Shootout

Danny DeVito

(Actor/Writer/Director) He has been called one of the entertainment industry's most versatile players. DeVito wrote, directed and produced several short films in his early Hollywood years, before his emergence as a feature-length filmmaker. DeVito’s trademark films have darker comedic themes. Films he has directed include The Ratings Game, Throw Momma From the Train, The War of the Roses, Hoffa, Matilda, Death to Smoochy and Duplex.

Up next for DeVito is Deck the Halls co-starring Matthew Broderick, and The Good Night starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Penelope Cruz. He recently starred in Relative Strangers, The OH in Ohio, Be Cool and joined the cast of FX’s critically acclaimed comedy It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia for it’s second season.

In 1992 DeVito added another dimension when he co-founded Jersey Films and Jersey Television. Jersey has produced over 20 motion pictures, including Be Cool, Garden State, Along Came Polly, Academy Award nominated Erin Brockovich, Man on the Moon, Pulp Fiction, Out of Sight, Get Shorty, Hoffa, Matilda and Living Out Loud.

Though two films co-starring DeVito won the Academy Award for best picture (One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest and Terms of Endearment), it was the part of Louie De Palma that propelled him into national prominence as star of the hit television show Taxi. In a 1999 readers’ poll conducted by TV Guide, DeVito’s Louie De Palma was voted number one in "TV’s Fifty Greatest Characters Ever."

DeVito has also starred in many films not produced by Jersey. They include Anything Else, Big Fish, Renaissance Man, The Big Kahuna, and Heist. Following Taxi and before the creation of Jersey Films, DeVito starred in such films as Junior, Batman Returns, Twins, Romancing the Stone, Jewel of the Nile, Ruthless People and Tin Men.

DeVito attended Our Lady of Mt. Carmel grammar school and Oratory Prep School in Summit, New Jersey, but appeared in only one school play, as St. Francis of Assisi. After graduation, he pursued several odd jobs, always with the idea of acting in the back of his mind. Finally he applied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York and was accepted. "They had fencing and a speech class," he said mockingly, "So you don't talk funny."

Unable to get work, Danny bought a round trip-ticket and headed to Hollywood. After years of unemployment, he returned to New York. He called an old friend and former American Academy professor who, coincidentally, had been seeking him out for a starring role in one of three one-act plays presented together under the title of The Man With the Flower in His Mouth. Soon Danny was into big money ($60 a week), and other stage performances followed in rapid succession. Among his credits were Down the Morning Line, The Line of Least Existence, The Shrinking Bride and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

In 1975, under a grant from the American Film Institute, Danny and his wife, actress Rhea Perlman, wrote and produced Minestrone, which has been shown twice at the Cannes Film Festival and has been translated into five languages. Later they wrote and produced a 16-millimeter black-and-white short subject, The Sound Sleeper, which won first prize at the Brooklyn Arts and Cultural Association competition.

DeVito carries his success well. Never forgetting that there were more difficult times, he maintains a healthy sense of perspective. As Taxi character Louie DePalma, would say, "If you don't do good today, you'll be eatin' dirt tomorrow."