One of the greatest of his generation, Robert De Niro developed a special acting method that combines the psychological depth of the American Method with physical and experiential preparation.
De Niro was born in 1943 in New York. He left school at age 16 to study acting, his studies with coaches such as Stella Adler and Lee Strasberg helped him build the base of his acting method that we can see in all of the roles he played, for example De Niro spent weeks driving a taxi in New York City before filming Taxi Driver, and he gained more than 50 pounds to be ready for his role in La Motta.
“Sometimes, I get to the character through some clothing that I’m wearing or some behavioral thing that I pick up that feels right for the character. I can use that. And there will be other things that maybe I wouldn’t. It’s instinctive. Ideally, you want to get as close to a character as you can and learn as much about the character as you can,” De Niro said.
Going back to his early work, after appearing in a few plays, De Niro’s first film appearance was in Brian De Palma’s The Wedding Party, followed by several minor films. Director Francis Ford Coppola was so impressed by De Niro in Mean Streets that he offered him the part of young Vito Corleone in The Godfather II, 1974.
This role earned De Niro an Oscar and made him an international star. Following The Godfather, De Niro worked with many directors in films such as Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Last Tycoon and The Deer Hunter.
In the ‘90s, he played what became one of his most famous roles, the gangster Jimmy “The Gent” Conway in Scorsese’s Goodfellas.
In addition to acting, De Niro frequently guest-starred on Saturday Night Live in 2018, playing special counsel Robert Mueller. He also directed several films. In 1993, he made his directorial debut with A Bronx Tale. Then, in 2006, he directed The Good Shepherd.
In 2024, Robert De Niro had a reported net worth of $500 million. Outside of his acting career, De Niro has a few business ventures. He co-founded Tribeca Enterprises, which includes a production company and the Tribeca Film Festival. He also partially owns The Greenwich Hotel in New York and the Nobu Hotels chain.
De Niro is still actively working in film and television projects. He once said, “Well, I don’t really think of retirement because I don’t know what else I would do other than do what I’m doing, I guess. I don’t feel, and you can tell me how you feel, but I don’t feel really much older than I think. I look at myself, I’m not even used to looking at myself as being older. It’s a little disconcerting if you see somebody you’ve known in your 30s or 40s or even 50s who has not aged well, or just got older. That’s life.”
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