役者として駆け出しの頃は、同様に無名フィルムメーカーであったブライアン・デ・パルマ監督とコンビを組んでいた。1972年に公開された『ゴッドファーザー』でソニーやマイケル役のオーディションを受けたが落選。しかし、監督のフランシス・フォード・コッポラはデ・ニーロの演技力を高く評価し、続編の『PART II』では若きドン・ヴィト・コルレオーネの役を割り当てた。デ・ニーロは、この役を演じるためにわざわざシチリアまで赴きシチリアなまりのイタリア語をマスターした後、マーロン・ブランドのしゃがれた声を真似るために必死の練習をしたという。その演技は評判となりアカデミー助演男優賞を受賞した。1973年には長らくコンビを組むことになるマーティン・スコセッシ監督の『ミーン・ストリート』に出演。これ以降、『タクシードライバー』（1976年）、 『ニューヨーク・ニューヨーク』（1977年）、『レイジング・ブル』（1980年）、『キング・オブ・コメディ』（1983年）、『グッドフェローズ』（1990年）、『ケープ・フィアー』（1991年）、『カジノ』（1995年）といった同監督の作品に主演した。2012年にはイギリスのTotal Film誌の発表した「映画史に残る監督と俳優のコラボレーション50組」にて第1位に選ばれた。現在企画中のスコセッシ監督作『The Irishman』にて9度目のコンビを組むことが予定されている。2013年公開の主演作『マラヴィータ』ではスコセッシは製作総指揮を担当した。アカデミー主演男優賞を受賞した『レイジング・ブル』では体を鍛え上げボクサー役を演じた後、老いた主人公を演じるために体重を20キロ増やした。このようなデ・ニーロ流の徹底した役作りはデニーロ・アプローチと呼ばれるようになり、彼の代名詞となった。出世作である『ゴッドファーザー PART II』をはじめ、『タクシードライバー』、『ワンス・アポン・ア・タイム・イン・アメリカ』、『アンタッチャブル』、『グッドフェローズ』、『カジノ』など犯罪映画に多く出演してきたが、1980年代半ばからはコメディ映画などでも成功を収め、近年は『ミート・ザ・ペアレンツ』や『アナライズ・ユー』でコミカルな役柄を演じるなど幅広い演技力を見せている。1988年には、ジェーン・ローゼンタール(Jane Rosenthal)と共同で、プロダクション「トライベッカ （トライベッカフィルムセンター）」を設立。初監督となった1993年の『ブロンクス物語/愛につつまれた街』など、監督や製作としても活躍している。2013年には『世界にひとつのプレイブック』で21年振りにアカデミー助演男優賞にノミネートされ、還暦を超えてもなお精力的に活動を続けている。また、養女であるドレナ・デ・ニーロとは『ウワサの真相/ワグ・ザ・ドッグ』（1997年）以降、何度か共演している。
After the tour, Price wrote an editorial in Melody Maker  declaring the movement dead as it had achieved its aims but was now being soured by the revivalist portrayal in the mainstream media. Despite this, the scene in London continued with more bands emerging such as Anglo-Japanese female quartet Étoile as well as the arrival in Britain of Donovan Leitch's band Nancy Boy.  Another late major addition to the scene at around this time was Belvedere Kane, fronted by Romo scene face Barry Stone, later of the Jewels And Stone writing/production partnership. In his review of the latter's gig, Price recanted his "Romo is dead" declaration, dismissing it as a red herring tactic and further adding that the continued spread of Romo was by now beyond even his control.  At around this time, a first anniversary party was held for Club Skinny headlined by Crush, the band of former Byker Grove TV stars Donna Air and Jayni Hoi.  However, continued tensions in the scene led to the discontinuation of both Skinny and Arcadia in July 1996.  Romo activities continued at the individual bands' concerts (although one Plastic Fantastic concert at Dingwalls from this time ended in a mass brawl after a hat was thrown onstage. Plastic Fantastic also had a residency at the Dublin Castle, Camden during this period, although this was terminated by management after an incident where stage invaders performed a sex show.The bands mostly concentrated on their recording contracts at this point – in late 1996 Hollywood released a heavily remixed single Apocalypse Kiss while Plastic Fantastic – having previously released the Eno-influenced Fantastique no.5- recorded a planned album Autumn which was never released due to a dispute with Mercury over the mix of planned second single Plastic World.  Sexus, who had also released a second single The Official End Of It All and recorded an album The Boyfriend Olympics, similarly fell out with ZTT over the mix of planned third single How Do You Kiss.  Personal differences between Xavior and his bandmates led to the demise of DexDexTer in early 1997 just as their single Another Car Another CarCrash was released. Both parties remained signed tor Trade2; the bandmates as ExDexTer recorded demos for the label but were swiftly dropped as eventually was Xavior in 1998 after he had recorded an unreleased solo album, Chainsaw Mass Appeal and appeared in the film Velvet Goldmine.  After several years producing, playing keyboards for Placebo and recording further unreleased solo albums, he would reemerge as a frontman in the late 2000s fronting Paul St Paul and the Apostles with David Ryder Prangley. Viva meanwhile, despite continuing to demo material, never released any records and would later rename themselves Scala 5 and revert to a heavier guitar sound before their demise circa 2000.  Stuart Miller dissolved Plastic Fantastic and revived his old band Supercharger, while Hollywood's Hannah Edgren was spotted (by Dickon Edwards) fronting a new band in 1998 – she and Stacey Leigh would later reunite as Fubar.  Sexus were frozen into inactivity due to a dispute with management after the fallout with ZTT – they would eventually re-emerge in 2002 as the Psychodelicates with a download/mail order album Psychodelicates Go Adventuring.Thus by the middle of 1997 it was left to Orlando and Minty to be the most prolific – and in that sense the most successful – Romo bands as they were the only two of the seven core acts to reach the stage of releasing their respective albums.  Orlando, having already released two singles "Just for a Second" and The Magic EP in late 1996 (the latter of which achieved #96 on the UK Singles Chart) and a third, Nature's Hated in spring 1997, having toured extensively with Kenickie and having scored the only UK Top 75 chart hit of any core Romo act with their contribution to the Fever Pitch soundtrack EP, a cover of Tim Hardin's How Can We Hang On to a Dream, released their album Passive Soul in October that year before Dickon Edwards departed to found Fosca.  Tim Chipping would continue to use the Orlando band name for a planned folk-orientated second album under the working title Sick Folk (to have included a collaboration with Kenickie/Rosita members Marie Du Santiago and Emmy-Kate Montrose), before finally dissolving Orlando in Spring 2000.  Minty, likewise, having released singles "Useless Man", "Plastic Bag" (a No. 2 hit in the Netherlands), "That's Nice" and "Nothing", released their parent album Open Wide in late 1997 before also disbanding, with some members later forming rock band The Servant.  With all the core bands and major London clubnights now defunct (or at least no longer in their Romo incarnations), the Romo scene effectively came to an end.