45 Facts About Robert De Niro, The Young "Vito Corleone" of The Godfather

Robert Di Niro made stage debut at the age of 10 and has won two Academy Awards. Here're 45 less known facts about him:

• Robert De Niro was born on August 17, 1943 in Manhattan, New York.
• His mother, Virginia Admiral, was a painter and poet and his father, Robert De Niro Sr. was an abstract expressionist painter and sculptor.
• Robert's parents were divorced when he was three and he lived with his mother in the Little Italy areas of Manhattan.
• His stage debut at age 10, when he played the Cowardly Lion in a school production of The Wizard of Oz.
• Growing up in Little Italy he was nicknamed "Bobby Milk" because of his very pale skin.
• He shares his birthday with Sean Penn.
• Robert dropped out of high scho at age 16 to pursue acting and studied acting at the Stella Adler Conservatory and Lee Strasberg's Actors Studio.
• Robert has been nominated for an Academy Award five times and has won twice for his role in The Godfather: Part 2 and Raging Bull.
  
• Robert De Niro and Marlon Brando are the only actors to win an Oscar for playing the same character, Vito Corleone.
• For his role in Raging Bull Robert gained about 60 pounds by eating loads of spaghetti and ice cream.
• He had to turn down a role in The Departed (2006) due to commitments with preparing The Good Shepherd (2006).
• After working with Scorsese in Mean Streets, De Niro went on to have a successful working relationship with him in films such as Taxi Driver (1976), New York, New York (1977), Raging Bull (1980), The King of Comedy (1983), Goodfellas (1990), Cape Fear (1991), and Casino (1995).
• He learnt to speak Sicilian for the role of Vito Corleone in The Godfather: Part II.
• Robert worked as cab driver to prepare for the role of Bickle.
• The famous scene where Bickle talks to himself in the mirror was completely made-up. The script simply suggested: 'Travis looks in the mirror'.
• He paid a dentist to mess up his teeth for the role of mad Max Cady in Cape Fear, then paid even more to get them sorted out.
• In 1987, De Niro was the President of the Jury at the 15th Moscow International Film Festival.
  
• Robert De Niro performed a lot of his own stunts during the filming of The Deer Hunter.
• In February 1998, during a film shoot in France, De Niro was taken in for questioning by French police over a prostitution ring.
• He married his first wife, Diahnne Abbott in 1976 and they have a son, Raphael, a former actor who works in New York real estate.
• Robert and Diahnne got a divorce in 1988.
• He also has twin sons conceived by in vitro fertilization and delivered by a surrogate mother in 1995, from a long relationship with former model Toukie Smith.
• The F-word is spoken 114 times during the Raging Bull, most during improvised scenes.
• The F-word in Goodfellas beats that with 296 curses.
• He was good friends with comedian John Belushi, who died of a drug overdose on March 5, 1982.
  
• Robert De Niro started the "awards show ribbon" tradition by wearing a green ribbon on his lapel at the 1981 Academy Awards. The ribbon was in remembrance of several African-American children who were victims of a serial killer in Atlanta, Georgia in 1980-1981.
• For Heat, Robert De Niro and Al Pacino were the director's first picks to star.
• Robert and Al Pacino spend less than 10 minutes of the entire 170-minute film in one another's presence.
• He is co-owner of a restaurant called "Rubicon" with director Francis Ford Coppola and actor/comedian Robin Williams. He also owns a restaurant called "Ago" in West Hollywood
• He received $35,000 for his Oscar-nominated performance in Taxi Driver (1976). His part in Little Fockers (2010) earned him $20 million.
• In 2002, he was inducted into the Italian-American Hall of Fame.
  
• He was voted the 34th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Entertainment Weekly.
• De Niro is notoriously press shy. When he gave an interview to Esquire magazine, the journalist was given a list of off topic subjects including politics and the actor's wine collection.
• For his role in Silver Linings Playbook, he said it was difficult for him to pretend to be a football fan as he is not really that much of a football person.
• In 1989 he formed his own production company. He named the production company TriBeCa Productions.
• Heat was filmed in 65 locations around Los Angeles and never used a sound stage.
• On screen brothers De Niro and Pesci lived and trained together while making Raging Bull.
• Robert De Niro considers himself a method actor. After he has signed on to play a role, he always spends a great deal of time researching or generating extensive backgrounds for each of his characters.
• He has gone on record as having publicly stated that his favorite actress to work with is Meryl Streep.
  
• In 2003 he was diagnosed with prostate cancer but made a full recovery.
• In 2011, De Niro supported the initiative A Logo for Human Rights. Its goal was to create an internationally recognized logo to support the global human rights movement.
• De Niro is a resolute supporter of the Democratic Party, and vocally supported Al Gore in the 2000 presidential election.
• In 2006, De Niro was asked whom he would like to see as President of the United States. De Niro responded, "Well, I think of two people: Hillary Clinton and Obama.
  
• Robert De Niro replaced Nicholas Cage in upcoming action film Killing Season, which also stars John Travolta with a dodgy accent.
• De Niro made his directorial debut with A Bronx Tale, which he dedicated to his dad.