Vincent Philip D'Onofrio is an American actor, director, film producer, writer, and singer.
An accomplished character actor, he has been referred to as "The Human Chameleon" and is
often referred to as an actor's actor. He is known for his roles as Private Leonard
Lawrence in the war film Full Metal Jacket, "Edgar" in Men in Black and Detective Robert
Goren in the crime TV series Law & Order: Criminal Intent.
Early life Vincent D'Onofrio was born in the Bensonhurst
neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, of Italian descent. He is the son of Gennaro D'Onofrio,
an interior designer and theater production assistant, and Phyllis, a waitress and restaurant
manager. The couple met while Gene was stationed in Hawaii with the U.S Air Force. In 1956,
they had their first child, Antoinette, who now owns the Rib City restaurant in American
Fork, Utah. She was followed by Elizabeth, an actress and drama coach now residing in
Fort Myers Beach, Florida, then by Vincent. D'Onofrio's parents divorced when he was young,
and his mother later married George Meyer, who had a son, Guy, and daughter, Connie,
from a previous marriage. The family moved to the Hialeah area of Florida. A shy boy
who spent "a lot of time in my room, staying in my head", D'Onofrio later became interested
in magic and sleight of hand, tricks he learned from Cuban entertainers who owned a small
magic shop. In his teens, he worked backstage, building sets and running sound at a number
of community theaters run by his father. Career
After graduating from Hialeah-Miami Lakes Senior High School, D'Onofrio started to appear
in front of the curtain. During an 18-month stint at the University of Colorado in Boulder,
he was involved with small community theater productions. He later studied method acting
at the American Stanislavsky Theater and the Actors Studio under coaches Sonia Moore and
Sharon Chatten which landed him his first paid role in Off-Broadway's This Property
Is Condemned. He went on to appear in a number of their productions, including Of Mice and
Men and Sexual Perversity in Chicago. D'Onofrio continued his career by performing in many
New York University student productions while also working as a bouncer at the Hard Rock
Cafe, a bodyguard for Robert Plant and Yul Brynner and a deliveryman. In 1984, he made
his Broadway debut as Nick Rizzoli in Open Admissions. In 2012, D'Onofrio returned to
teach at the Lee Strasberg Theater & Film Institute where his daughter, Leila George,
is a student. Acting
In 1986, D'Onofrio took on the role often considered the defining moment in his acting
career, as Pvt. Leonard Lawrence, an overweight and mentally unstable Marine recruit in the
movie Full Metal Jacket. On a tip from friend Matthew Modine, D'Onofrio was urged to send
audition tapes to director Stanley Kubrick, in England. Four tapes later D'Onofrio landed
the role. Originally, the character of Pvt. Lawrence had been written as a 'skinny ignorant
redneck'; however, Kubrick believed the role would have more impact if the character was
big and clumsy. D'Onofrio gained 70 lb for the role, bringing his weight to 280 lb.
This remains the record for most weight gained by an actor for a movie, surpassing Robert
De Niro's accumulation of 60 lb for the filming of Raging Bull. While filming an obstacle
course scene for the movie, D'Onofrio injured his left knee, compounded by the excessive
weight, which required surgical reconstruction. After filming of Full Metal Jacket was completed,
having lost nearly all the weight gained for the movie in just nine months, D'Onofrio went
on to play Dawson, the owner of 'Dawson's Garage' in Adventures in Babysitting. D'Onofrio
appears in only one scene near the end of the film, but his small role attracted attention
because of his muscular physique and long blond hair which causes Sara, the film's youngest
character, to mistakenly believe he is Thor, the comic-book superhero she idolizes. In
1988, D'Onofrio was cast in another supporting role in the film Mystic Pizza playing the
fiance of Lili Taylor's character. The movie was also Julia Roberts' breakout film. In
the latter film, he was billed under his full name "Vincent Phillip D'Onofrio".
D'Onofrio continued to play a wide variety of minor or supporting roles, including director
Orson Welles in Tim Burton's Ed Wood, farmer Edgar and the evil "Bug" that possesses him
from Men in Black, the father of a saint in Nancy Savoca's Household Saints, Yippie founder
Abbie Hoffman in Steal This Movie, a time traveler from the distant future in Happy
Accidents, and opposite Jennifer Lopez as serial killer Carl Stargher in The Cell.
In 1992, he appeared in Robert Altman's The Player as an aspiring screenwriter whom Tim
Robbins' studio executive character accidentally murders.
In 1997, D'Onofrio made a move to television and received an Emmy nomination for his appearance
as John Lange, the doomed victim in the Homicide: Life on the Street episode "Subway".
In 1999, he turned down a role in The Sopranos. In 2001, he took on what became his longest
and perhaps best known role as Det. Robert Goren on the NBC / USA Network television
show Law & Order: Criminal Intent. In 2003, it was reported that D'Onofrio and
Joe Pantoliano had begun work on a small film titled Little Victories about a 12-year-old
boy whose perceptions of the world are forever changed when his gangster uncle comes to live
with him. According to a television interview with Pantoliano, the film was not completed
and went into turnaround because of a failure to raise the funds necessary for production.
In November 2005, D'Onofrio won Best Actor at the Stockholm International Film Festival
for his role as Mike Cobb in the independent film Thumbsucker.
In 2006, he appeared in The Break-Up, starring Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn, playing
Vaughn's eccentric brother. He and Vaughn had appeared together in two previous films,
The Cell where Vaughn played an FBI agent pursuing D'Onofrio's character and Thumbsucker.
In 2008, D'Onofrio made a cameo appearance in a presidential election-related sketch
in a Saturday Night Live episode as his character Det. Robert Goren. In the sketch, which originally
aired on March 1, 2008, he interrogates Hillary Clinton. His entrance to and exit from the
skit are punctuated by the Law & Order "dun-DUN" sound.
In 2009, it was announced that D'Onofrio would be leaving Law & Order: Criminal Intent in
the spring of 2010 with his last appearance occurring in the two-part, Season 9 premiere.
He was replaced by Jeff Goldblum, but after a drop in ratings, D'Onofrio and Kathryn Erbe
agreed to return for a 10th season of the show. In the same year, he appeared in the
Oscar-winning short The New Tenants. Over the next few years D'Onofrio co-starred
in indie films such as: Staten Island, Brooklyn's Finest, Kill the Irishman, Crackers, American
Falls, Fire with Fire, and Ass Backwards. In 2011, he began work on the Jennifer Lynch
film Chained in which he portrays Bob, a serial killer who kidnaps a young boy, Rabbit, and
makes him his protégé. When he becomes older, Rabbit must decide whether to follow in the
footsteps of his captor or plan his escape. The film shot in areas in and around Regina
and Moose Jaw in Saskatchewan. On May 1, 2012, due to "explicit violence" the movie was given
an NC-17 rating by the MPAA, despite an appeal by Jennifer Lynch, and the distributor, with
scenes cut to maximize theater exposure and distribution. No stranger to the NC-17 ratings,
Lynch, who responded to the ruling a day later also saw cuts made to her movie Boxing Helena.
In July 2012, a press release from Anchor Bay announced that the movie would be released
on Blu-ray and DVD on October 2, 2012 and would include the deleted scene, involving
a throat being cut, which caused the NC-17 rating.
On September 14, 2011, it was announced that D'Onofrio would star alongside Ethan Hawke
in a new NBC show, Blue Tilt, named after the harmful psychological effects homicide
detectives experience after constantly dealing with horrific crimes. D'Onofrio and Hawke
had previously worked together in the films The Newton Boys, Staten Island, Brooklyn's
Finest and Sinister. The hour-long cop drama, in which D'Onofrio would play 'Sonny', was
to follow the main characters' attempts to balance their careers with family life. Writer
Chris Brancato, fresh from Season 10 of Law and Order: Criminal Intent, was brought on
board to pen the episodes. Filming of the pilot episode was set to start in February,
2012. On March 27, 2012, a tweet from Kevin Dunigan, the co-creator and developer of the
pilot, revealed that NBC had shelved the project because it did not have enough "pop to attract
viewers." In 2013, D'Onofrio co-starred in the movie
Escape Plan, filmed in New Orleans, also starring Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger,
and 50 Cent. D'Onofrio portrayed Lester Clark, deputy director of the Prisons Bureau.
On April 30, 2012, the short film Crackers, starring D'Onofrio as "Gus", won a People's
Choice Award at the Fort Myers Beach Film Festival. The festival, which had been dormant
for 6 years, was rekindled and partly organized by Vincent's sister, Elizabeth D'Onofrio.
Fresh from his role in Jennifer Lynch's Chained, it was announced on August 11, 2012, that
D'Onofrio would star in her upcoming film A Fall From Grace. The film tells the story
of Detective Michael Tabb, to be played by Tim Roth as he investigates the murders of
young girls burned and washing ashore along the Mississippi River. A further upcoming
Lynch project, The Monster Next Door, will also star D'Onofrio.
Also in November, filming began on the Vidhu Vinod Chopra movie, Broken Horses, which focuses
on gang warfare around the border between the United States and Mexico. D'Onofrio will
star alongside Chris Marquette and Anton Yelchin. Supporting actors include Thomas Jane, Val
Kilmer, Hayden Christensen, Ben Foster and Sean Patrick Flannery.
In May, 2013, filming began on the Robert Downey Jr comedy drama, The Judge, which co-stars
D'Onofrio alongside Robert Duvall, Billy Bob Thornton and Jeremy Strong and follows a successful
lawyer as he returns to his hometown for his mother's funeral only to discover that his
estranged father, the town's judge, is suspected of murder. D'Onofrio plays Duvall's eldest
son. The film is slated to open nationally on October 10, 2014.
D'Onofrio's other projects include a role in Supreme Ruler with Marcia Gay Harden and
Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Eric Bogosian's Mall which he co-wrote with his former Law & Order:
Criminal Intent co-star, and Pawn Shop Chronicles, which co-stars Matt Dillon, Brendan Fraser,
Elijah Wood, and Thomas Jane. D'Onofrio was cast as Wilson Fisk in Marvel's
Daredevil Netflix series. Work as a director, producer, and writer
D'Onofrio has also had success behind the camera, producing The Whole Wide World, Guy;
executive producing The Velocity of Gary and Steal This Movie.
In 2005 he directed and starred in the short Five Minutes, Mr. Welles, which represented
a culmination of D'Onofrio's desire to improve on his performance as Welles in Ed Wood, which
in spite of D'Onofrio's striking physical resemblance to the actor/director, reportedly
left director Tim Burton underwhelmed. Burton decided to procure the services of voice-over
artist Maurice LaMarche due to being known for his peerless imitation of Welles' voice
to produce a more dramatically effective rendering of the character's dialogue. Disappointed
with his performance, having been given only two weeks notice to prepare for the role,
D'Onofrio wrote, produced, directed and starred in Five Minutes..., in answer to the critics,
and himself. The film depicts D'Onofrio as Welles preparing for his role in The Third
Man. In 2008 he returned to directing with the
feature length musical slasher Don't Go in the Woods written by friend Joe Vinciguerra,
featuring a score by Sam Bisbee, and starring various unknown actors hand-picked by D'Onofrio.
It follows an indie rock band who venture into the woods to write new music, only to
meet a crazed murderer. The movie, shot in 13 days in the woods behind D'Onofrio's home
near Kingston, New York, had a budget of $100,000 and played at numerous festivals throughout
2009 and 2010. Initially slated for national release in December 2011, the film opened
to limited theaters on January 13, 2012 and was released on DVD was released on June 12,
2012. Other work
In 1998 D'Onofrio, his father Gene, and his sister Elizabeth founded the River Run International
Film Festival in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. In 2003, former film producer and Dean of
the School of Filmmaking at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Dale
Pollock took over the festival and moved it from RiverRun to Winston-Salem. Annually,
the festival showcases the best films offered from the independent and international industry
as well as those from student filmmakers. In 2008 alongside his sister, Toni, D'Onofrio
began hosting events to raise money for the Utah Meth Cops Project. He served as the project's
spokesperson from 2009-2012. In the fall of 2011 he became a member of
the Advisory Board for the Woodstock Film Festival which holds an annual event for independent
films. Other members of the board include Ethan Hawke, Griffin Dunne and Aidan Quinn.
In February 2011 he became a public face of the gun control debate, appearing in an ad
by the Citizens Crime Commission of New York City urging a ban on large-capacity ammunition
magazines. On August 9, 2012, it was announced that D'Onofrio
had been chosen to be the narrator of the documentary, "Heroes Behind The Badge". Released
in the fall of 2012, the film follows four fallen officers and the impact their deaths
have had on their families, colleagues and their communities. Proceeds will benefit a
memorial museum being built in Washington, D.C. A longtime supporter of the National
Law Enforcement Officers Memorial, D'Onofrio has been the spokesperson for the National
Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund and Museum since 2010. A follow up to the documentary,
subtitled 'Sacrifice and Survival', will be released in the fall of 2013.
On November 13, 2012, D'Onofrio joined the cast of the Off-Broadway production 'Clive',
alongside Brooks Ashmanskas and Zoe Kazan. Produced by Jonathan Marc Sherman and directed
by Ethan Hawke, the play, based on Baal by Bertolt Brecht, officially opened at The New
Group at Theatre Row on February 7, 2013. Music
On October 27, 2009, D'Onofrio made his musical debut, appearing in character as comedic country
singer George Geronimo Gerkie at Joe's Pub in New York City. He appeared as Gerkie again
at New York's Hammerstein Ballroom on December 6, 2009, during Matt Pinfield's Holiday Extravaganza
Show and at the premiere of his movie Don't Go in the Woods at Joe's Pub on May 28, 2010.
A fourth concert was held at the pub on July 22, 2010 with proceeds from the event going
to the Utah Meth Cops project. On November 11, 2011, while teaching students
at the Tribeca Flashpoint Media Arts Academy, D'Onofrio discussed plans for further concerts,
and a George Gerkie documentary which is to be filmed by 'Ultrasuede: In Search of Halston'
director, Whitney Smith. In September 2011, Australian Hip-Hop band,
"The Funkoars" released an album titled The Quickening, featuring the song "Being Vincent
D'Onofrio" – an homage to D'Onofrio's career, and his work on Law and Order: Criminal Intent.
In February 2012, the band announced their upcoming "Being Vincent D'Onofrio Tour 2012"
with artwork featuring D'Onofrio's face in place of the band members'.
Personal life In the early '90s, D'Onofrio was in a relationship
with the actress Greta Scacchi with whom he made several movies in the late 1980s and
early 1990s. The couple have one daughter born March 20, 1992 in Sydney, Australia.
On March 22, 1997, D'Onofrio married Dutch model Carin van der Donk and in December 1999,
the couple had a son. D'Onofrio and van der Donk split in the early 2000s, but reconciled
to have a second son on February 14, 2008. During an interview in January 2012, D'Onofrio
discussed his frustration with conflicting reports on his current marital status, including
inaccuracies on IMDB. He has stated that, despite some reports, he is currently married.
Vincent and his family reside in a Gramercy townhouse in Manhattan.
On November 10, 2004, D'Onofrio collapsed on the set of Law & Order: Criminal Intent.
He collapsed again at home a few days later, and after further testing was diagnosed with
exhaustion. The reasons for his exhaustion were explained later as his 14-hour days filming
Law and Order: Criminal Intent, coupled with the filming of his short film Five Minutes,
Mr. Welles during his hiatus. Filmography
Films Television
Audio Law and Order: Criminal Intent: The Vengeful
Heart, voice, video game, Mr. Laughs: A Look Behind The Curtain, as
narrator, autobiographical documentary based on the life of comedian, Sal Richards.
Man on the Ledge, Radio play. Heroes Behind The Badge, narrator, documentary
Like Father, Like Son and 'Ram King, Tales From Beyond The Pale Live Radio Play performed
live at Dixon Place in NYC. References
External links Official NBC Biography of Vincent D'Onofrio
Vincent D'Onofrio at the Internet Movie Database