VINCENT D'ONOFRIO

'Vincent Phillip D'Onofrio' (born June 30, 1959) is an American actor and producer. He first gained attention for his role as Pvt. Leonard 'Gomer Pyle' Lawrence in ''Full Metal Jacket'', and is now best known for playing Det. Robert Goren' in ''.

Contents

Biography

Early life

Career

Personal life

Partial filmography

Television (including notable guest appearances)

Documentaries

References

External links

Biography

Early life

D'Onofrio was born in Brooklyn, New York. His family moved around in his youth, and he grew up in Hawaii, Florida, and Colorado. He graduated from Hialeah-Miami Lakes High School in Florida in 1977 and then attended a Colorado University for about 18 months. He then dropped out of college to pursue acting. He was accepted for study with the American Stanislavsky Theatre in New York City.^[1]

Career

In 1984, D'Onofrio became a full member of the American Stanislavsky Theatre and appeared in a number of its productions, including ''Of Mice and Men'' and ''Sexual Perversity in Chicago''. He also made his Broadway debut as Nick Rizzoli in ''Open Admissions ''. Before this breakthrough, he had been acting in New York University student films and was working as a bouncer.¹
In 1987, D'Onofrio entered the mainstream consciousness with two film roles that showcased his range as an actor. Most notable was the role of Private Leonard "Gomer Pyle" Lawrence in Stanley Kubrick's 1987 film, ''Full Metal Jacket''. This was D'Onofrio's first major role, and he gained 70 pounds (32 kg) for the part.^[2] The other role was that of Dawson, the owner of Dawson's Garage in ''Adventures in Babysitting'', which was directed by Chris Columbus. D'Onofrio only appears in one pivotal scene (near the end of the movie), but his role was memorable in that his muscular physique and long blonde hair cause Sara (the film's youngest character) to mistakenly believe that he is actually Thor, the superhero she idolizes.
In the time since, D'Onofrio has continued to play a wide variety of roles, including iconic director Orson Welles in Tim Burton's ''Ed Wood'', farmer Edgar and the evil "Bug" from ''Men in Black'', Yippie founder Abbie Hoffman in ''Steal This Movie'', time traveler from the distant future in ''Happy Accidents'', and fictional serial killer Carl Stargher in ''The Cell''.
He also has dabbled in film production and direction, having, to date, produced two movies, ''The Whole Wide World'' and ''Guy'' in 1996 and 1997, respectively, executive produced two others, ''The Velocity of Gary'' in 1998 and ''Steal This Movie'' in 2000 and directed the short ''Five Minutes, Mr. Welles'' in 2005. This last represents a culmination of D'Onofrio's desire to improve on his performance as Welles in ''Ed Wood'', which reputedly left director Tim Burton underwhelmed and in need of a voice-over artist (Maurice LaMarche) despite D'Onofrio's uncanny physical resemblance to the late actor/director.
D'Onofrio has since moved to the small screen. He received an Emmy nomination in 1997 for his appearance as John Lange, the doomed victim in the acclaimed "Subway" episode of ''. He currently stars as Det. Robert Goren, a principal character, on the NBC television show ''.
In 2003, it was reported that D'Onofrio and Joe Pantoliano began 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..^[3] According to a television interview with Pantoliano, 'Little Victories' was not completed and went into turnaround due to a failure to raise all of the necessary funds 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, D'Onofrio again appeared on the big screen in ''The Break Up'', starring Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn. In it, D'Onofrio played Vaughn's somewhat eccentric brother. This fraternal pairing of the two was regarded by many as a clever casting choice, since the two actors have similar physical features and mannerisms that, combined with having the same first name, cause many casual movie fans to confuse the two actors. The two had previously appeared together in ''The Cell'', where Vaughn co-starred as an FBI agent attempting to catch D'Onofrio, and ''Thumbsucker''.

Personal life

D'Onofrio has a daughter, Leila George D'Onofrio, born 1992 in Australia. Leila's mother is actress Greta Scacchi, with whom D'Onofrio made several movies in the late '80s and early '90s (including ''The Player'' and ''Fires Within''). After that relationship ended, D'Onofrio married Carin van der Donk on March 22, 1997. The couple have a son Elias, born late 1999. D'Onofrio and van der Donk separated in October 2003,^[4] and have since reconciled and remain married. D'Onofrio and his family reside in New York where '' is filmed.^[5]
In late 2004, D'Onofrio experienced a health scare when he collapsed on the set of '' on November 10. He collapsed again at home a few days later and was taken back to the hospital for more thorough testing, where he was diagnosed with exhaustion.^[6] Subsequently, the series' producers introduced a second team of detectives in 2005, Mike Logan (Chris Noth) and Carolyn Barek (Annabella Sciorra), later replacing Sciorra with Julianne Nicholson playing Det. Megan Wheeler.^[7]

Partial filmography

★ ''The First Turn-On!'' (1983) ★ ''It Don't Pay to Be an Honest Citizen'' (1984) ★ ''Full Metal Jacket'' (1987) ★ ''Adventures in Babysitting'' (1987) ★ ''Mystic Pizza'' (1988) ★ ''Signs of Life'' (1989) ★ ''The Blood of Heroes'' (1989) - also known as ''Salute of the Jugger'' ★ ''Crooked Hearts'' (1991) ★ ''Dying Young'' (1991) ★ ''Fires Within'' (1991) ★ ''Naked Tango'' (1991) ★ ''JFK'' (1991) ★ ''The Player'' (1992) ★ ''Salt on Our Skin'' (1992) - also known as ''Desire'' ★ ''Being Human'' (1993) ★ ''Household Saints'' (1993) ★ ''Mr. Wonderful'' (1993) ★ ''Ed Wood'' (1994) ★ ''The Investigator'' (1994) ★ ''Imaginary Crimes'' (1994) ★ ''Nunzio's Second Cousin'' [1994) ★ ''Stuart Saves His Family'' (1995) ★ ''Strange Days'' (1995) ★ ''Hotel Paradise'' (1995) ★ ''The Whole Wide World'' (1996) ★ ''The Winner'' (1996) ★ ''Feeling Minnesota'' (1996)

★ ''Good Luck'' (1996) ★ ''Boys Life 2'' (1997) ★ ''Men in Black'' (1997) ★ ''Guy'' (1997) ★ ''The Taking of Pelham One Two Three'' (1998) - TV remake of the 1974 film ★ ''The Newton Boys'' (1998) ★ ''Claire Dolan'' (1998) ★ ''The Velocity of Gary'' (1998) ★ ''Spanish Judges'' (1999) ★ ''The Thirteenth Floor'' (1999) ★ ''That Championship Season'' (1999) ★ ''Happy Accidents'' (2000) ★ ''Steal This Movie'' (2000) ★ ''The Cell'' (2000) ★ ''Chelsea Walls'' (2001) ★ ''Imposter'' (2002) ★ ''Bark!'' (2002) ★ ''The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys'' (2002) ★ ''The Red Sneakers'' (2002) ★ ''The Salton Sea'' (2002) ★ ''Case of Evil'' (2002) ★ ''Thumbsucker'' (2005) ★ ''Five Minutes, Mr Welles'' (2005) ★ ''The Break Up'' (2006) ★ '' The Narrows'' (scheduled for a 2008 release) ★ ''Staten Island'' (in pre-production)

Television (including notable guest appearances)

★ '' (2001—) as Det. Robert Goren

★ '' as Bugs (voice) in "The Big Bad Bug Syndrome" (Episode 2.5)

★ '' as John Lange in "The Subway" (Episode 6.7)

★ ''The Equalizer'' as Davy Baylor in "Suspicion of Innocence" (Episode 3.3) and as as Thomas Marley in "Counterfire" (Episode 2.7)

★ ''Miami Vice'' as Leon Wolf in "The Afternoon Plane" (Episode 3.17)

Documentaries

★ ''Anatomy of a Homicide'', PBS (1998)^[8]

References

1. NBC Universal Media Village: Law & Order: Criminal Intent: Vincent D'Onofrio
2. IMDB Vincent D'Onofrio (I) - Biography
3. The Hollywood Reporter: Pantoliano, D'Onofrio in 'Little' film
4. My Way - Liz Smith November 16, 2003
5. NBC.com > Law & Order: Criminal Intent > Bios > Vincent D'Onofrio
6. Variety.com - D'Onofrio returns to 'Law and Order'
7. NBC Universal Media Village: Law & Order: Criminal Intent
8. http://interactive.wgbh.org/wgbh/tv/homicide/factsheet.html

External links

★ Official NBC Biography of Vincent D'Onofrio

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