Danny DeVito: Biography
Born November 17, 1944, in Ashbury Park, NJ, DeVito had a Catholic school upbringing and started his career as a cosmetician in his sister's beauty parlor. Working under the name "Mr. Danny," DeVito decided to enter New York's American Academy of Dramatic Arts for the purpose of acquiring additional makeup expertise
With his diminutive stature, balding head, and broad Jersey accent, Danny DeVito is one of Hollywood's most successful character actors. Specializing in comic supporting roles, DeVito has made an art out of playing endearingly loathsome little men.
Danny DeVito: Career
He made his feature film debut as a bit player in the 1967 film Dreams of Glass and appeared in an Off-Off-Broadway production of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest in the early 1970s. The play led to his breakthrough film role, as he reprised his stage role in the 1975 film version, starring Jack Nicholson and directed by Milos Forman.
From 1978 to 1983, DeVito gained widespread recognition as New York cabbie Louie DiPalma in the hit sitcom Taxi. He matched that success on the big screen in the mid-1980s, with hilarious supporting turns in Romancing the Stone (1984) and its sequel Jewel of the Nile (1985)—both films starred DeVito’s AADA classmate and close friend Michael Douglas, along with Kathleen Turner—as well as in Ruthless People (1986), co-starring Bette Midler. Soon, DeVito had perfected the art of making sleazy, egotistical characters strangely sympathetic—he reprised similar roles in Tin Men (1987), Twins (1988), co-starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Other People’s Money (1991), Batman Returns (1992), The Rainmaker (1997), and L.A. Confidential (1997).
DeVito made his feature directorial debut in 1987 with Throw Momma From the Train, co-starring Billy Crystal.
Danny DeVito: Films
Bette Midler - The Divine Bette Midler (2005), Relative Strangers (2005), Be Cool (2005), Big Fish (2003), Anything Else (2003), Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002), Death to Smoochy (2002), Heist (2001), What's The Worst That Could Happen? (2001), Screwed (2000), The Big Kahuna (2000), The Virgin Suicides (2000), Drowning Mona (2000), Man on the Moon (1999), The Pentagon Wars (1998), Living Out Loud (1998), Out of Sight (1998), The John Grisham's The Rainmaker (1997), L.A. Confidential (1997), Hercules (1997), The Mogul (1996), Mars Attacks! (1996), Space Jam (1996), Matilda (1996), Get Shorty (1995), Junior (1994), Renaissance Man (1994), Look Who's Talking Now (1993), Jack the Bear (1993), Hoffa (1992), Batman Returns (1992), Other People's Money (1991), The War of the Roses (1989), Twins (1988),
Throw Momma From the Train (1987), Tin Men (1987), Ruthless People (1986), Wise Guys (1986), Head Office (1986), The Jewel of the Nile (1985), The Ratings Game (1984), Johnny Dangerously (1984), Romancing the Stone (1984), Terms of Endearment (1983), Going Ape! (1981), Goin' South (1978), The Van (1977), The Pom Pom Girls (1976), Atlantic City Jackpot (1975), One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), Hurry Up or I'll Be Thirty (1973)
