Joseph Frank Pesci (, ; born February 9, 1943) is an American actor and singer. 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).
Pesci also appeared in Once Upon a Time in America (1984), Moonwalker (1988), JFK (1991), A Bronx Tale (1993), and The Good Shepherd (2006). He is also known for his comic roles in Home Alone (1990) and its sequel Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (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. Pesci 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).
Early life
Joseph Frank Pesci was born on February 9, 1943, in Newark, New Jersey. His mother, Mary (née Mesce), was a part-time barber, and his father, Angelo Pesci, was a forklift truck driver for General Motors and a bartender. Pesci is of Italian descent with family origins both in Turin and Aquilonia in the province of Avellino. He was raised in Belleville, New Jersey, and graduated from Belleville High School.
By the time Pesci was five years old, he was appearing in plays in New York. 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.
Career
Early career
In the 1960s, Pesci began working as a barber. At the same time, Pesci tried to start a musical career, playing guitar with several bands, including Joey Dee and the Starliters, who introduced the "Peppermint Twist" record, dance, and Peppermint Lounge in New York City.
In 1968, Pesci 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 comedy duo, 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 a week. For his role in the film, he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and won Most Promising Newcomer at the 1981 British British Academy Film Awards.
In 1982, according to a conversation intercepted by the FBI between actor James Caan and mobster Anthony Fiato, Caan requested that Fiato beat up Pesci for failing to pay an $8,000 hotel bill.
In 1984, Pesci was cast in Once Upon a Time in America, again appearing alongside De Niro. The following year, Pesci starred as private detective Rocky Nelson in the short-lived television comedy series Half Nelson. with whom Pesci later acted in Goodfellas).
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 Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992).
In 1991, Pesci played David Ferrie in JFK. The following year, he appeared as the title character in the comedy My Cousin Vinny with Ralph Macchio, Marisa Tomei and Fred Gwynne. Also in 1992, 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, Pesci 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.
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. 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.
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.
Personal life
Pesci has been married and divorced three times.
His first marriage was in January 1964. His second marriage was from 1988 to 1992, to Claudia Haro, a model and actress. They have a daughter. In 2000, Pesci started dating Angie Everhart. They became engaged in 2007 but broke up the following year.
Filmography
Film
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! Notes
|-
| 1961
| Hey, Let's Twist!
| Dancer At The Peppermint Lounge
| Uncredited
|-
| 1976
| The Death Collector
| Joe Salvino
|
|-
| 1980
| Raging Bull
| Joey LaMotta
| Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
|-
| rowspan=2 | 1982
| I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can
| Roger
|
|-
| Dear Mr. Wonderful
| Ruby Dennis
|
|-
| rowspan=2 | 1983
| Eureka
| Mayakofsky
|
|-
| Easy Money
| Nicky Cerone
|
|-
| rowspan=2 | 1984
| Once Upon a Time in America
| Frankie Minaldi
|
|-
| Everybody in Jail
| Corrado Parisi
|
|-
| 1987
| Man on Fire
| David Coolidge
|
|-
| rowspan=2 | 1988
| Moonwalker
| Frankie "Mr. Big" Lideo
|
|-
| The Legendary Life of Ernest Hemingway
| John Dos Passos
|
|-
| 1989
| Lethal Weapon 2
| Leo Getz
|
|-
| rowspan=4 | 1990
| Catchfire
| Leo Carelli
| Uncredited cameo
|-
| Betsy's Wedding
| Oscar Henner
|
|-
| Goodfellas
| Tommy DeVito
| Won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
|-
| Home Alone
| Harry Lyme
|
|-
| rowspan=2 | 1991
| The Super
| Louie Kritski Jr.
|
|-
| JFK
| David Ferrie
|
|-
| rowspan=4 | 1992
| My Cousin Vinny
| Vincent "Vinny" Gambini
|
|-
| Lethal Weapon 3
| Leo Getz
|
|-
| The Public Eye
| Leon "Bernzy" Bernstein
|
|-
| Home Alone 2: Lost in New York
| Harry Lyme
|
|-
| 1993
| A Bronx Tale
| Carmine
|
|-
| rowspan=2 | 1994
| Jimmy Hollywood
| Jimmy Alto / Jericho
|
|-
| With Honors
| Simon B. Wilder
|
|-
| 1995
| Casino
| Nicky Santoro
|
|-
| rowspan=2 | 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
| Charlie "Charlie Goodtimes" Bontempo
|
|-
| 2015
| A Warrior's Tail
| Komar (voice)
|
|-
| 2019
| The Irishman
| Russell Bufalino
| Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
|-
| 2023
| Day of the Fight
| Mike's Father
|
|}
Television
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
| 1985
| Half Nelson
| Rocky Nelson
| 6 episodes
|-
| rowspan=2 | 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
- Little Joe Sure Can Sing! (1968) (Brunswick Records)
- Vincent LaGuardia Gambini Sings Just for You (1998) (Columbia Records)
- Pesci... Still Singing (2019) (222 Records/BMG Rights Management)
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).
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Award
! Category
! Nominated work
! Result
|-
| 1981
| rowspan=3|Academy Awards
| rowspan="3" | Best Supporting Actor
| Raging Bull
|
|-
| 1991
| Goodfellas
|
|-
| 2020
| The Irishman
|
|-
| 1982
| rowspan=2|British Film Academy Awards
| Most Promising Newcomer
| Raging Bull
|
|-
| 2020
| Best Supporting Actor
| The Irishman
|
|-
| 1981
| rowspan=3|Golden Globe Awards
| rowspan="3"| Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
| Raging Bull
|
|-
| 1991
| Goodfellas
|
|-
| 2020
| The Irishman
|
|-
| 1998
| rowspan=1|Golden Raspberry Awards
| rowspan="1" | Worst Supporting Actor
| Lethal Weapon 4
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2020
| rowspan=2|Screen Actors Guild Awards
| Outstanding Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
| rowspan="2"| The Irishman
|
|-
| Outstanding Ensemble – Motion Picture
|
|}
See also
- List of Italian-American actors
- List of actors with Academy Award nominations
- List of actors with more than one Academy Award nomination in the acting categories