Robert De Niro Wife, Children, Family, Height, Net Worth

If we had to describe Robert De Niro in one word, that word would be – LEGENDARY! A veteran in Hollywood, Niro continues to earn big in recent years. Some of his early films including Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, The Godfather Part II, Goodfellas, and many more remain favorite films of many.

Niro is one of those actors who has made it as a producer and director, he has gone from producing actors to making notable movies and even opening branches outside of Hollywood to build sustainable businesses. His career is certainly to be envied and he doesn’t even show signs of slowing down.

Robert De Niro Facts/Bio

Robert Anthony De Niro was born August 17, 1943, in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, New York, to paint parents who divorced when he was just 2 years old. His passion for acting developed quite early and he started taking free acting lessons through his mother’s employment at Maria Piscator’s Dramatic Workshop.

Rob attended many high schools but did not graduate from one, choosing instead to pursue a career in acting. With the support of his mother, Robert attended Lee Strasberg’s Actors Studio, where he honed his acting skills.

He started auditioning for roles in the 1960s and his first film would be The Wedding Party for which he won $50. Over the years, Niro’s chances of becoming a star have increased. The turning point in his career came when he won acclaim for his role in Bang the Drum Slowly. It then became a fixture in Martin Scorsese films, starting with Mean Streets.

His role as a young Vito Corleone in Francis Ford’s The Godfather II by Coppola became his starring role, earning him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. The rest, as they say, is history. Niro credits his ability to effectively portray Italian gangster and other related roles to his teenage years when he was part of a rather innocuous Italian street gang.

Net worth: $200 million

Simply put, Robert De Niro is a Hollywood mogul. He started earning millions of dollars per role from the mid-90s. He earned around $14 million for Ronin (1998) and $8 million for Analyze This (1999).

These numbers increased at the start of the new millennium. For the latter’s sequel, Analyze That (2002), Niro grossed $20 million, a figure that has become customary for him. He earned the same amount for recent films like Meet the Fockers (2004) and its 2010 sequel, Little Fockers.

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His exorbitant earnings have since landed him on the radar of online magazines such as Forbes, which once estimated his earnings between 2002 and 2004 at more than $80 million. Forbes calculations reveal that Robert De Niro made more than $100 million in revenue between 2009 and 2012.

But as any staunch Best Actor devotee already knows, Robert’s massive net worth stems not only from his gigs, but also from his behind-the-scenes actions.

He is co-owner of TriBeCa Productions, which runs the world famous and hugely popular Tribeca Film Festival, which generates $600 million in annual revenue.

In the non-Hollywood sector, Robert De Niro is a major investor in luxury hotels.

He is the owner of the Greenwich hotel in Manhattan which counts many celebrities among its customers. The Locanda Verde restaurant, also owned by Rob, is operated inside the hotel. His other restaurant, the Tribeca Grill, is jointly owned by several people.

Additionally, Niro has hotels scattered around the world including: The Wellington Hotel in London and a luxury resort in Nobu Manila, Philippines.

Over the past few years, Robert De Niro has collaborated with Australian billionaire James Packer (ex-fiancé of Mariah Carey) to create a 250 million dollar project – Paradise Found, a luxury hotel in Barbuda.

Robert lives like a king in his 78 acre Gardiner located in New York. He also owns several other private properties in New York.

Robert De Niro’s family: wife, children

Niro has been married twice in his life. His first marriage came in 1976 to Diahnne Abbott, an actress and singer who starred alongside Niro in Taxi Driver. Their marriage survived just over a decade as they finalized their divorce in 1988.

The union between Niro and Abbott produced a son named Raphel, who briefly followed in his parents’ footsteps to become an actor, but later changed careers to become a real estate developer.

Robert’s next romantic relationship was with model Toukie Smith. Although they were never married, they had twin sons named Aaron Kendrick and Julian Henry de Niro, obtained through in vitro fertilization and delivered via surrogate.

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Grace Hightower, an occasional actress and businesswoman heavily involved in charity. Although they married in 1997, Robert had known Hightower for 10 years after meeting her in 1987 at a restaurant named Mr. Chow in London, where Hightower worked as a hostess.

Their wedding took place at Niro’s house in Marbletown. A year after their marriage, the couple welcomed a son named Elliot. However, their marriage became rocky in 1999 and Niro was granted a divorce.

During the difficult custody battle over their one-year-old son Elliott, allegations of physical abuse and drug abuse were revealed to be one of the reasons for the divorce.

Ultimately, the divorce was never finalized, with the couple renewing their vows in 2004. They expanded their family with the birth of their daughter Helen Grace in 2011, by surrogate.

This brings the number of Robert De Niro biological children up to 5 years old: one from first wife, twins from surrogate with model Smith and two with Hightower. However, the number increases to 6 with the addition of Drena De Niro, daughter of his first wife, Abbott, from a previous relationship that Niro adopted after marrying her.

Niro’s son with Hightower Elliot was diagnosed with autism. The actor made the revelation in March 2016 following the controversy that followed the choice to screen Vaxxed at the Tribeca Film Festival. The documentary told how there was a link between vaccination and autism.

De Niro’s wife, Grace Hightower, may be an occasional actress, but she’s very into business. She owns a café that sources beans from Rwanda.

Height: 5 feet 9 inches (1.77m)