Danny DeVito

Danny DeVito
Danny DeVito attending the "Beverly Hills Film Festival" 9 April 2008
Born	Daniel Michael DeVito, Jr. November 17, 1944 (1944-11-17) (age 64) Neptune, New Jersey, U.S.
Spouse(s)	Rhea Perlman (January 28, 1982 - present) 3 children.
Awards won Emmy Awards Outstanding Supporting Actor - Comedy Series 1981 Taxi Golden Globe Awards Best TV Actor in a Supporting Role 1980 Taxi

Daniel Michael "Danny" DeVito, Jr. (born November 17, 1944) is an American actor, director and producer, who first gained prominence for his portrayal of "Louie De Palma" on the popular ABC and NBC TV series Taxi (1978–1983). In 2006 he began co-starring as Frank Reynolds on the FX sitcom It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

Biography

Early life

DeVito was born in Neptune, New Jersey, the son of Julia, a homemaker, and Daniel Michael DeVito, Sr., who owned several small businesses, including a dry cleaning store, a dairy outlet, a luncheonette, and a pool hall.^[1][2] He is of Italian ancestry and was raised as a Catholic^[3] and grew up in Asbury Park.^[4] He boarded at Oratory Preparatory School, in Summit, New Jersey, graduating in 1961. He married actress Rhea Perlman on January 28, 1982.

Career

Main article: Danny DeVito filmography

DeVito played "Martini" in the movie One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (reprising his role from the 1971 off-Broadway play). DeVito gained fame in 1978 on the hit TV show Taxi as Louie De Palma, the dispatcher for the Sunshine Cab Company. After Taxi ended, DeVito continued what became a successful movie career, beginning with a role in 1983's Terms of Endearment (in an almost walk-on role) and the comic rogue in the romantic adventure Romancing the Stone, starring Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner. All three reprised their roles in the 1985 sequel, The Jewel of the Nile. In 1986, he was in Ruthless People with Bette Midler and Judge Reinhold. In 1987, DeVito made his feature directing debut on dark comedy Throw Momma from the Train, in which he additionally starred, opposite Billy Crystal and Anne Ramsey. Two years later DeVito reunited with Douglas and Turner to direct and star with them in The War of the Roses.

Other notable work during this time includes Other People's Money with legend Gregory Peck, director Barry Levinson's Tin Men as a competitive salesman to Richard Dreyfuss, two co-starring vehicles with Arnold Schwarzenegger, the comedies Twins and Junior, and the villain The Penguin in director Tim Burton's Batman Returns (1992). It is said that Jack Nicholson convinced DeVito to play The Penguin since Nicholson enjoyed great success as The Joker in the original Batman from 1989. Rather than portraying The Penguin as a suave and sophisticated gangster as he was in the comics, DeVito portrayed the Penguin as a deformed psychopath.

Although generally a comic actor, DeVito expanded into drama with such movies as Renaissance Man (1994) as Army Professor Bill Rago; The Rainmaker, (1997) as Deck Shifflet, a former insurance assessor; Hoffa (1992), which he directed and in which he co-starred with Jack Nicholson; L.A. Confidential as a sleazy reporter (1997); The Big Kahuna as compassionate salesman Phil Cooper (1999); and Heist (2001), as a gangster nemesis to Gene Hackman. In 1999, DeVito hosted the last Saturday Night Live episode before the year 2000.

DeVito grew up with a great passion for documentaries. And so in 2006, he began a partnership with Morgan Freeman's company ClickStar, where he hosts a documentary channel called Jersey Docs.

In addition to acting, DeVito has become a major film and television producer. Through his production company, Jersey Films, he has produced many movies, including Pulp Fiction, Get Shorty, Erin Brockovich (for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture), Gattaca, and Garden State. DeVito has also produced the Comedy Central series Reno 911!.

In 1999, DeVito produced and co-starred in Man On The Moon, a movie about the unusual life of his former Taxi co-star, Andy Kaufman. DeVito has directed six motion pictures, Throw Momma From the Train (1987), The War of the Roses (1989), Hoffa (1992), Matilda (1996), Death to Smoochy (2002), Duplex (2003), and Deck the Halls (2006)

His films tend to have a bizarre, neo-surrealistic sensibility and gallows humor, though this was absent in the straightforward Hoffa biopic. This approach served him well at times, especially in The War of the Roses which was a commercial and critical success, as well as Matilda where it matched the style of Roald Dahl's witty story; however his last two films have not been anywhere as successful.^[5]

In addition to his Taxi work, DeVito has voiced Herb Powell, Homer Simpson's half-brother, on two episodes of The Simpsons. He earned a 2004 Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series, an episode of Friends, following four Emmy nominations (including a 1981 win) for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy, for Taxi. In 2006, DeVito joined the cast of the FX Networks television series It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia as Frank Reynolds.

In 1997 he was the voice of the goatman named Philoctetes from the 1997 film Hercules.

Personal life

DeVito is married to actress Rhea Perlman, who played his wife in Matilda. They have three children: Lucy Chet DeVito (born March 1983), Grace Fan DeVito (born March 1985) and Jacob Daniel DeVito (born October 1987). DeVito and his family live in Beverly Hills, California. He is an outspoken Democrat. He is a supporter of the OneVoice Movement, a non-profit organization that strives to empower moderate Israelis and Palestinians to take a more assertive role in resolving their conflict. DeVito has stated that despite websites such as iMDb stated that he is a vegetarian, he does infact consume meat.^[6]

DeVito has part of his family living in New Canaan, CT. DeVito co-owns a restaurant named DeVito South Beach, in Miami Beach, Florida. His daughter Lucy DeVito starred as Anne Frank in a production of Anne Frank at the INTIMAN Theatre in Seattle, Washington in 2008.

References

External links

• Danny DeVito at the Internet Movie Database
• Danny DeVito at TV.com
• Danny DeVito's Guest DJ Set on KCRW [KCRW Guest DJ Set]