Danny Devito Biography

CIVIL STATUS
Careers Actor, Producer, Director more
Birth Name Daniel Michael DeVito Jr.
Nationality American
Born 17 November 1944 (Asbury Park, New Jersey – United States)
BIOGRAPHY
One of Hollywood’s most discreet but influential actors, directors and producers, Danny DeVito took his first steps in front of the camera in 1969 in the drama Dream of Glass, before leaving to study film at New York’s Academy of Dramatic Arts. It was there that he met the director Martin Brest, also a student at the time, who directed him in 1972 alongside Rhea Perlman (his future wife) in the student film Hot dog for Gaugin.

It was in 1975 that the actor revealed himself to the world in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, where he played one of the inmates of the psychiatric institution, Jack Nicholson’s companion. A year later, he tried his hand at directing, first for the TV movie Selling of Vince d’Angelo, then for the TV series Taxi, in which he played an acerbic taxi driver.

In the 1980s, Danny DeVito rose to prominence when he collaborated three times with Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner on the adventure films The Hunt for the Green Diamond (1984), The Diamond of the Nile (1985) and the wedding comedy The War of the Roses (1989). Now a star in his own right, the diminutive comic actor starred alongside Billy Crystal in 1987 in his first feature film entitled Balance Mom Off the Train.

He is remembered by the general public for playing Arnold Schwarzenegger’s twin brother in the action comedy Twins (1988) and the terrifying Penguin in Tim Burton’s Batman: The Challenge (1992). Danny DeVito also likes to collaborate with the same partners: Jack Nicholson, whom he directed in Hoffa (1992) and with whom he played opposite in Mars Attacks! (1996); Arnold Schwarzenegger, pregnant in the comedy Junior (1994); and Gene Hackman, with whom he filmed the thrillers Get Shorty (1995) and Heists (2002).

From the 90s onwards, Danny DeVito chose to vary genres, appearing as a tabloid journalist in the crime film L.A. confidential (1997), as Matt Damon’s lawyer in the trial film The Idealist (1998), as a doctor in the drama The Virgin Suicides (1999), as Jim Carrey’s manager in the biographical film Man on the Moon (2000) and as a circus director in the dreamlike Big Fish (2004).

However, he did not forget his favourite genre, comedy, directing the Ben Stiller / Drew Barrymore duo in 1 Duplex for 3 (2003), the story of a couple wishing to buy a house to the point of wanting to get rid of their current tenant. Danny then starred in the sitcom Philadelphia as Frank. He has been playing this character since 2006. The latest season is the 14th.

The actor regularly appears in film comedies such as My Real Father and I, The Good Night or It Was in Rome. In 2016, the actor co-starred with Robert De Niro in The Comedian, a portrait of an aging comedian. Three years later, he co-starred with Danny Glover in the blockbuster Jumanji Next Level. He also reunites with his partner Tim Burton in Dumbo, the live-action adaptation of the Disney classic.