Joe Pesci

Pesci was married to Claudia Haro from 1988 to 1992, and they have a daughter, Tiffany Pesci. He was previously married twice and was engaged to model Angie Everhart in 2007; their relationship ended the following year.

Pesci's parents were Mary Mesce, a part-time barber, and Angelo Pesci, a bartender and forklift truck driver for General Motors. He was raised in Belleville, New Jersey, and graduated from Belleville High School.

Pesci began performing as a child, appearing onstage in New York by age five and becoming a regular on the television variety show Startime Kids at age 10. He worked as a barber in the 1960s while pursuing music, including playing guitar with Joey Dee and the Starliters.

In 1968, he released Little Joe Sure Can Sing! under the name Joe Ritchie. Pesci later formed the comedy act Vincent and Pesci with Frank Vincent, combining vaudeville-style routines with insult comedy. Their professional association continued in films including GoodFellas and Casino.

As a teenager in Belleville, Pesci introduced Bob Gaudio to Tommy DeVito and Frankie Valli, a meeting that helped lead to the formation of The Four Seasons. He returned to recording with Vincent LaGuardia Gambini Sings Just for You in 1998 and Pesci... Still Singing in 2019.

Pesci's early film work included an uncredited appearance as a dancer in Hey, Let's Twist! in 1961 and a role in the low-budget crime film The Death Collector in 1976. Robert De Niro saw his performance in The Death Collector and brought him to the attention of Martin Scorsese, who cast him as Joey LaMotta in Raging Bull (1980).

The role earned Pesci nominations for the Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor, as well as a BAFTA award for Most Promising Newcomer. He reunited with De Niro in Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in America (1984), then worked with Mel Gibson and Danny Glover as Leo Getz in Lethal Weapon 2 (1989) and its sequels.

In Goodfellas (1990), Pesci played the violent gangster Tommy DeVito, a performance that won him the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. The film was his third collaboration with Scorsese and De Niro, and Pesci's Oscar acceptance speech consisted of the words, "It's my privilege. Thank you."

Pesci broadened his audience in 1990 by playing burglar Harry Lime in Home Alone, opposite Daniel Stern and Macaulay Culkin. He reprised the role in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992). His other notable roles of the period included David Ferrie in Oliver Stone's JFK (1991), Vinny Gambini in My Cousin Vinny (1992), Carmine in A Bronx Tale (1993), and Nicky Santoro in Scorsese's Casino (1995).

Pesci announced his retirement from acting in 1999 to pursue music and life away from the camera. He later appeared in Robert De Niro's The Good Shepherd (2006) and starred with Helen Mirren in Love Ranch (2010). He returned to major film acting as Russell Bufalino in Scorsese's The Irishman (2019), earning his third Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

His later screen appearances included the music documentary I Go Back Home: Jimmy Scott (2016), the television comedy series Bupkis (2023), and the film Day of the Fight (2023).