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| Born November 17, 1944, in Ashbury Park, NJ, DeVito had a Catholic school upbringing and started his career as a cosmetician in his sister's beauty parlor. Working under the name "Mr. Danny," DeVito decided to enter New York's American Academy of Dramatic Arts for the purpose of acquiring additional makeup expertise. However, he soon discovered his true theatrical calling and made his screen debut with a small part in the 1968 drama Dreams of Glass. After some discouraging experiences with the film industry, DeVito decided to concentrate on stage work. During this time, he met actress Rhea Perlman, whom he later married in 1982. In 1972, the actor made his way back into films with a role in Lady Liberty, a comedy starring Sophia Loren. His first notable film role came three years later, when he reprised his stage role of Martini in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest for the play's 1975 film adaptation. Directed by Milos Forman and produced by DeVito's old friend Michael Douglas (the two roomed together when DeVito was starting out), the film won wide acclaim and nine Oscar nominations, eventually winning five. Despite the adulation surrounding the film, DeVito's screen career remained lackluster, but he was elevated to fame three years later with his role as the obnoxious dispatcher Louie on the long-running television sitcom Taxi. According to legend, the actor won the role when he walked into the audition, script in hand, and exclaimed "Who wrote this s**t?" From there, DeVito's career went on an upswing and he spent the next decade playing similarly repugnant characters with great success. His best-known roles in the 1980s were in a number of comedies, including the hugely successful Romancing the Stone (1984), its 1985 sequel Jewel of the Nile, Ruthless People (1986), Throw Momma From the Train (1987), Twins (1988), and The War of the Roses (1989), the last of which was another of his numerous collaborations with Michael Douglas. Although he was best-known for his work in front of the camera, during this time DeVito began directing and producing as well. After directing several episodes of the television series Amazing Stories in the mid-'80s, along with Throw Momma From the Train and War of the Roses, DeVito went on to expand his work in the 1990s, producing as well as acting and directing. Some of his more successful producing endeavors were 1994's Pulp Fiction (on which he served as executive producer), Reality Bites (1995), Get Shorty (1995), Gattaca (1997), Out of Sight (1998), and Living out Loud (1998). In the meantime, DeVito continued to act in a number of movies, his most notable being Get Shorty, the screen adaptation of Roald Dahl's Matilda (which he also directed and produced), L.A. Confidential (1997), and Living out Loud. For the last of these he won particular acclaim, impressing critics with his touching, sympathetic portrayal of a lonely elevator operator. The following year, he added to his already impressive resumé with a role in Milos Forman's biopic of Andy Kaufman, Man on the Moon, and a supporting part in Sofia Coppola's The Virgin Suicides. Despite solid performances in a series of recent high profile hits and decades of big screen success, the millennial turnover found DeVito's star becoming somewhat clouded as such efforts as Screwed (2000), What's the Worst that Could Happen? (2001), Death to Smoochy (2002) and Duplex (also 2003) failed to live up to box-office potential - with Death to Smoochy and Duplex in particular weighing heavily on the actor/director's career. Of course even the brightest stars have their dark days, and despite his lack of onscreen success DeVito kept things up behind the scenes as the producer of the critically acclaimed 2003 television series Karen Sisco and the Get Shorty sequel Be Cool. He also acted as executive producer for the acclaimed Zach Braff dramedy Garden State and could be spotted in director Tim Burton's imaginative fable Big Fish. |
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