Actor, producer, director Danny deVito born on November 17, 1944, in Neptune, New Jersey. He studied at New York City’s American Academy of Dramatic Arts in the mid-1960s and made his feature film debut as a bit player in the 1967 film Dreams of Glass and appeared in an Off-Off-Broadway production of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest in the early 1970s.

He matched that success starred in the mid-1980s, in Romancing the Stone (1984) and its sequel Jewel of the Nile (1985) both films starred DeVito’s AADA classmate and close friend Michael Douglas. DeVito had perfected the art of making sleazy, egotistical characters strangely sympathetic - he reprised similar roles in Tin Men (1987), Twins (1988), starred opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger, Other People’s Money (1991), Batman Returns (1992), The Rainmaker (1997), and L.A. Confidential (1997).

DeVito made directorial debut in 1987 with Throw Momma From the Train, co-starring Billy Crystal. He also directed the black comedy The War of the Roses (1989), with co-stars Douglas and Turner, the biopic Hoffa (1994), starring Jack Nicholson, and the fantastical Matilda (1996), co-starring his wife Rhea Perlman.

In 1999, DeVito produced and co-starred in Man on the Moon, a biopic of his onetime Taxi co-star Andy Kaufman starring Jim Carrey. His producing projects for 2000 included Drowning Mona, another black comedy co-starring himself and Midler, and Erin Brockovich, starring Julia Roberts.

Danny DeVito married Rhea Perlman in 1982 and they have three children.

Filmography

• One Part Sugar (2007)
• Nobel Son (2007)
• Reno 911! Miami (2007)
• The Good Night (2007)
• Deck the Halls (2006)
• "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" (11 episodes, 2006)
• Relative Strangers (2006)
• Even Money (2006)
• The OH in Ohio (2006)
• Be Cool (2005)
• Marilyn Hotchkiss Ballroom Dancing & Charm School (2005)
• Christmas in Love (2004)
• Catching Kringle (2004)
• "Father of the Pride" (1 episode, 2004)
• Bad Boy's 10th Anniversary... The Hits (2004)
• "Friends" (1 episode, 2004)
• Family of the Year (2004)
• Big Fish (2003)
• "Karen Sisco" (2 episodes, 2003)
• Duplex (2003)
• Anything Else (2003)
• "Ed" (1 episode, 2002)
• Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002)
• Death to Smoochy (2002)
• Heist (2001)
• What's the Worst That Could Happen? (2001)
• Screwed (2000)
• Drowning Mona (2000)
• Man on the Moon (1999)
• The Big Kahuna (1999)
• The Virgin Suicides (1999)
• Living Out Loud (1998)
• The Rainmaker (1997)
• Hercules (1997)
• L.A. Confidential (1997)
• "Pearl" (1 episode, 1997)
• Hercules (1997)
• Disney Sing-Along-Songs: Zero to Hero (1997)
• Mars Attacks! (1996)
• Space Jam (1996)
• Matilda (1996)
• Felony (1996)
• Get Shorty (1995)
• Junior (1994)
• Renaissance Man (1994)
• Look Who's Talking Now (1993)
• Last Action Hero (1993)
• Jack the Bear (1993)
• Hoffa (1992)
• "The Simpsons" (2 episodes, 1991-1992)
• Batman Returns (1992)
• Amazing Stories: Book One (1992)
• Other People's Money (1991)
• Money (1991)
• The War of the Roses (1989)
• Twins (1988)
• "Saturday Night Live" (6 episodes, 1980-1988)
• Throw Momma from the Train (1987)
• Tin Men (1987)
• "Amazing Stories" (1 episode, 1986)
• Ruthless People (1986)
• My Little Pony: The Movie (1986)
• Wise Guys (1986)
• Head Office (1985) .
• The Jewel of the Nile (1985)
• Happily Ever After (1985)
• Johnny Dangerously (1984)
• The Ratings Game (1984)
• "CBS Schoolbreak Special" (1 episode, 1984)
• Romancing the Stone (1984)
• Terms of Endearment (1983)
• "Taxi" (114 episodes, 1978-1983)
• "Likely Stories, Vol. 2" (1983)
• Going Ape! (1981)
• The Gong Show Movie (1980)
• Valentine (1979)
• "The Associates" (1 episode)
• Swap Meet (1979)
• Goin' South (1978)
• "Police Woman" (1 episode, 1977)
• The World's Greatest Lover (1977)
• "Starsky and Hutch" (1 episode, 1977)
• The Van (1977)
• Car Wash (1976)
• Deadly Hero (1976)
• The Money (1976)
• Selling of Vince D'Angelo (1976)
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
• Scalawag (1973)
• Hurry Up, or I'll Be 30 (1973)
• Hot Dogs for Gauguin (1972)
• Bananas (1971)
• Mortadella, La (1971)
• Dreams of Glass (1970)

Awards

• Boston Society of Film Critics Award Best Picture "Out of Sight" 1998
• National Society of Film Critics Award Best Picture "Out of Sight" 1998
• NATO Star of the Year 1989
• NATO Special Award of Merit 1985
• Emmy Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy or Variety or Music Series "Taxi" 1980 - 81
• Golden Globe Award Best Supporting Actor in Television Series "Taxi" 1979