Robert De Niro is a famous American actor and
producer, winner of the Oscar and Golden Globe Awards. The public favorite and star
of crime films is still active in the film industry today. We will tell you about
his career and personal life in this video. Robert De Niro – how the top gangster of
Hollywood lives and where he spends his millions Robert Anthony De Niro Jr. was born on
August 17, 1943 in Greenwich Village, New York. His father, Robert De Niro Sr.,
was a sculptor and an abstract artist, and he met his future wife Virginia at painting
courses. She also painted and wrote poetry. When Robert Jr. turned 2, his parents
separated. The son stayed with his mother, but the father did not cut ties with him. For a
long time, the reasons for the divorce remained unknown to the boy, but as he grew up,
he learned that De Niro Sr. was gay. The actor has German, French, English,
Dutch, Irish and Italian roots. It was the Italian culture that greatly influenced
him, because he grew up in the Little Italy area. But he was not brought up in
Catholic traditions, since his mother was an atheist. However, his grandparents
secretly baptized their grandson anyway. After the divorce, Virginia worked a lot,
and Robert was often left to himself. He was friends with street ruffians, who
nicknamed him Bobby Milk for his pale complexion. He also often visited his father's
workshop and went to the cinema with him. Robert studied at a public school in Manhattan
and made his stage debut at the age of 10, playing the Cowardly Lion in the play The Wizard
of Oz. This sparked the boy's interest in acting. After the 6th grade, he was transferred to a
private school, but a few years later he entered Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art
and Performing Arts. Robert studied there for only a few days, the competitive atmosphere
put too much pressure on him. After that, he changed a few more schools, where he managed
to gain a reputation for disruptive behavior, until at age 16, he left school to become an
actor. De Niro attended Stella Adler's courses, studying the Stanislavsky method, and
also took lessons from Lee Strasberg. In 1963, Robert got his first movie role,
playing a friend of the groom in the comedy The Wedding Party. His fee was $50, but
the audience saw this work only 6 years later due to financial problems. Therefore,
in many official sources, De Niro's first film is considered to be the French drama
Three Rooms in Manhattan, released in 1965. In the next few years, he got tiny roles on
the screen and played on the theater stage. His most notable roles of this period were in
the films Greetings, Sam's Song, Bloody Mama, Hi, Mom!, Jennifer on My Mind, Born to Win,
and The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight. In 1973, the actor appeared in the drama Bang
the Drum Slowly, and at the same time he met Martin Scorsese, an aspiring, but already
promising director. Interestingly enough, when they first met, they realized that they had
already seen each other many times since they grew up in the same neighborhood. Scorsese invited
De Niro to play in his crime film Mean Streets, which brought the actor several awards from
film critics. With this work, Robert and Martin began a long-term collaboration,
as well as their strong friendship. The following year, De Niro gained worldwide
success, thanks to the role of Don Corleone in his youth in the second part of the
Godfather film trilogy. Interestingly enough, Robert also auditioned for the first film, but
unsuccessfully. But The Godfather Part II brought him his first Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.
This was the first time when the winner of the award was an actor who did not say a word in
English on screen. In the film, De Niro speaks Sicilian, a dialect of Italian. To do this,
Robert trained pronunciation for 4 months. Then the audience saw the second joint work of De
Niro and Scorsese, the neo-noir drama Taxi Driver. To prepare for his role, the actor mastered taxi
driving skills for 12 hours a day for a month. He also studied the manifestations of various
mental illnesses. According to the contract, Robert was supposed to get $35,000, but after
receiving the Oscar, the film studio was afraid of demands to raise wages. However, De
Niro fulfilled his obligations. Later he was nominated for a BAFTA Award, an Oscar and a
Golden Globe, and the film achieved a cult status. Many of its scenes have been quoted by other
directors, including the one in which Robert shows off in front of a mirror with a gun in
his hand. Remarkably, it is entirely improvised. On the set of Taxi Driver, the man met actress
and singer Dianne Abbott. In the same 1976, they got married, they had a son, Rafael, and De Niro
adopted Dianne's child from her first marriage. Meanwhile, Robert's filmography was
replenished with the films 1900, The Last Tycoon with a fee of $200,000, and
New York, New York. In Scorsese's musical, Robert played a saxophonist and studied to
play this musical instrument for 3 months. In the following years, the actor starred
in the TV mini-series The Godfather Saga and the war drama The Deer Hunter. Robert
performed all the stunts in it himself, and also fully paid for the insurance for a
terminally ill colleague. This work earned him Golden Globe, BAFTA and Oscar nominations.
During the same period, he almost lost his close friend, Martin Scorsese, who became addicted to
illegal substances. Often visiting him in the hospital, the actor talked about his dream to star
in a film about a boxer. At first, the director refused, but Robert managed to get his way, and
in 1980, the film Raging Bull was released on the screens. Scorsese later claimed that De Niro
saved his life by insisting on returning to work. For this role, the actor gained 60 pounds,
learned to box professionally and even held three real fights in Brooklyn, two of which
he won. He also met boxer Jake Lamotta, who praised Robert's fighting skills. Unfortunately
for himself, Joe Pesci also got a taste of them: Robert accidentally broke his rib. It's
worth noting that between takes, De Niro remained in character, completely immersed
in the role. His efforts were not in vain, and his collection of awards was supplemented
with Golden Globe and Oscar statuettes. In the early 80s, the actor starred in the
films True Confessions, The King of Comedy, and Once Upon a Time in America, in which he
finally played the main character of a crime film. Then he tried his hand in other genres,
playing in the melodrama Falling in Love, the dystopian black comedy Brazil,
and the historical drama The Mission. In 1987, De Niro voiced the documentary
Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam and appeared in the psychological horror film
Angel Heart. At first he refused this role, but then changed his mind. At the same time,
the crime film The Untouchables was released, which brought him a fee of $3 million. He
played Al Capone, and in order to better get into character, he found the gangster’s tailors
and ordered the same clothes as he wore. But he didn't have time to gain extra weight for
external similarity, so he wore special pads. After Al Capone, the actor played
a representative of the law in the action movie Midnight Run in 1988
and for this role he spent a lot of time talking to real bounty
hunters. His fee was $5 million. In the same year, De Niro became a co-founder
of the Tribeca production company, in many projects of which he subsequently starred.
The actor also divorced his wife and had a relationship with model Toukie Smith. They did
not register their relationship, which did not prevent them from having children. With the help
of a surrogate mother, twin boys Julian and Aaron were born. A few years later, the couple broke
up, and the list of celebrity's love interests included adult film star Charmaine Sinclair,
models Naomi Campbell and Stephanie Adams. Meanwhile, the Hollywood star's filmography
was replenished with the films Jacknife, We're No Angels, Stanley & Iris with a fee of $3.5
million, and the Scorsese crime drama Goodfellas. In 1990's biographical drama Awakenings,
Robert De Niro played a clinic patient and spent a lot of time observing real
patients. During the shooting of one scene Robin Williams broke his nose. This
film brought De Niro an Oscar nomination. In 1991, he appeared in the movies Guilty
by Suspicion, Backdraft, and Cape Fear. Martin Scorsese became the director of the crime
thriller, and it was Robert who persuaded him to take up the job. Moreover, for the sake of
this film, the actor gained muscle mass and paid $5,000 to the dentist to give his teeth
the right look for the role of a prisoner who had served a 14-year sentence. It took another
$20,000 to restore the teeth. For this role, De Niro was nominated for an MTV Movie
award, a Golden Globe, and an Oscar. In the early 90s, the actor starred in
the films Mistress, Night and the City, This Boy's Life, and Mad Dog and Glory, on the
set of which his nose was damaged again. In 1993, the crime drama A Bronx Tale was released,
which became De Niro's directorial debut. In 1994, the actor starred in the horror film
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and while working on the role, he communicated with
people who had experienced severe physical injuries. Then he appeared in
the melodrama One Hundred and One Nights, spending only one day on the set,
the sports action movie The Fan, the crime films Casino, Heat, and Sleepers.
The fee in the latter amounted to $6 million. In addition, De Niro's filmography was replenished
with such works as Marvin's Room, Cop Land, Jackie Brown, Wag the Dog, Great Expectations, and Ronin
with a fee of $14 million. The actor received another $8 million for the film Analyze This,
after which he starred in the crime film Flawless. At that time, reviews of the celebrity's
work were becoming more lukewarm, and there were changes in his personal life. In
1997, the man married a former flight attendant, model and actress Grace Hightower.
They met 10 years before the wedding, and in 1998 they had a son, Elliot. Having
a child together did not stop the woman from filing for divorce a year later because of her
husband's infidelity, but it was not finalized. Back then, the actor was famous for his
unwillingness to share the details of his personal life. For example, before the interview,
journalists were given a list of topics that they should not ask about. They included: politics,
religion, family, and others. But no amount of secrecy could help De Niro avoid a scandal when
in 1999 he was arrested in Paris on suspicion of participating in an international
sex trafficking ring. Robert denied his involvement and vowed never to return to France.
Subsequently, however, he broke that promise. In 2000, the films The Adventures of
Rocky and Bullwinkle, Men of Honor, and Meet the Parents were released. For
the latter, De Niro received $13.5 million, an MTV Movie award and a Golden Globe nomination.
He earned another $15 million for his role in the crime thriller The Score. Another movie of that
genre, 15 Minutes, was released the same year. In 2002, De Niro appeared in the action movie
Showtime, the fee in which amounted to $17.5 million. In addition, the audience saw the actor
in the films City by the Sea and Analyze That with a fee of $20 million. During the filming,
Robert visited a psychiatric hospital, where he discussed with patients
the symptoms of his character. In 2003, he became a patient himself when he
was diagnosed with a malignant tumor. After the surgery, the cancer went into remission. In
that difficult time, the man was supported by his wife Grace. They decided to cancel the divorce
proceedings, and in 2004 they renewed their vows. At the same time, De Niro returned to work and
voiced the cartoon Shark Tale, and also starred in the horror film Godsend, the historical drama
The Bridge of San Luis Rey and the comedy Meet the Fockers, for which he received $20 million.
Then he appeared in an episode of the TV series Extras, the thriller Hide and Seek, voiced the
animated fantasy film Arthur and the Invisibles, and in 2006 directed the spy film The Good
Shepherd. He worked on this project for 10 years, but the film did not attract
a lot of attention from the audience. In 2007, the celebrity appeared in the fantasy
adventure Stardust, and in the following years he starred in the films What Just Happened,
Righteous Kill, Everybody's Fine, Machete, and Stone with a fee of $2.5 million. For the
sequel Little Fockers he received $20 million. In 2010, De Niro and his wife started a
foundation that helps disadvantaged women and single mothers. Robert is listed as a co-founder
and sponsor, and Grace is in charge of management. In December 2011, they had a
daughter, Helena, born by a surrogate mother because of the couple's age.
In the early 2010s, the actor played in an episode of the TV series 30 Rock, the films
The Ages of Love, Limitless, Killer Elite, New Year's Eve, Red Lights, Being Flynn, and
Freelancers. De Niro earned another nomination for the Screen Actors Guild Award and Oscar for
his role in the 2012 film Silver Linings Playbook. In 2013, the action films 'Killing Season'
and 'The Family', the comedy The Big Wedding, Last Vegas and the sports drama Grudge
Match were released on the screens, in which the actor met Sylvester
Stallone in the boxing ring. Then he appeared in the films The Bag Man, Heist,
Joy, Hands of Stone, The Comedian, and The Wizard of Lies, which brought the actor nominations for
the Actors Guild Award, Golden Globe, and Emmy. For the comedy The Intern, De Niro studied
the Chinese martial art of Tai chi, and in the movie Dirty Grandpa he
was not afraid to appear before the audience as a rather ridiculous
character. Interestingly enough, to shoot the poster, the actor lifted Zac
Efron on his shoulders without assistance. Robert demonstrated his talents on
Broadway, directing the musical A Bronx Tale. He focused on social activities
and starred for free in a music video about the African and Middle Eastern refugees. All
profits from the song and video were sent to t In 2018, the man broke up with his wife, saying
in an interview that he was tired of constant quarrels. According to his acquaintances, Robert
and Grace had not lived together for a long time. A long legal battle ensued, during which the
woman revealed the size of De Niro's fortune: more than $500 million. Between 2004 and 2018
alone, he made $250-300 million. According to the terms of the marriage contract, Grace was owed
$1 million for each year of living together plus $500,000 in cash, an apartment for $6 million and
half the cost of their joint housing. However, she asked the judge for half of the ex-spouse's
capital, saying that he hid his real income from her. In 2020, due to new court proceedings,
the media learned that De Niro ended up paying $100,000 a month. Due to financial difficulties,
he cut the support in half, and the court agreed with this, but the actor had to pay Grace
additional $75,000 to help her find a summer home. Robert De Niro met his 75th birthday on the
set of the movie The Joker, where he played the late-night talk show host. It was released in
2019, and at the same time the Netflix platform presented Martin Scorsese's drama The Irishman. As
usual, the main role went to De Niro and brought him nominations for the Actors Guild Award, BAFTA
and Oscar. He co-starred with Al Pacino and Joe Pesci, and in order to assemble such a stellar
cast, the streaming service paid $105 million. In 2020, 2 comedies starring De Niro were
released: The War with Grandpa about the confrontation of a teenager with his
grandfather and The Comeback Trail. In 2021, the actor was spotted with a
new girlfriend, 45-year-old Tiffany Chen, a martial arts instructor, whom he met on
the set of The Intern. Recently the media learned that she gave birth to the actor's
seventh child, daughter Gia Virginia. In 2022, Robert De Niro starred in the
movies Amsterdam and Savage Salvation, and the comedy About My Father recently
premiered. In addition, Scorsese's western Killers of the Flower Moon was screened at
Cannes. The comedy Inappropriate Behavior, the action movie Tin Soldier, the drama Wise
Guys and the Argentine mini-series Nada are at the post-production stage. He is also working
on the crime films Candy Store and After Exile. Receiving multimillion-dollar royalties, De Niro
invested them not only in his production company, but also in the restaurant and
hotel businesses. Nobu Hospitality, LLC is represented on 5 continents
and brings a good profit. However, the 2020 border closures hurt the actor's
companies, and he even used $28 million in government business support to make things
right and pay his employees' salaries. Another source of his income is
advertising. Robert promoted Kia cars, Santander financial organization, Ermenegildo
Zegna clothing brand, Warburtons Bread bagels and collaborated with the Swiss Ministry of
Tourism, talking about the advantages of holidays in this country. He also starred in Scorsese’s
commercial for American Express credit cards. A significant part of the celebrity's
income is donated to charity, but in everyday life he is not very generous.
He is known to rarely tip waiters, and limo drivers nicknamed the actor
, which means "no money"."No Dinero" Despite a long career in Hollywood, the actor did
not move to Los Angeles, remaining loyal to New York. In 1975, he bought a five-story townhouse
in Manhattan for $190,000 for the fee he received for his role in The Godfather. Inside there are
4 bedrooms and the same number of bathrooms, there is a terrace on the roof, and there is a
barbecue area on the adjacent property. In 2012, this property was sold for $9.5 million,
according to other sources it was $12 million. Over the years, Robert has rented luxury
apartments overlooking Central Park and in the West Village, and he also owns apartments
in the city center. A fan got into one of the apartments in 2022, but De Niro was able
to detain her until the police arrived. He has a house in Montauk, New York, with
an estimated value of almost $8 million, which previously belonged to the actor's father. De Niro's main home is in Gardiner, north of
New York City. The 2200-square-foot 18th-century mansion is situated on more than seven acres. The
celebrity bought the land in 1997 for $1.5 million and made repairs several times.
According to open sources, there are three models in the actor's
car collection: two large American SUVs, namely GMC Yukon XL and Cadillac Escalade, as well
as an Italian Maserati GranTurismo sports car. Robert De Niro has won numerous
prestigious awards for his contribution to world cinematography. And in memory of his
roles, he collects souvenirs from film sets, from scripts to costumes and props. The
actor donated this collection to the film archive of the Harry Ransom Center
at the University of Texas at Austin. What was the most memorable
De Niro movie you ever saw?
