Robert De Niro

Ranked #1 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Greatest Living Actor (Gods Among Us)" list. [October 2004]

De Niro has also received the AFI Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003 and the Golden Globe Cecil B.

Although he is sometimes referred to as an Italian-American actor, De Niro is actually one quarter Italian in ancestry. His father was of half Italian and half Irish descent. His mother was of Dutch, English, German, French and Irish ancestry on her own father's side, and of German ancestry on her own mother's side. Robert was quite close to his Italian paternal grandfather, whom he visited frequently in Syracuse, New York when he was young. De Niro has stated that he identifies "more with [his] Italian side". He was inducted into the Italian-American Hall of Fame (2002).

According to a profile in Vanity Fair's annual Hollywood issue, is the first actor to do a method interpretation of a cartoon character as Fearless Leader in The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle (2000).

Was in Ossining, New York (home of the infamous Sing Sing penitentiary) to shoot three different movies: Analyze This (1999), Analyze That (2002) and Hide and Seek (2005).

He married his second wife Grace Hightower in 1997, and she gave birth to their son, Elliot De Niro on March 18, 1998. In 1999, the couple renewed marriage vows at their Ulster County farm in New York's Catskill Mountains, but later that year De Niro filed for divorce. Their fallout continued into 2001 as a potential custody battle over their son, Elliott, heated up. However, the divorce was never finalized and they managed to smooth over their troubles. Their second child was born in December 2011 via surrogate.

In October 1997, he ranked #5 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list. In 2005, Premiere magazine ranked him as #38 on a list of the Greatest Movie Stars of All Time in their Stars in Our Constellation feature.

This was tricky to make him look huge as Frankenstein's monster in Frankenstein (1994) , considering that Kenneth Branagh, who played Dr. Frankenstein, is of similar height. Many of the tricks used to make humans, wizards and elves dwarf the hobbits later on for the Lord of the Rings trilogy were also employed to make De Niro appear much bigger than his co-stars, including using very large men as body doubles for shots where only the hands and feet are seen.

At the same time, he also directed and starred in such films as A Bronx Tale (1993) and The Good Shepherd (2006).

Three movies (at least) that De Niro has appeared in have the song "Gimme Shelter" by The Rolling Stones noticeably featured in the soundtrack: Goodfellas (1990), Casino (1995) and The Fan (1996).

He formed his own production company, Tribeca Film Center (1989).

He turned down the role of Jesus in The Last Temptation of Christ (1988). He was considered for the role of Josh Baskin in Penny Marshall's Big (1988). He was offered the role of Sal the pizza shop owner in Do the Right Thing (1989), which he turned down.

Other notable performances include Brazil (1985), The Untouchables (1987), Backdraft (1991), Frankenstein (1994), Heat (1995), Casino (1995) and Jackie Brown (1997).

In 1984, British pop group Bananarama had a song dedicated to him called "Robert De Niro's Waiting". De Niro heard about this and arranged to meet the three girls, but they got so nervous, while waiting for him, that they got drunk before he even arrived.

Was good friends with comedian John Belushi, who died of a drug overdose on March 5, 1982. In fact, De Niro and Robin Williams were the last stars to see Belushi alive, albeit on separate visits to Bungalow #3 of L.A.'s Chateau Marmont hotel that fateful day. De Niro visited Belushi at 3:00 am on the morning of his death, but, according to eyewitnesses, left minutes later after seeing that Belushi was sick. Less than an hour earlier, Belushi had been visited by Robin Williams, who also left straight away.

He started the whole "awards show ribbon" tradition by wearing a green ribbon on his lapel at the 1981 Academy Awards. The ribbon was in rememberance of several African-American children who were victims of a serial killer in Atlanta, Georgia in 1980-1981. The ribbon was given to him by a fan in the bleachers as he arrived; the victims' families had been wearing them for months.

He received the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Jake LaMotta in Raging Bull (1980).

De Niro has earned four Golden Globe Award nominations for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, for his work in New York, New York (1977), opposite Liza Minnelli, Midnight Run (1988), Analyze This (1999) and Meet the Parents (2000).

Was unable to accept his first Academy Award in 1975 due to filming commitments to Bernardo Bertolucci's 1900 (1976).

He received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in The Godfather: Part II (1974) and received Academy Award nominations for best actor in Taxi Driver (1976), The Deer Hunter (1978) and Cape Fear (1991).

De Niro first gained fame for his role in Bang the Drum Slowly (1973), but he gained his reputation as a volatile actor in Mean Streets (1973), which was his first film with director Martin Scorsese.

He and Martin Scorsese were brought up blocks apart in the Greenwich Village area of Manhattan, but never formally met when they were young. When introduced at a party in 1972, the two came to realize that they had seen each other many times but had never spoken.

One of the greatest actors of all time, Robert De Niro was born on August 17, 1943 in Manhattan, New York City, to artists Virginia (Admiral) and Robert De Niro Sr. His paternal grandfather was of Italian descent, and his other ancestry is Irish, English, Dutch, German, and French. He was trained at the Stella Adler Conservatory and the American Workshop.

He was voted the 34th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Entertainment Weekly.