon Brando both won this award for the same character (in his first and second parts).
Sometime later, he received his second round and won it for “Raging Bull”. In his career, he received six Oscar nominations (not counting the ones mentioned above) for his roles in “Taxi Driver”, “The Sniper”, “Awakenings”, “Cape Fear”, “The Good Side of Things” and “The Irishman”.
Missed roles
During his career, De Niro has turned down many roles. He was sometimes passed over. And he could have played the leading roles in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (became Johnny Depp), Dick Tracy (went to Warren Beatty), The Departed (Jack Nicholson got the role) and the bad guy from Home Alone (his buddy Joe Pesci was cast).
His favorite director is Martin Scorsese
Scorsese is Robert de Niro’s favorite director. They both share a passion for cinema, but above all, for their hometown of New York. Therefore, not surprisingly, the city plays a vital role in their joint filmography. Martin Scorsese shot the actor in “Taxi Driver”, “New York, New York”, “Raging Bull”, “The Jumping Jack Waltz”, “Goodfellas”, “Nerves on edge” and “Casino”.
New York, his film city
One year after the September 11 attacks, he founded the Tribeca Film Festival together with Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff. This festival’s goal? To turn New York City into one of the most important centers in the world of film. With over two million viewers a year and growing interest from foreign media, it is fair to say that the challenge has been met.
He has dedicated a documentary film to his father
De Niro recounted his father’s life in the documentary “Remembering the Artist Robert De Niro, Sr.”, directed by Perri Peltz and Geeta Gandbhir, had its European Premiere at Maxxi in Rome in 2014. A journey through the artistic path of De Niro Sr., the film chronicles his success and decline in the mid-20th century but also tells of the relationship between father and son, his internal conflicts with homosexuality, and his death at the age of 71.
The Actors Studio, his working technique
Leonardo DiCaprio, James Franco, Heath Ledger and many others have all claimed to have been influenced by Robert de Niro’s working technique, which the Actors Studio inspires. The trick of the trade? Reproduce sensations, emotions and thoughts already experienced or felt. This is why perfectionist Robert de Niro is physically and mentally involved when preparing for a role. He has always tried to “become” his character, not to “resemble” it.
His Cult Role
This is the film that made Robert de Niro a star. He plays the role of Travis Bickel, an ex-US soldier who fought in Vietnam and returned to New York to work as a cab driver. For the part, Robert de Niro drives a cab at night for weeks at a time. The movie earned its director Martin Scorsese the Palme d’Or in Cannes in 1976. In this movie, its star utters the famous line: “You talkin’ to me?
Bobby Milk
As a kid, De Niro, growing up in New York’s Little Italy neighborhood, was nicknamed Bobby Milk. However, he was very skinny and pale as a ghost due to the fact that he didn’t get enough sun. Later, the actor compensated for his skinny appearance with roles in Raging Bull and Cape Fear films.
His parents
Both De Niro’s parents – Virginia Admiral and Robert de Niro senior – had been painters. His father, especially, had a high reputation as an abstract artist. After his son was born, De Niro senior disclosed that he was homosexual and divorced his wife.
Roberts De Niro is of Italian descent
Robert Anthony De Niro Jr., born in Greenwich Village, New York, was the son of Robert De Niro Sr. and Virginia Admiral. De Niro has Italian ancestry on his father’s side: Robert’s great-grandparents emigrated from Ferrazzano in 1980. His great-grandfather’s name was Giovanni Di Niro, which has been changed to De Niro for better pronunciation. On the grandmother’s side, however, he was of Irish descent. Robert’s mother, Virginia, a poet and painter, had English ancestry. In the Little Italy neighbourhood, Robert was raised with his mother (his parents divorced when he was just two years old).
He has six children
De Niro had six children by three different women. The first two of his children, Drena and Raphael, were born to actress Diahnne Abbott, with whom he was married from 1976 to 1988. He gave birth to twins Julian Henry and Aaron Kendrick via surrogacy with his then-girlfriend Toukie Smith in 1995. He married actress Grace Hightower in 1997 and with her had Elliot and Helen Grace, who he also had via surrogacy. De Niro & his wife announced their separation in 2018.
