Robert De Niro Trivia | 60 facts about the actor

Robert De Niro is an American actor, who is considered to be one of the most influential actors of his generation.

Let’s find out more about the actor!

1. He and Martin Scorsese were brought up blocks apart in the Greenwich Village area of Manhattan, but never formally met when they were young.
2. When introduced at a party in 1972, the two came to realize that they had seen each other many times but had never spoken.
3. Spent four months learning to speak the Sicilian dialect in order to play Vito Corleone in The Godfather, Part II (1974). Nearly all the dialogue that his character spoke in the movie was in Sicilian.
4. 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.
5. Growing up in the Little Italy section of New York City, his nickname was “Bobby Milk” because he was so thin and as pale as milk.
6. Rarely does interviews and is known as one of the most ultra-private celebrities. He was the subject of a late 1990s interview (and cover photo) for Esquire magazine. Most of the article focused on how guarded he is with his personal life, what few details are known about him, what rumors are speculated while only a minority of the article dealt with the actual interview itself.
7. The writer noted that while the interview was ultimately agreed upon, he was given a substantial list of off-limit subjects not to ask De Niro about. They included: politics, religion, his family, his reported interest in fine wines, and so on.
8. He is the second actor to receive an Academy Award for portraying Vito Corleone. He and Marlon Brando were the first two actors to receive an Academy Award for playing the same character.
9. Son of painter Virginia Admiral and abstract expressionist Robert De Niro Sr.. Despite being raised Presbyterian, Virginia was an atheist for most of Robert’s childhood. Robert Sr. was raised Catholic but was not religious in any way. After De Niro was born, his father Robert Sr. came out as a homosexual and eventually divorced Robert’s mother.
10. Accidentally broke a rib of Joe Pesci in a sparring scene in Raging Bull (1980). This shot appears in the film: De Niro hits Pesci in the side, Pesci groans, and there is a quick cut to another angle.
11. He was originally cast in the role of Bill the Butcher in Gangs of New York (2002), but pulled out when he discovered this would mean spending six months in Europe and was replaced by Daniel Day-Lewis.
12. He first discovered his love for acting at age 10 when he portrayed the Cowardly Lion in a local production of “The Wizard of Oz”. He dropped out of high school to join a gang.
13. He was considered for the role of Harry Line in Home Alone (1990), which went to his good friend Joe Pesci.
14. For the role of Max Cady in Cape Fear (1991), he paid a dentist $5,000 to make his teeth look suitably bad. After filming, he paid $20,000 to have them fixed. For this film, he was tattooed with vegetable dyes, which faded after a few months.
15. Has said that Meryl Streep is his favorite actress to work with.
16. Limousine drivers in Los Angeles joke about his less than generous tips by referring to him as “No Dinero”.
17. Unlike Marlon Brando, who preceded him as Don Vito Corleone, he actually has Italian ancestry in his background. He and Brando both have Dutch ancestry.
18. Very good friends with Joe Pesci. They appeared together in seven films.
19. Underwent surgery for prostate cancer at New York’s Sloan-Kettering Hospital. The cancer has now gone into remission. (December 2003)
20. As of the fifth edition of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die (edited by Steven Jay Schneider), De Niro is the most represented actor, by 14 films. Included are the De Niro films.
21. Is one of five performers to win an Oscar playing a character that spoke mostly in a foreign language. The other are Sophia Loren, Marion Cotillard, Roberto Benigni and Benicio Del Toro.
22. Became a father for the fifth time at age 68 when his daughter Helen Grace De Niro with second wife Grace Hightower was born via a surrogate in December 2011.
23. In 1984, British pop group Bananarama had a song dedicated to him called “Robert De Niro’s Waiting”.
24. Robert 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.
25. After marrying Diahnne Abbott he adopted her daughter Drena De Niro, Abbott’s daughter from her previous marriage. Drena refuses to identify her biological father. He also has son Raphael De Niro born 1977with Abbott.
26. 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.
27. 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.
28. 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.
29. The ribbon was given to him by a fan in the bleachers as he arrived; the victims’ families had been wearing them for months.
30. At age 17, after leaving the movies with a friend, he unexpectedly stated that he was going to be a film actor. No one believed him until he dropped out of his senior year of high school and joined Stella Adler’s acting school.
31. After being caught up in a Paris prostitution ring investigation, he, denying any involvement, vowed never to return to France again (1998).
32. He based the movement of his character Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver (1976) on that of a crab. He thought the character was indirect and tended to shift from side to side.
33. President of the jury at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.
34. When they met shortly before making Mean Streets (1973) De Niro and Harvey Keitel became fast friends. De Niro was from Greenwich Village in Manhattan and was taught by Stella Adler and Keitel was from the Brighton Beach area of Brooklyn and was mainly mentored by Lee Strasberg. But the two guarded actors bonded and remain close to this day.
35. Co-owns the Rubicon restaurant in San Francisco with Bay area residents Francis Ford Coppola and Robin Williams. Much of his father Robert De Niro Sr.’s art work adorns the walls of the business. He also owns a restaurant in West Hollywood, Ago, and co-owns several restaurants in New York, including Nobu (with stakeholders Nobu Matsuhisa and Meir Teper) and Layla.
36. Since 1994, De Niro, Matsuhisa and Teper have expanded to own over 40 restaurants and 18 hotels in North and South America, Europe, Mexico and the Caribbean, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Australia.
37. Was voted the No. #2 greatest movie star of all time in a Channel 4 (UK) poll, narrowly being beaten by Al Pacino.
38. Became a father for the second and third time at age 52 when his twins Julian Henry and Aaron Kendrick De Niro with [now ex] partner Toukie Smith were born via a surrogate on October 20, 1995.
39. Speaks fluent Italian and French.
40. Became a father for the first time at age 33 when his [now ex] wife Diahnne Abbott gave birth to their son Raphael De Niro on November 9, 1976.
41. As of 2020, he has appeared in 11 films that were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar.
42. 29 years later, The Irishman and Joker were also released in the same year.
43. Played a real-life CIA director in the good shepherd (2006) and another real-life CIA agent in Ronin (1998), as well as a fictional CIA agent in Meet the parents (2000).
44. His performance as Jake LaMotta in Raging Bull (1980) is ranked #10 on Premiere magazine’s 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006).
45. First guest to appear on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (2009) on March 2, 2009.
46. He visited Michael Jackson on the set of filming the “Smooth Criminal” segment for Moonwalker (1988). Also visiting the set was Gregory Peck, and Bruce Willis.
47. Has been a close friend of Bruce Springsteen since 1975.
48. At the 31st AFI Life Achievement Awards, Jodie Foster credited De Niro with introducing her to the true craft of acting.
49. During production of Taxi Driver (1976), he would insist that they’d meet for coffee and rehearse their scenes from together at a local diner. After a while, Jodie became bored of the routine until De Niro began improvising lines during their rehearsals. Jodie soon learned to follow his improv as he weaved back and forth to the original script, in essence teaching her how to effectively build a character.
50. Shares a birthday with friend and sometime-co-star Sean Penn.
51. The Godfather (1972) predicts both of his Oscar-winning roles. In a scene with Vito Corleone, a poster advertising a Jake LaMotta fight can be seen.
52. 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.
53. 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).
54. Had a long-term relationship with fashion model Toukie Smith, sister of the late fashion designer Willi Smith. They have twins sons together.
55. When he was a child, he was an avid reader of playwrights.
56. Was unable to accept his first Academy Award in 1975 due to filming commitments to Bernardo Bertolucci’s 1900 (1976).
57. He organized the first Tribeca Film Festival in May 2002. He intended to revitalize the Lower Manhattan area after the September 11 attacks.
58. His boyhood idols among actors included Montgomery Clift, Robert Mitchum and Marlon Brando. He preferred the darker, more character-driven work of these men to the older stars of Hollywood, for whom their public persona as a star was more important than their immersion into the character.
59. In 1988 he and Jane Rosenthal founded Tribeca production company which develops projects for him to produce, direct or appear in.
60. He formed his own production company, Tribeca Film Center (1989).