Robert De Niro is one of the most famous and fans favorite America actor, filmmaker and director and entrepreneur. De Niro came to limelight with his role as Vito Corleone in The Godfather Part 2. In 2016, De Niro received the presidential Medal of Freedom.

Robert De Niro has as estimate worth of $500 million though reports say his income may have experienced a nose-dive following covid-19 pandemic breakout and his wife’s demand for child support. His earnings are from his work on high grossing films and television appearances.

This article, walks you through the background, net worth, children and wife of your favourite big screen start Robert d Niro. 

Early Life

Robert De Niro was born Robert Anthony de Niro Jr, but he is best known as Robert De Niro. De Niro was born on 11th August 1943 in Greenwich village Manhattan Borough. He was the only child of his parents at the time they divorced when he was just two years old. His parents were both painters and artists. De Niro’s father Robert De Niro Sr. was close friends with De Niro during his childhood despite the separation. His mother Virginia Admiral who met Robert De Niro Sr. at the painting classes of Hans Hofmann in Massachusetts raised De Niro in neighbourhoods of Little Italy where the young chap made friends with many streets kids despite his father’s disapproval. His father was of Irish and Italian descent while Virginia Admiral had a mixture of Dutch, French and English ancestry.

De Niro attended a public elementary school in Manhattan and began taking acting classes at the Dramatic workshop. At the age of 10, he made his stage debut in The Wizard of Oz as the cowardly Lion. De Niro attended three different schools for his seventh, eighth and ninth grades before transferring to Charles Evans Hughes Junior High School, another public school. This was followed by attending two more high schools, before he dropped out of high school to pursue a career at 16. De Niro took up acting to overcome his shyness and also knowing he was going to making a living from it, just like other actors who believed he could act better than.

De Niro enrolled with HB Studio and studied at the Stella Adler Conservatory of Acting under the tutorage of Stella Adler which exposed him to the Stanislavski system.

Acting Career

De Niro began acting in 1963 featuring in minor roles in Three Rooms in Manhattan and Encounter before landing a major role in Greetings. In 1969, he appeared in The Wedding Party directed by the same person Brian De Palma. The following year he starred in the sequel of Greetings Hi, Mom. De Niro opted to feature in the crime-comedy The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight despite auditioning for The Godfather. His career began blossoming in 1973 with his outstanding performance in Bang The Drum Slowly. That year, he collaborated with Martin Scorsese on Mean Street which marked the beginning of their collaborations, which had always created successful projects. Francis Ford Coppola in 1974 invited De Niro for The Godfather II project. De Niro did not disappoint Coppola for calling on him as he interpreted his role very well and spoke in different Sicilian dialects. He received his Academy Awards as the Best Supporting Actor in the role of young Vito Corleone. The Godfather II grossed $48 million and won six Academy Awards.

With greater recognition and acceptance, De Niro collaborated with Scorsese in Taxi Driver (1976). In preparing for the role, De Niro lost weight, understudied taxi drivers activities and spent some time with U. S. military training with firearm. The film received critical acclaim and was named in 2005 by Time magazine as one of the best films of all time. This followed De Niro and Scorsese Mean Streets’ selection for preservation in the U.S. National Film Registry. The same year, De Niro starred in two more films 1900 and The Last Tycoon though they were not well received.

Amazon.com: Robert De Niro Hunting With Rifle The Deer Hunter 18x24 Inch  Poster: Posters & Prints
Robert De Niro in The Deer Hunter

He appeared as Jimmy in the third Scorsese collaboration–New York, New York. The firm got four Golden Globe awards. Following the growth of his reputation De Niro became a sort after actor for portraying gruesome roles. Hence, Michael Deeley ensured to cast De Niro in 1978, an epic war film The Deer Hunter. It actually paid off for Deeley as the film received positive reviews and received nominations as the British Academy film Awards, Golden Globe Awards and Academy Awards. The American Film Institute in 2007, recognized The Deer Hunter as the 53rd greatest American film of all time. It seems like De Niro has a thing with AFI right? However, the young talented De Niro was just beginning to show the world snippets of his abilities. In 1980, De Niro and Scorsese came again to produce what was the greatest films of the 1980s in Raging Bull. Adopted from Jake LaMotta’s memoir: Raging Bull: My story, De Niro gave the character of LaMotta a life beyond the literature. The film received critical acclaim despite suggestions of excessive violent displayed in the film. De Niro won the Academy award as the Best Actor following seven other Academy awards the film received. 

Between 198 and 991, De Niro featured True Confession (1981), he tried changing to comedic role in1982. The King of Comedy which was a great disappointment as the box office. De Niro appeared in Once Upon a Time in America, and Falling in Love respectively in 1984, Brazil (1985), The Mission (1986), The Untouchable (1987) and midnight Run (1988).

De Niro started the 1990s with his sixth collaboration with Scorsese and again they gave the viewers another magic in the film Goodfellas, which ranked 92nd greatest American film of all time in American Film Institute 10th Anniversary edition. He followed that up with appearance in Guilt by Suspicion, Backdraft, Cape Fear all in 1991. De Niro portrayal of Max Cady in Cape Fear earned him another Best Actor nomination at the 64th Academy Awards as the film became a great success grossing $182 million. From 1992 to 2006, De Niro featured in high grossing films and debut as a director. Some of his film projects during this period are Casino (1995) alongside Sharon Stone, Heat (1995) co-starring Al Pacino, Sleepers (1996), Wag the Dog (1997), Flawless (1999), Men of Honor (2000), Meet the Parents (2000) and its sequels, Meet the Fockers (2004) and Little Fockers (2010). 

Robert De Niro

He made his directorial debut with A Bronx tale in 1993. Subsequently, De Niro directed The Good Shepherd (2006) which centres on the origins of CIA and compromises associated with an agent. From 2010, De Niro started taking up supporting roles as it seemed his career experienced a slump as claimed by critics. However, in each of these roles he delivered master class performances. He is credited to Machete (2010), Limitless (2011), The family (2013), Grudge Match (2013) co-starring Sylvester Stallone, The Intern (2015) co-starring Anne Hathaway (2015), Dirty Grandpa (2016), Hands of stone (2016), The Wizard of Lies (2017) and produced When They See Us which gave him Emmy nomination as a producer.

Variety magazine in 2020 confirmed another De Niro and Scorsese collaboration which will feature Leonardo DiCaprio. The film is titled Killers of the Flower Moon, which marks the tenth Scorsese and De Niro collaboration. Trust me, I can’t wait to lay my eyes on the magic these two are about to bring to the world. 

De Niro has been recognized in his acting career as one of the best actors of his generation as he keeps transforming and refining his acting with each new role and advancement in age. In 2009, he was announced as one of the Kennedy Center Honorees. In 2016, De Niro received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from the then American president Barack Obama. Six of his films have been inducted into the U. S. National Film Registry as classics.

Robert De Niro’s wife

Robert De Niro is currently not married. His last wife was Grace Hightower an actress, and they separated in 2018 after twenty years of marriage. They married in 1997 and later had a split in 1999 after their son Elliot was born in 1998. They came together in 2004 and had a daughter Helen de Niro in 2011 through a surrogate. De Niro has six children. His first child was from actress Diahnne Abbot who he married in 1976. Raphael was born on November 9, 1976, his father adopted Diahnne Abbot’s daughter Drena from a previous marriage. Drena followed her parent’s footsteps to become an actress while Raphael had a change of career at adulthood from acting to a real estate broker. De Niro and Abbot divorced in 1998 and he started a relationship with model Toukie Smith which lasted from 1988 to 1996. In 1995, the couple welcomed twin sons, Julian and Aaron De Niro conceived via Invitro fertilization.

Robert De Niro’s house

Robert De Niro’s main residence is an estate in Gardiner New York which covers 98 acres and has another 6000-foot apartment in Manhattan with other properties scattered on the east and west side of Manhattan. He co-owns Tribeca Grill alongside Stewart F-Lane, and co-own a chain of restaurants known as ‘Nobu’ restaurants.

Robert De Niro Net Worth

Robert De Niro has as estimate worth of $500 million though reports say his income may have experienced a nose-dive following covid-19 pandemic breakout and his wife’s demand for child support. His earnings are from his work on high grossing films and television appearances.

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