Compact Italian-American actor Joe Pesci was born February 9, 1943, in Newark, NJ, to Mary (Mesce), a part-time barber, and Angelo Pesci, a bartender and forklift driver. Pesci first broke into entertainment as a child actor and by the mid-50s was starring on the series "Star Time Kids". In the mid-'60s he released a record under the stage name of "Joe Ritchie" titled "Little Joe Sure Can Sing", and was also playing guitar with several bands, including Joey Dee and The Starliters. He even joined with friend Frank Vincent to start a vaudeville-style comedy act, but met with limited success (interestingly, Pesci and Vincent would later go on to co-star in several gangster films together, including Les affranchis (1990) and Casino (1995))
Pesci's first film role was as an uncredited dancer in Hey, Let's Twist! (1961) and then he had to wait another 15 years for a minor part in The Death Collector (1976). His work in the second film was seen by Robert De Niro, who convinced director Martin Scorsese to cast him as "Joey LaMotta" in the epic boxing film Raging Bull (1980), which really got him noticed in Hollywood. He played opposite Rodney Dangerfield in Easy Money (1983), was with buddy DeNiro again in Il était une fois en Amérique (1984), nearly stole the show as con man Leo Getz in L'arme fatale 2 (1989) and scored a Best Supporting Actor Oscar playing the psychotic Tommy DeVito in "Goodfellas".
His comedic talents shone again in the mega-popular Maman, j'ai raté l'avion! (1990), and he put in a terrific performance as co-conspirator David Ferrie in JFK (1991). Pesci was back again as Leo Getz for L'arme fatale 3 (1992), and was still a bumbling crook in Maman, j'ai encore raté l'avion (1992), and had a minor role in the Robert De Niro-directed Il était une fois le Bronx (1993). He was lured back by Scorsese to play another deranged gangster named Nicky (based on real-life hood Tony Spilotro [aka "The Ant"]) in the violent Casino (1995), and starred in the comedies 8 têtes dans un sac (1997) and Gone Fishin' (1997), although both failed to fire at the box office.
He returned again as fast-talking con man Leo Getz in L'arme fatale 4 (1998).
