American 5 ft tall actor and director. He was awarded an Emmy in 1982 for his role as Louie in the TV sit-com “Taxi.” His steadily growing credits on TV and film have made him one of Hollywood’s movers and shakers.
His grandparents were from Italy. His father, Dan Sr., was born in Brooklyn. His mother, Julia, met and married his father during the Depression. His parents raised Danny and his two sisters, Angela and Theresa in Asbury Park, New Jersey. His father, owner of a candy store and luncheonette, was a strict disciplinarian in a family atmosphere that was volatile with tension at times but nonetheless De Vito remembers life as sweet growing up in Asbury Park in the 1950s. At 14, his first job was to put the kids on the boardwalk rides. After high school, he became a hairstylist at his sister’s beauty parlor where he was known as “Mr. Danny.”
Looking for a future, De Vito moved to New York and enrolled at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts as a make-up artist. He got hooked into acting and graduated from the school in 1966. He immediately got his first paid acting job in summer stock at Waterford, Connecticut. It was here that he met his life-long friend Michael Douglas. The two shared an apartment in New York before Douglas landed his role in the TV show “The Streets of San Francisco.” De Vito’s big break came after Douglas and director Milos Forman saw him perform the role of Martini in an off-Broadway production of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” He was cast in the film version and other roles followed, most notably Louie in the TV sit-com “Taxi,” 1978-83.
His films include “Jewel of the Nile,” 1985, “Ruthless People,” 1986, and “Tin Men,” 1987. He starred and directed a remake of “La Chienne,” Jean Renoir’s 1931 drama, in 1988, and also directed “Hoffa.” In the blockbuster “Batman Returns,” 1992, he played the evil Penguin. De Vito is not afraid to take unpopular roles and dynamo scene-stealing characters. In 1991, he co-founded his production company, Jersey Films, which has released such hits as Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction” and “Get Shorty.”
In 1970, De Vito met actress Rhea Perlman while he was onstage in the role of a demented stable boy. After the play, they went to a nearby jazz hangout for a cup of coffee and exchanged phone numbers. Two weeks later, she moved into his Manhattan apartment. They lived together for 11 years then married in 1981 when they decided to add children to their lives. In real life De Vito is a warm, cheerful, devoted family man. He and Rhea have three children, Lucy, 14, Gracie, 12, and Jake, 10 (in 1997). As well as raising their family, De Vito and his wife are active in social causes, especially child-care campaigns and Planned Parenthood.
It was in 1967 that De Vito went to Los Angeles to audition for roles and stayed over a year. When he finally met an important casting director she dismissed him because of his 5 foot tall height. Many people tried to tell him that his height would impede his ability to find show business success. De Vito didn’t listen to them and said, “I think it really doesn’t have anything to do with anything, whether you’re real, real tall or real, real short. It’s only got to do with who you are and your ability to snow people into giving you work.”
Link to Wikipedia biography