NAME: Robert De Niro
BORN: 17/08/1943
BIRTH PLACE: New York


BIOGRAPHY

Robert first discovered his love for acting at age 10, appearing in a local production of 'The Wizard of Oz'.

He dropped out of school at sixteen, and began studying acting with Stella Adler.

Robert's first screen appearances came towards the end of the 1960s, in films directed by Brian De Palma - 'Greetings', 'The Wedding Party', and 'Hi, Mom!', but most date his feature breakthrough to 1973, with his small performance in Martin Scorsese's 'Mean Streets'.

In 'The Godfather, Part II', he depicted a young version of one of cinema's most familiar characters, Don Vito Corleone, originally played by Marlon Brando.

So good was his performance, that he won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar - an award he picked up again when he played a boxer in 'Raging Bull'.

He was also nominated for Oscars for 'The Deer Hunter', 'Taxi Driver', and 'Awakenings'. Then, in 1991, he teamed with Scorsese for the seventh time, on 'Cape Fear', and was again nominated for an Academy Award.

Although the early 1990s proved rocky for his acting career, with a series of films that made little impact with the press or public, the period did mark his first flowering as a filmmaker.

Robert enhanced his reputation as a champion of New York film production with his TriBeCa Film Center, home to his own TriBeCa Films company.

He made his own feature directorial debut with 'A Bronx Tale', on which he also served as producer and co-star.

He appeared for the first time opposite Al Pacino in the crime drama, 'Heat'.

For his own TriBeCa productions, Robert moved to comedy, starring opposite Billy Crystal, as a New York gangland boss experiencing panic attacks, in 'Analyze This'.

Staying with comedy, he produced and starred in the combined live-action/animated 'The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkl'e, and followed with 'Meet the Parents'.



Returning to comedy Robert re-teamed with Billy Crystal for a sequel, 'Analyze That' and with Ben Stiller for 'Meet The Fockers', a follow up from 'Meet The Parents'.