Robert Anthony De Niro was born on August 17, 1943, in Manhattan's Greenwich Village neighborhood.1)
He is the son of Robert De Niro Sr. and Virginia Admiral.2)
His parents were both artists; his father was half Italian and half Irish, while his mother was half German with French, English, and Dutch ancestors. They divorced not too long after. 3)
His mother raised him in Manhattan's Greenwich Village and Little Italy neighborhoods. His father lived nearby, and De Niro spent a lot of time with him as a child.4)
His mother was reared Presbyterian but later became an atheist, while his father had been a lapsed Catholic since the age of 12.5)
De Niro started high school at the exclusive McBurney School and then transferred to the prestigious Rhodes Preparatory School, although he never graduated from either.6)
De Niro, nicknamed “Bobby Milk” for his pallor, hung out with a gang of homeless kids in Little Italy as a child, some of whom have remained lifelong friends.7)
His stage debut at the age of ten, when he played the Cowardly Lion in a school production of The Wizard of Oz, predicted the direction of his career.8)
He was obsessed with movies and dropped out of high school at the age of 16 to pursue acting, as well as seeking relief from shyness via performance.9)
He attended the Stella Adler Conservatory and Lee Strasberg's Actors Studio.10)
In 2006, he obtained an Italian passport. Despite substantial resistance from the American-Italian community, the Prime Minister gave him Italian citizenship on behalf of the Italian Republic.11)
He shares the same birthday as Sean Penn.12)
Robert had seven Academy Award nominations and two wins for his roles in The Godfather: Part 2 and Raging Bull.13)
Only Robert De Niro and Marlon Brando have won an Oscar for portraying the same character, Vito Corleone.14)
Since 1973, Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro have worked together on nine films: Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, New York, New York, Raging Bull, The King of Comedy, Goodfellas, The Irishman, Cape Fear, and Casino.15)
De Niro founded the Tribeca Film Festival in May 2002 with the goal of revitalizing Lower Manhattan following the September 11th attacks.16)
He declined the part of Jesus in The Last Temptation of Christ. It was later passed on to Willem Dafoe.17)
Due to commitments with The Good Shepherd, he had to decline a role in The Departed (2006).18)
De Niro presided over the jury at the 15th Moscow International Film Festival in 1987.19)
During the production of The Deer Hunter, he did a lot of his own stunts.20)
During a film shoot in France in February 1998, De Niro was detained by French authorities and questioned about a prostitution network.21)
In 1976, he married his first wife, Diahnne Abbott, and they have a son, Raphael, who is a former actor who works in real estate in New York. In 1988, Robert and Diahnne divorced.22)
He also has twin kids from a lengthy relationship with former model Toukie Smith, who were produced through in vitro fertilization and delivered by a surrogate mother in 1995.23)
De Niro married his second wife, actress Grace Hightower, at their Marbletown home in 1997. Elliot was born in 1998, and the couple divorced in 1999. The divorce was never formalized, and they rekindled their vows in 2004.24)
De Niro has four grandkids, one from his daughter Drena and three from his son Raphael, in addition to his six children.25)
On March 25, 2016, De Niro revealed that his son, Elliot, has autism, which explains his interest in its origins and treatment.26)
In October 2003, it was revealed that De Niro had been diagnosed with prostate cancer. In December 2003, he underwent surgery at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.27)
He knew comic John Belushi, who died of a heroin overdose on March 5, 1982.28)
Entertainment Weekly named him the 34th Greatest Movie Star of All Time.29)
He admitted that it was tough for him to appear to be a football fan for his character in Silver Linings Playbook because he is not a football enthusiast.30)