Joe Pesci (born February 9, 1943), better known as Joe Pesci, is an Italian-American actor, comedian and singer who is often typecast as a violent mobster (Nicky Santoro from Casino or Tommy DeVito from Goodfellas) or as a grouchy funnyman (Vincent Gambini from My Cousin Vinny or Harry Lime from Home Alone). He is 5'4" tall.
Pesci was born in Newark, New Jersey where he worked as a singer in the 1960s, releasing an album entitled Little Joey Sure Can Sing under the name Joseph Richie. Also in his band was good friend and future fellow actor Frank Vincent. As an actor his breakthrough came in 1980 opposite Robert De Niro in Martin Scorsese's boxing film Raging Bull. Subsequently he acted opposite De Niro several times, often in a similar role: in Once Upon A Time In America (in which he was cast at the behest of his friend De Niro), Goodfellas (for which he received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor), and Casino. The pairing became well-known enough to inspire a recurring sketch on Saturday Night Live, called The Joe Pesci Show. Pesci also starred in Home Alone, JFK, and My Cousin Vinny. He also appears in three of the Lethal Weapon films.
In 1999, Pesci announced that he was leaving acting in order to pursue his musical career. Finally in 2004-2005, he announced that he was coming out of retirement and is going to star in his good friend Robert De Niro's The Good Shepherd.
The Good Shepherd (2006)
