Vincent D'Onofrio Biography

Vincent Philip D'Onofrio (born June 30, 1959) is an American actor, director, film producer, writer, and singer. Often referred to as an actor's actor, his work as a character actor has earned him the nickname "The Human Chameleon". He is known for his roles as Private Leonard Lawrence ("Gomer Pyle") 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 (Gene) 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 (1957), 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 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 for the role, bringing his weight to . This remains the record for most weight gained by an actor for a movie, surpassing Robert De Niro's accumulation of 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 (in complete contrast to the overweight and flabby character he played in Full Metal Jacket) and long blond hair (a wig) 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 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 (played by Amy Poehler). His entrance to and exit from the skit are punctuated by the classic 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 (and final) 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 worked on numerous films: Staten Island (2009), Brooklyn's Finest (2010), Ass Backwards (2011), Kill the Irishman (2011), Crackers (2011), American Falls (2012), and Fire with Fire (2012).

In 2011, he began work on the Jennifer Lynch film Chained (previously titled Rabbit) 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 April 2012, filming began on the movie Escape Plan (film) in New Orleans which also stars Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger and 50 Cent. D'Onofrio portrays "Lester Clark", deputy director of the Prisons Bureau. Stallone portrays a prison designer who is framed and must escape incarceration from one of the prisons he helped to design.

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 (Downey Jr) as he returns to his hometown for his mother's funeral only to discover that his estranged father, the town's judge (Duvall), is suspected of murder. D'Onofrio plays Duvall's eldest son. The film is slated to open nationally on October 14, 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 (who previously worked with D'Onofrio in The Velocity of Gary).

Work as a director, producer, and writer

D'Onofrio has also had success behind the camera, producing The Whole Wide World (1996), Guy (1997); executive producing The Velocity of Gary (1998) and Steal This Movie (2000).

In 2005 he directed and starred in the short Five Minutes, Mr. Welles (2005), 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 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 (Tim Lajcik). 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 (including The Player and Fires Within). The couple have one daughter (Leila George) 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 (Elias Gene). D'Onofrio and van der Donk split in the early 2000s, but reconciled to have a second son (Luka) 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 experienced a health issue when he 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

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1983	The First Turn-On!	Lobotomy
1984	It Don't Pay to Be an Honest Citizen	Bennie
1987	Full Metal Jacket	Pvt. Leonard 'Gomer Pyle' Lawrence
1987	Adventures in Babysitting	Dawson (aka Thor)
1988	Mystic Pizza	Bill
1989	Signs of Life	Daryl Monahan
1989	The Blood of Heroes	Young Gar
1991	Crooked Hearts	Charley
1991	Dying Young	Gordon
1991	Fires Within	Sam
1991	Naked Tango	Cholo
1991	JFK	Bill Newman
1992	The Player	David Kahane
1992	Salt on Our Skin	Gavin
1993	Being Human	Priest
1993	Household Saints	Joseph Santangelo	Nominated - Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead
1993	Mr. Wonderful	Dominic
1994	Ed Wood	Orson Welles
1994	The Investigator	Ephraim McDougall	Short
1994	Imaginary Crimes	Mr. Webster
1995	Stuart Saves His Family	Donnie
1995	Strange Days	Burton Steckler
1995	Hotel Paradise	The Naked Stranger
1996	The Whole Wide World	Robert E. Howard	Golden Space Needle Award for Best Actor Lone Star Film & Television Award for Best Actor 2nd - National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor
1996	The Winner	Philip
1996	Feeling Minnesota	Sam Clayton
1996	Good Luck	Tony "Ole" Olezniak
1997	Boys Life 2	Tony Randozza	Segment: Nunzio's Second Cousin
1997	Men in Black	Edgar	Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated - Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Supporting Actor " Science Fiction
1997	Guy	Guy
1998	The Taking of Pelham One Two Three	Mr. Blue	TV Movie
1998	The Newton Boys	Dock Newton
1998	Claire Dolan	Elton Garrett
1998	The Velocity of Gary	Valentino
1999	Spanish Judges	Max
1999	The Thirteenth Floor	Jason Whitney / Jerry Ashton
1999	That Championship Season	Phil Romano	TV Movie
2000	Happy Accidents	Sam Deed
2000	Steal This Movie	Abbie Hoffman
2000	The Cell	Carl Stargher	Nominated - Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Supporting Actor " Science Fiction Nominated - MTV Movie Award for Best Villain
2001	Chelsea Walls	Frank
2002	Impostor	Hathaway
2002	Bark!	Malcolm
2002	The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys	Father Casey
2002	The Red Sneakers	Mercado	TV Movie
2002	The Salton Sea	Pooh-Bear
2002	Case of Evil	Moriarty
2005	Thumbsucker	Mike Cobb	Stockholm Film Festival Award for Best Actor
2005	Five Minutes, Mr. Welles	Orson Welles	Short
2006	The Break-Up	Dennis Grobowski
2008	The Narrows	Vinny Manadoro	Nashville Film Festival Award for Best Actor
2008	Cadillac Records	Mississippi DJ	Uncredited
2009	Staten Island	Parmie Tarzo
2009	The New Tenants	Jan	Short
2010	Brooklyn's Finest	Bobby 'Carlo' Powers
2011	Kill the Irishman	John Nardi
2011	Crackers	Gus
2012	Chained	Bob	Stiges Film Festival Award for Best Actor
2012	American Falls	Detective Foster
2012	Fire with Fire	David Hagan
2012	Sinister	Professor Jonas	Uncredited
2013	Ass Backwards	Bruce
2013	The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman	Bill
2013	Chlorine	Roger
2013	Pawn Shop Chronicles	Alton
2013	Escape Plan	Lester Clark
2013	Homefront	Danny T	Complete
2014	A Fall From Grace	George Lawson	Post-Production
2014	Broken Horses	Julius Hench	Post-Production
2014	The Judge	Glen Palmer	Complete

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1986	The Equalizer	Thomas Marley	Episode: "Counterfire"
1987	The Equalizer	Davy Baylor	Episode: "Suspicion of Innocence"
1987	Miami Vice	Leon Wolf	Episode: "The Afternoon Plane"
1997	Homicide: Life on the Street	John Lange	Episode: "Subway" Nominated - Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series(1997)
1998"2000	Men in Black: The Series	Bugs	Voice Episodes:"The Take No Prisoners Syndrome" "The Big Bad Bug Syndrome" "The J Is for James Syndrome"
2001"2011	Law & Order: Criminal Intent	Det. Robert Goren	141 Episodes Nominated - Satellite Award for Best Actor " Television Series Drama(2005)
2008	Saturday Night Live	Det. Robert Goren	Episode 33.630
2009	Xavier: Renegade Angel	Eric The Judge	Voice Episodes: "El Tornadador" "Damnesia Vu"
2012	Blue Tilt	Detective TBA	Unmade pilot.

Director/Writer/Producer

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996	The Whole Wide World	Robert E. Howard	Producer
1997	Guy	Guy	Producer
1998	The Velocity of Gary	Valentino	Executive Producer
2000	Steal This Movie	Abbie Hoffman	Executive Producer
2005	Five Minutes, Mr. Welles	Orson Welles	Writer (story) Director
2009	Ipso facto		Executive Producer
2010	Zaritsas: Russian Women in New York		Executive Producer
2010	Don't Go in the Woods		Writer (story) Director
2012	Blue Tilt		Executive Producer Unmade Pilot
TBA	Johnny and Me		Writer Director On hold

Audio

• Law and Order: Criminal Intent: The Vengeful Heart, voice, video game, (2005)
• Mr. Laughs: A Look Behind The Curtain, (2008) as narrator, autobiographical documentary based on the life of comedian, Sal Richards.
• Man on the Ledge, (October, 2010) Radio play.
• Heroes Behind The Badge, narrator, documentary (Fall, 2012)
• Like Father, Like Son and 'Ram King, (October, 2012) Tales From Beyond The Pale Live Radio Play performed live at Dixon Place in NYC.