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Joe Pesci - Overview

Date of Birth: Feb 09, 1943    
Place of Birth: Newark, New Jersey
Nationality: American
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It seemed in the early 1990s that every film released in the US had Joe Pesci in it. This diminutive, intense Italian-American character player took a long time to make it to the top: a former child performer and nightclub entertainer, he specialized in impersonations and audience insult. Born in Newark, Pesci spent much of the 1950s and '60s doing stand-up and appearing as one of TV's "Star Time" kids (Dumont, 1950-51). He sang with Frank Vincent and the Aristocrats, and in 1969 the two formed a comedy duo (Vincent later had notable cameo or supporting roles in half a dozen of Pesci films).

When Pesci made his film debut in the low-budget "Death Collector" (1975), he was spotted by Martin Scorsese and cast as Jake La Motta's edgy and long-suffering brother in s "Raging Bull" (1980). His career should have taken off after that triumph, but Pesci disappeared into a series of character turns in uneven "art" films (Nicolas Roeg's "Eureka" 1983), foreign assignments ("Tutti Dentro/Put 'Em All in Jail" 1984), and undistinguished genre pics (the Rodney Dangerfiel... Read More
2006
Returned to acting with a cameo in De Niro's "The Good Shepherd"
1999
Announced retirement from acting
1998
Reprised role of Leo Getz for "Lethal Weapon 4"
1998
Released an album, <i>Vincent LaGuardia Gambini Sings Just for You</i>, which spawned the single "Wise Guy"
1998
Released an album, Vincent LaGuardia Gambini Sings Just for You, which spawned the single "Wise Guy"
1997
Co-starred with Danny Glover in the comedy "Gone Fishin"
1995
Again reunited with Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro for "Casino"
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