Robert De Niro: Age, Partner, Children, Net Worth & Movies

Robert De Niro is one of those actors whose name alone tells you what kind of film you are about to watch. For more than sixty years he has played gangsters, boxers, taxi drivers, fathers, and con men with an intensity that few performers have ever matched. He is still working in his eighties, still choosing demanding roles, and still surprising audiences.

He is also one of the most private stars in Hollywood. He rarely talks about his family in detail, and he has never chased celebrity for its own sake. That privacy is part of why so many questions follow him: how old is he now, who is his partner, how many children does he have, and how much is he really worth?

This article answers those questions with facts checked against reliable public sources, current to October 2026. Where estimates differ, especially on net worth, the difference is stated openly rather than smoothed over.

Quick Facts

How Old Is Robert De Niro?

Robert De Niro was born on August 17, 1943, in Manhattan, New York City. That makes him 83 years old as of October 2026, having celebrated his eighty-third birthday in August of that year. He belongs to a generation of screen legends who reshaped American film in the 1970s.

His full name is Robert Anthony De Niro Jr., though the world has known him simply as Robert De Niro, or Bobby to his friends, for more than half a century. He is often described as one of the greatest actors of his generation, a judgment that rests on an unusually long run of landmark performances.

It is worth stating plainly that De Niro is alive and active as of October 2026. He received an Honorary Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2025, and he continues to take on film and television work.

What Was Robert De Niro’s Early Life Like?

De Niro was the only child of two painters, Robert De Niro Sr. and Virginia Admiral. His father was of Irish and Italian descent, while his mother had Dutch, English, French, and German ancestry.

His parents met at painting classes in Provincetown, Massachusetts, and separated when he was two years old. He was raised by his mother in the Greenwich Village and Little Italy neighbourhoods of Manhattan, with his father living nearby and remaining close during his childhood.

As a boy he was nicknamed “Bobby Milk” because of his pale complexion. He ran with street kids in Little Italy, a world he would later draw on in films like Mean Streets and A Bronx Tale. Some of those childhood friendships lasted for the rest of his life. He was shy, and he later said that performing became a way of getting past that shyness.

He attended several schools, including the High School of Music and Art, McBurney School, and Rhodes Preparatory School. He made his stage debut at the age of ten, playing the Cowardly Lion in a school production of The Wizard of Oz. At sixteen he dropped out of high school to pursue acting full time.

He went on to study at HB Studio, the Stella Adler Conservatory, and Lee Strasberg’s Actors Studio. There he absorbed the techniques of the Stanislavski system, which shaped the deep preparation that later became his trademark.

As a young actor he was inspired by the work of Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, James Dean, Greta Garbo, Geraldine Page, and Kim Stanley.

How Did Robert De Niro Become Famous?

De Niro’s film career began in the mid-1960s with small roles in films like Encounter and Three Rooms in Manhattan, both released in 1965. His first major part came in Brian De Palma’s satirical comedy Greetings in 1968, the start of an early collaboration with the director. The Wedding Party, filmed in 1963, was not released until 1969, so it is often mistakenly described as his debut.

His breakthrough arrived in stages. In Bang the Drum Slowly (1973) he played Bruce Pearson, a baseball player dying of Hodgkin disease, and critics took notice of his tenderness in the role. That same year he appeared in Martin Scorsese’s Mean Streets as Johnny Boy, a small-time criminal sliding toward disaster. It was the first of many collaborations with Scorsese.

Everything changed with The Godfather Part II in 1974. De Niro played the young Vito Corleone, a role originated by Marlon Brando in the first film. He learned to speak mainly in Sicilian dialects for the part, and his performance won him the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He and Brando became the first pair of actors to win Academy Awards for playing the same fictional character.

Two years later came Taxi Driver (1976), in which he played Travis Bickle, a lonely cab driver descending into violence in a decaying New York City. He lost around thirty pounds for the role, trained with firearms, and studied real taxi drivers. His improvised line “You talkin’ to me?” later ranked tenth on the American Film Institute’s list of great movie quotes.

What Are Robert De Niro’s Best Movies?

Choosing De Niro’s best films is a difficult task because his finest period lasted for decades. Raging Bull (1980) is usually placed at the top of such lists. He played boxer Jake LaMotta and gained around sixty pounds to portray the character in later life, a transformation that stunned audiences. The performance won him the Academy Award for Best Actor and is still cited as one of the great screen performances of all time.

The Deer Hunter (1978) came just before it, a harrowing film about friends from a Pennsylvania steel town sent to fight in Vietnam. In the 1980s and 1990s he moved between crime dramas and comedies with ease, starring in The King of Comedy (1982), Once Upon a Time in America (1984), The Untouchables (1987), Midnight Run (1988), and Goodfellas (1990).

Goodfellas deserves a special mention. As Jimmy Conway, De Niro anchored one of the most celebrated crime films ever made, directed once again by Scorsese. He followed it with Cape Fear (1991), Casino (1995), and Heat (1995), the last of which finally put him on screen opposite Al Pacino in extended scenes together.

His later career has been just as busy. He earned praise for Silver Linings Playbook (2012), in which he played a father trying to reconnect with his troubled son, and the role brought him another Oscar nomination. The Irishman (2019) reunited him with Scorsese, and Killers of the Flower Moon (2023) cast him as a chilling Oklahoma businessman, earning him yet another Oscar nomination.

He has also shown a gift for comedy that younger audiences know best. The Meet the Parents films, beginning in 2000, made him a familiar face to a whole new generation as the intimidating father-in-law Jack Byrnes. Analyze This (1999), The Intern (2015), and Wag the Dog (1997) all showed the lighter side of an actor famous for his darkness.

How Many Oscars Has Robert De Niro Won?

Robert De Niro has won two Academy Awards. The first was Best Supporting Actor for The Godfather Part II in 1974. The second was Best Actor for Raging Bull in 1980. Both wins came for performances that involved extraordinary preparation, and both remain central to his reputation.

Beyond the two wins, he has been nominated several more times. His Oscar-nominated performances include Taxi Driver, The Deer Hunter, Awakenings (1990), Cape Fear, Silver Linings Playbook, and Killers of the Flower Moon. He was also nominated as a producer when The Irishman was nominated for Best Picture, bringing his total to nine Academy Award nominations.

His other honours are equally impressive. He received the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2003, the Kennedy Center Honors in 2009, the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2011, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016, the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2019, and the Honorary Palme d’Or at Cannes in 2025.

Who Is Robert De Niro’s Partner?

Robert De Niro has been married twice. His first marriage was to actress Diahnne Abbott in 1976, and the couple divorced in 1988.

His second marriage was to Grace Hightower, a former flight attendant, in 1997. The couple separated in 2018 after more than twenty years together.

His current partner is Tiffany Chen, a martial arts instructor. Their relationship became widely known in 2023 when De Niro announced that he had become a father again. The couple have kept their private life largely out of the spotlight.

It is important to separate fact from gossip here. This article sticks to marriages and partnerships documented in reputable reporting: Abbott, Hightower, and Chen. Anything beyond that is speculation, and it does not belong in a serious account of his life.

How Many Children Does Robert De Niro Have?

Robert De Niro has seven children. His eldest is Drena De Niro, born in 1971, the daughter of Diahnne Abbott from a previous relationship, whom De Niro adopted after marrying Abbott. His son Raphael De Niro, born in 1976, is also from his marriage to Abbott and went on to become a successful New York real estate broker.

With his former partner Toukie Smith, De Niro has twin sons, Julian and Aaron, born in 1995. With Grace Hightower he has two children: Elliot, born in 1998, and Helen Grace, born in 2011. His youngest child is Gia Virginia Chen De Niro, born in 2023, his daughter with Tiffany Chen.

De Niro became a father for the seventh time at the age of 79, a fact he confirmed himself in a 2023 interview. He has spoken warmly about fatherhood at every stage of his life and has often described his children as the most important part of his life.

Unlike some celebrities, De Niro has not pushed his children into the spotlight. Several have chosen creative careers of their own, but they have largely done so on their own terms.

What Is Robert De Niro’s Net Worth?

Robert De Niro’s net worth is estimated at around 500 million dollars, according to Celebrity Net Worth, the most widely cited source for celebrity wealth estimates. Other outlets have published figures in the same broad range, with some estimates running as high as 530 million dollars. The honest answer is that no exact figure is publicly confirmed, and all published numbers are estimates.

Those estimates rest on more than his acting fees. De Niro has been paid handsomely for films for decades, but a large share of his wealth is believed to come from his business interests. He is a co-founder of Nobu Hospitality, the restaurant and hotel group built around chef Nobu Matsuhisa, and he co-founded the Greenwich Hotel in New York, which opened in 2008.

It is worth understanding why estimates vary. Celebrity wealth figures are assembled from public records, reported salaries, property holdings, and business valuations, none of which are fully public. A figure like 500 million dollars should therefore be read as a reasonable estimate, not as a bank balance.

He has also faced financial pressures in public view. During his divorce proceedings, court filings reported on by reputable outlets described substantial monthly expenses and the impact of the pandemic on his restaurant and hotel businesses.

What Businesses Does Robert De Niro Own?

De Niro’s most important business legacy may be the Tribeca Film Festival. In 1989 he founded the production company TriBeCa Productions with producer Jane Rosenthal. After the September 11 attacks, he, Rosenthal, and Craig Hatkoff founded the Tribeca Film Festival in 2002 to help revive Lower Manhattan. It has since become one of the world’s leading independent film festivals.

The festival is a good example of how De Niro thinks about his work. He could have lent his name to it and walked away, but he has remained closely involved for more than two decades. It screens hundreds of films each year and supports new filmmakers.

His restaurant empire is equally significant. Nobu began as a single restaurant and grew, with De Niro as a founding partner, into dozens of restaurants and hotels worldwide. The Greenwich Hotel, in Tribeca, is a smaller and more personal project, a luxury hotel that reflects his taste for craftsmanship and quiet luxury rather than flash.

What Is Robert De Niro Doing Now?

De Niro’s recent work shows no sign of slowing down. In 2025 he starred in the Netflix limited series Zero Day, playing a former United States president drawn back into public life after a devastating cyberattack. The same year he appeared in The Alto Knights, a crime drama in which he played two roles, the mob figures Frank Costello and Vito Genovese.

In May 2025 he was honoured at the Cannes Film Festival with the Honorary Palme d’Or, a lifetime achievement award from the world’s most prestigious film festival.

He remains involved with the Tribeca Film Festival and his production company, and he continues to be a visible figure in New York civic life. Whatever he does next, it is clear that retirement is not part of his vocabulary.

Lesser-Known Facts About Robert De Niro

• He was so shy as a young man that he has said acting was a way of escaping his own shyness, not a way of showing off.
• He learned to speak Sicilian dialects for his role as the young Vito Corleone in The Godfather Part II, and he delivered most of his lines in that language.
• For Raging Bull he gained around sixty pounds after filming the young Jake LaMotta, a physical transformation that became legendary in Hollywood.
• He worked as a taxi driver in New York in preparation for Taxi Driver, studying real drivers to build the character of Travis Bickle.
• He directed two films himself: A Bronx Tale in 1993 and The Good Shepherd in 2006, the second a spy drama starring Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie.
• He holds Italian citizenship in addition to his American citizenship, a recognition of his family’s Italian roots.
• He co-founded the Tribeca Film Festival in 2002 to help Lower Manhattan recover after the September 11 attacks.
• He portrayed Bernie Madoff, the disgraced financier, in the HBO film The Wizard of Lies in 2017.
• He has been nominated for Academy Awards in five different decades, from the 1970s to the 2020s.

Frequently Asked Questions About Robert De Niro

How old is Robert De Niro in 2026?

Robert De Niro is 83 years old in 2026. He was born on August 17, 1943, and celebrated his eighty-third birthday in August 2026.

Is Robert De Niro still alive?

Yes, Robert De Niro is alive and active as of October 2026. He received the Honorary Palme d’Or at Cannes in May 2025 and starred in the Netflix series Zero Day the same year.

Who is Robert De Niro’s wife?

Robert De Niro is not currently married. He was married to Diahnne Abbott from 1976 to 1988 and to Grace Hightower from 1997 until their separation in 2018. His current partner is Tiffany Chen.

How many children does Robert De Niro have?

Robert De Niro has seven children: Drena, Raphael, twins Julian and Aaron, Elliot, Helen Grace, and Gia Virginia, born in 2023.

What is Robert De Niro’s net worth?

Robert De Niro’s net worth is estimated at around 500 million dollars, according to Celebrity Net Worth. Other outlets have published estimates up to about 530 million dollars, so the figure should be treated as an estimate rather than an exact total.

What is Robert De Niro’s most famous movie?

His most famous films include The Godfather Part II, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, and Goodfellas. Raging Bull is most often named by critics as his single greatest performance.

How did Robert De Niro prepare for Raging Bull?

For Raging Bull, De Niro trained extensively as a boxer to play the young Jake LaMotta, then gained around sixty pounds to portray the character in later life. The transformation is still regarded as one of the most committed in film history.

What is Robert De Niro’s connection to the Tribeca Film Festival?

Robert De Niro co-founded the Tribeca Film Festival in 2002 with Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff, following the September 11 attacks, to support the cultural and economic recovery of Lower Manhattan.

Conclusion: The Final Word on Robert De Niro

Robert De Niro’s career is a reminder of what acting can be at its most serious. He did not become famous by accident, and he did not stay famous by repeating himself. He prepared obsessively and built a body of work that now spans six decades.

His personal life has been quieter and more complicated than his screen image suggests. He is a father of seven, a twice-divorced man who found a new chapter with Tiffany Chen, and a businessman whose restaurants, hotels, and film festival have changed a neighbourhood of New York. His wealth, estimated at around 500 million dollars, is impossible to pin down exactly, and this article has said so rather than pretending otherwise.

The best way to understand him remains the simplest: watch the films. Start with The Godfather Part II, Taxi Driver, and Raging Bull, then move on to Goodfellas and Killers of the Flower Moon.

Like Dustin Hoffman, his great contemporary, De Niro belongs to a generation that treated acting as a craft worth a lifetime of study. For a full list of his films and awards, see his Wikipedia biography.

He is still working, still learning, and still capable of surprising an audience. That is remarkable at eighty-three.