Robert De Niro

**Robert Anthony De Niro** (born August 17, 1943) is an American actor. Known for his collaborations with Martin Scorsese, he is considered to be one of the most influential actors of his generation. De Niro has one several awards over the course of his career including two Academy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, the Cecil B. DeMille Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award, along with also received the Kennedy Center Honor in 2009, and earned a Presidential Medal of Freedom from U.S. President Barack Obama in 2016. Not only that, but his collaborations with Scorsese have also gone down as one of the most infamous duos in film history.

His collaborations with Scorsese include, *Mean Streets* (1973), *Taxi Driver* (1976), *New York, New York* (1977), *Raging Bull* (1980), *The King of Comedy* (1982), *Goodfellas* (1990), *Cape Fear* (1991), *Casino* (1995), the short film, *The Audition* (2015), *The Irishman* (2019) and *Killers of the Flower Moon* (2023). De Niro is also known for his other films, including, *The Godfather Part II* (1974), *The Deer Hunter* (1978), *Once Upon a Time in America* (1984), *Awakenings* (1990), *Heat* (1995), *Jackie Brown* (1997) and *Joker* (2019).

## Early life

Robert Anthony De Niro was born in Manhattan, New York City on August 17, 1943. His father, Robert Henry De Niro was of Italian and Irish descent while his mother, Virginia Admiral had Dutch, English, French, and German ancestry. His parents were both painters and later separated when De Niro was two years old after his father came out as gay. He was then raised by his mother around Greenwich Village and Little Italy, with his father living nearby. Robert later made various friends on the streets of Little Italy, some even becoming lifelong friends. His mother was a former Presbyterian turned Athiest, while his father was a lapsed Catholic. In secret, Robert's grandparents had him baptized into the Catholic Church. De Niro made his stage debut when he played the Cowardly Lion in a play of *The Wizard of Oz*, that was featured in his school. De Niro later dropped out of high school at 16 to become an actor.

## Personal life

In 1976, De Niro married actress, Diahnne Abbott. The two had a son named Raphael, along with De Niro adopting Abott's daughter, Drena from a previous relationship. Abbott and De Niro divorced in 1988. After this, Robert had a sexual relationship with model Toukie Smith, which ended in 1996, with the two having twin sons named Julian and Aaron. In 1997, De Niro married Grace Hightower, with them divorcing in 1999, along with them having a son in 1998 named Elliot. In 2011, they had a daughter named Helen via surrogate. In 2003, Robert was diagnosed with prostate cancer and underwent surgery at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. In 2006, De Niro received Italian citizenship, which was opposed by the Sons of Italy, who said De Niro gave Italians a bad name. In 2018, De Niro was targeted by an explosive device as an assassination attempt. In April 2023, De Niro announced his seventh child, Gia, who he had with his girlfriend, Tiffany Chen. In July 2023, De Niro's grandson, Leandro De Niro Rodriguez died at the age of 19 due to a drug overdose.