Joe Pesci a comedic sidekick and best friend to protagonist detectives Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson) and Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover) in the "Lethal Weapon" sequels, released in 1989, 1992 and 1998. In 1990, he reunited with Scorsese and De Niro for "Goodfellas", wherein he played mobster Tommy DeVito, based on real-life mobster Thomas DeSimone. (Tommy DeVito is also the name of Pesci's old acquaintance from Belleville, New Jersey, and a member of The Four Seasons, but contrary to popular belief, the naming is coincidental.) Old friend Frank Vincent also appears in the film; Pesci's character kills Vincent's character in a rage in
Robert De Niro (1987), "Heat" (1995), and "Casino" (1995). He has directed and starred in films such as the crime drama "A Bronx Tale" (1993) and the spy film "The Good Shepherd" (2006). Robert Anthony De Niro Jr. was born on August 17, 1943, in the Manhattan borough of New York City, the only child of painters Virginia Admiral and Robert De Niro Sr. He is of Irish and Italian descent on his father's side, while his mother had Dutch, English, French, and German ancestry. De Niro's parents, who had met at the painting classes of Hans Hofmann in Provincetown, Massachusetts, divorced when