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Joseph Frank Pesci (, ; born February 9, 1943) is an American actor, comedian and musician. He is best known for portraying tough, volatile characters, in a variety of genres, and for his collaborations with Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro, in the films Raging Bull (1980), Goodfellas (1990), Casino (1995), and The Irishman (2019). He has received several awards including an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award with nominations for three Golden Globe Awards.
He also appeared in Once Upon a Time in America (1984), Moonwalker (1988), JFK (1991), A Bronx Tale (1993), and The Good Shepherd (2006). Pesci is also known for his comic roles in Home Alone (1990) and (1992), My Cousin Vinny (1992), and the Lethal Weapon franchise (1989–1998).
Pesci won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as the gangster character Tommy DeVito in Goodfellas and received two other nominations in the same category for his portrayals of Joey LaMotta and Russell Bufalino in Raging Bull and The Irishman, respectively. He retired from acting in 1999, but has periodically returned to act since then.
Pesci is also a musician who has recorded three studio albums: Little Joe Sure Can Sing! (1968), Vincent LaGuardia Gambini Sings Just for You (1998), and Pesci... Still Singing (2019).
By the time Pesci was five years old he was appearing in plays in New York. At age 10 he was a regular on a television variety show called Startime Kids, which also featured Connie Francis. As an entertainer from Belleville, he was acquainted with guitarist Tommy DeVito of The Four Lovers, a novelty act from Belleville that included singer Frankie Valli; Pesci also knew keyboardist Bob Gaudio of The Royal Teens. Pesci introduced Gaudio to DeVito and Valli in 1958, which led to the formation of the band The Four Seasons. Pesci and DeVito remained friends for the rest of DeVito's life; when DeVito fell on hard times in the 1970s following his resignation from the Four Seasons, Pesci placed DeVito on his personal payroll, and arranged for him to make cameos in some of his films in the 1990s.
Pesci was childhood friends with American Mafia figure Robert Bisaccia. Iconic 'Goodfella' Robert Bisaccia dies in prison Chanta L. Jackson, NJ.com (December 4, 2008)
In 1968, he released his debut album Little Joe Sure Can Sing! (billed as Joe Ritchie), on which he sang covers of contemporary pop hits.
Pesci later joined Frank Vincent as a Double act, performing as "Vincent and Pesci" from 1970 to 1976. Their act coupled Abbott and Costello-inspired double act antics with Don Rickles-style insult comedy, which proved popular with crowds. During this time, the pair developed a strong professional and personal friendship. In 1975, they appeared in the Broadway show The New Vaudevillians, which only lasted one week.
The first film Pesci starred in was the 1976 Low-budget film crime film The Death Collector alongside Frank Vincent. After the film Pesci returned to The Bronx and lived above Amici's Restaurant, where he was an employee.
Pesci won the BAFTA Film Award for Newcomer to Leading Film Roles in 1981 and was nominated for an Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor. Over the next few years, Pesci appeared in several smaller films, including Dear Mr. Wonderful (1982), Eureka (1983) and Easy Money (1983).
In 1984, he was cast in Once Upon a Time in America, again appearing alongside De Niro. The following year he starred as private detective Rocky Nelson in the short-lived television comedy series Half Nelson.
In 1988, Pesci appeared in the Michael Jackson musical anthology film Moonwalker, in the film's sixth and longest segment, "Smooth Criminal". He played the antagonist, crime boss Frankie "Mr. Big" LiDeo (an anagram for one of the film's producers and longtime Jackson manager Frank DiLeo, with whom Pesci later acted in Goodfellas).
He appeared as Leo Getz, a comedic sidekick and best friend to protagonist detectives Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson) and Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover) in the Lethal Weapon sequels, released in 1989, 1992 and 1998.
In 1990, he reunited with Scorsese and De Niro for Goodfellas, in which he played mobster Tommy DeVito, based on real-life mobster Thomas DeSimone. Tommy DeVito was also the name of Pesci's old acquaintance from Belleville, New Jersey, and a member of The Four Seasons, but contrary to popular belief, the naming is coincidental. Pesci's old friend Frank Vincent also appears in the film. Pesci's character kills Vincent's character in a rage in one of the best-remembered scenes in the film after the Vincent character contemptuously tells him to "go home and get your fucking shine box". According to Pesci, improvisation and ad-libbing came out of rehearsals, where Scorsese let the actors do whatever they wanted. He made transcripts of these sessions, took the lines the actors came up with that he liked best, and put them into a revised script that the cast worked from during principal photography.
For example, the scene where Tommy tells a story and Henry is responding to him—the "Funny how? Do I amuse you?" scene—is based on an actual event that Pesci experienced. He was waiting tables when he thought he made a compliment to a mobster by saying he was "funny", which was not taken well. It was worked on in rehearsals where he and Liotta improvised, and Scorsese recorded four to five takes, rewrote their dialogue, and inserted it into the script. The dinner scene with Tommy's mother was largely improvised. Pesci received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the role, which he accepted with one of the shortest speeches in Oscar history, saying simply, "It's my privilege. Thank you" before leaving the stage.
Pesci also co-starred in the blockbuster Home Alone in 1990, his character Harry Lime one of two bumbling burglars - along with Daniel Stern as Marv Murchins - who attempt to burgle the house of an eight-year-old played by Macaulay Culkin. Pesci's use of "cartoon cursing", or menacing gibberish, garnered comparisons to Looney Tunes character Yosemite Sam. Pesci reprised his role in a sequel (1992).
In 1991, Pesci played David Ferrie in JFK. In 1992, he appeared as the title character in the comedy My Cousin Vinny with Ralph Macchio, Marisa Tomei and Fred Gwynne. During the same year Pesci headed up the cast of The Public Eye as Leon "Bernzy" Bernstein, a photographer. His performance in the film, a departure from his usual characters, has been critically acclaimed.
Pesci hosted the sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live on October 10, 1992, while doing publicity for My Cousin Vinny. During his monologue, in response to Sinéad O'Connor tearing a picture of Pope John Paul II on the previous broadcast in protest of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, he described how he wished to give her "such a smack".
In 1993, Pesci made an appearance in A Bronx Tale as Carmine. The film starred Robert De Niro, who also directed, and Chazz Palminteri, who wrote the play from which the film was adapted. Both De Niro and Palminteri personally offered Pesci the role. In 1995, Pesci had his third collaboration with Scorsese and De Niro in the film Casino, playing Nicky Santoro, based on real-life Mob enforcer Anthony Spilotro, along with Sharon Stone and James Woods; Pesci had previously co-starred with the latter in Once Upon a Time in America. During filming, Pesci broke the same rib that had been broken 15 years prior during the production of Raging Bull. In 1996, Pesci was considered to play Myron Larabee, the stressed-out postman, in Jingle All the Way opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger, but the part was ultimately given to Sinbad, whose physical size was more comparable to Schwarzenegger's.
He had starring roles in several other films, including Man on Fire (1987), The Super (1991), Jimmy Hollywood (1994), With Honors (also 1994) and Gone Fishin' (1997). Pesci's role in With Honors was a dramatic role in which he played a homeless man living on the campus of Harvard.
Pesci appeared with Don Rickles, with whom he had worked in Casino, in a 2011 Snickers advertisement in which he portrays the angry alter ego of a young man who attends a party and becomes agitated by two women until he is calmed down by eating a Snickers bar.
In 2011, Pesci sued Fiore Films, the producers of the film Gotti, saying they had broken their promise to cast him in the film as real-life mobster Angelo Ruggiero. Pesci stated that he had gained for the role. He sued them for $3 million, which was the payment he had been promised. The lawsuit was settled out of court in 2013 for an unspecified sum, and the role, after many production delays, eventually went to Pruitt Taylor Vince.
Pesci appears in the 2016 music documentary Jimmy Scott: I Go Back Home, in which he is filmed recording "The Folks Who Live on the Hill" from Scott's 2017 posthumous album I Go Back Home.
Following The Irishman, Pesci co-starred in Pete Davidson's comedy series Bupkis and appeared in Jack Huston's directorial debut Day of the Fight, both released in 2023.
His first marriage was in January 1964. His second marriage was from 1988 to 1992, to Claudia Haro, a model and actress. They have one child, a daughter. In 2000, Pesci started dating Angie Everhart. They became engaged in 2007 but broke up in 2008.
Musical
In 1998, he released his second album and his first in 30 years, Vincent LaGuardia Gambini Sings Just for You which was named after his character from the 1992 film My Cousin Vinny. The album was both humorous and serious, exploring a variety of genres, though most of it was big band jazz. The album spawned the single "Wise Guy", a rap number that played on the gangsta rap theme by making reference to American Mafia gangsterism. "Wise Guy" interpolated the 1980 hit "Rapture" by Blondie, and was co-written and produced by the hip-hop production team the Trackmasters.
Semi-retirement from acting
In 1999, Pesci retired from acting to pursue a musical career and to enjoy life away from the camera. He returned to acting when he did a cameo appearance in De Niro's 2006 film The Good Shepherd. In 2010, he starred in the brothel drama Love Ranch alongside Helen Mirren.
Reprise for The Irishman and subsequent roles
In 2017, Pesci was cast alongside Robert De Niro and Al Pacino in The Irishman, a crime film directed by Martin Scorsese. Pesci was offered his role a reported 50 times before agreeing to take part, at first saying he did not want to do "the gangster thing again," while Scorsese tried to persuade him The Irishman would be "different." The film received a limited theatrical release on November 1, 2019, followed by digital streaming on November 27, 2019, by Netflix. Pesci's performance as Russell Bufalino was critically acclaimed and earned him various accolades, including nominations for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, the BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor and for two Screen Actors Guild Awards. Pesci also returned to music with his third album and his first in 21 years, titled Pesci... Still Singing, released on November 29, 2019.
Personal life
Pesci has been married and divorced three times.
Works
Film
1961 Hey, Let's Twist! Dancer At The Peppermint Lounge Uncredited 1976 The Death Collector Joe Salvino 1980 Raging Bull Joey LaMotta 1982 I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can Roger Dear Mr. Wonderful Ruby Dennis 1983 Eureka Mayakofsky Easy Money Nicky Cerone 1984 Once Upon a Time in America Frankie Minaldi Everybody in Jail Corrado Parisi 1987 Man on Fire David Coolidge 1988 Moonwalker Frankie "Mr. Big" Lideo The Legendary Life of Ernest Hemingway John Dos Passos 1989 Lethal Weapon 2 Leo Getz 1990 Catchfire Leo Carelli Uncredited cameo Betsy's Wedding Oscar Henner Goodfellas Tommy DeVito Home Alone Harry Lyme 1991 The Super Louie Kritski Jr. JFK David Ferrie 1992 My Cousin Vinny Vincent "Vinny" Gambini Lethal Weapon 3 Leo Getz The Public Eye Leon "Bernzy" Bernstein Harry Lyme 1993 A Bronx Tale Carmine 1994 Jimmy Hollywood Jimmy Alto / Jericho With Honors Simon B. Wilder 1995 Casino Anthony Spilotro 1997 8 Heads in a Duffel Bag Tommy Spinelli Gone Fishin' Joe Waters 1998 Lethal Weapon 4 Leo Getz 2006 The Good Shepherd Joseph Palmi Cameo 2010 Love Ranch Joseph Conforte 2015 A Warrior's Tail Komar (voice) 2019 The Irishman Russell Bufalino 2023 Day of the Fight Jack Huston To Make Feature Directorial Debut With 'Day Of The Fight': Sets Michael Pitt, Nicolette Robinson, Joe Pesci & More Mike's Father
Television
1985 Half Nelson Rocky Nelson 6 episodes 1992 Tales from the Crypt Vic / Jack Episode: "Split Personality" Saturday Night Live Himself / Host Episode: "Joe Pesci/Spin Doctors" 1994 Sesame Street All-Star 25th Birthday: Stars and Street Forever! Ronald Grump Television special 1997 Saturday Night Live Himself Episode: "Rob Lowe/Spice Girls" 2023 Bupkis Joe Larocca Main role
Discography
Awards and nominations
Pesci has received numerous awards nominations including three Academy Award nominations for Best Supporting Actor for his performances in Martin Scorsese's Raging Bull (1980), Goodfellas (1990), and The Irishman (2019).
1981 Academy Awards Best Supporting Actor Raging Bull 1991 Goodfellas 2020 The Irishman 1982 BAFTA Awards Most Promising Newcomer Raging Bull 2020 Best Supporting Actor The Irishman 1981 Golden Globe Awards Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture Raging Bull 1991 Goodfellas 2020 The Irishman 1998 Golden Raspberry Awards Worst Supporting Actor Lethal Weapon 4 2020 Screen Actors Guild Awards Outstanding Supporting Actor – Motion Picture The Irishman Outstanding Ensemble – Motion Picture
See also
External links
Categories: 1943 Births, Living People, 20th-century American Male Actors, 20th-century American Male Musicians, 20th-century American Singers, 21st-century American Male Actors, 21st-century American Male Musicians, 21st-century American Singers, American Male Film Actors, American Male Television Actors, American People Of Italian Descent, Belleville High School Alumni, Best Supporting Actor Academy Award Winners, Brunswick Records Artists, Columbia Records Artists, Male Actors From Newark, New Jersey, Musicians From Newark, New Jersey, People From Belleville, New Jersey, American Male Comedians, Comedians From Newark, New Jersey
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