Vincent D'Onofrio
Vincent Phillip D'Onofrio (born June 30, 1959 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American character actor and producer.
D'Onofrio's family moved around in his youth, and he grew up in Hawaii, Florida, and Colorado. It wasn't until the late '70s, when he was accepted for study with the American Stanislavsky Theatre, that he returned to New York. His sister Elizabeth also studied with the same group.
1984 was an important year for the young D'Onofrio. He 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 NYU student films and was working as a bouncer.
It was his turn as the disturbed and bullied Private Leonard "Gomer Pyle" Lawrence in Stanley Kubrick's 1987 film, Full Metal Jacket, that first brought him to the film world's attention. In gaining 70 pounds for the role, he showed his commitment to the craft. Since then, he has played a wide variety of roles, including iconic director Orson Welles in Tim Burton's Ed Wood and Yippie founder Abbie Hoffman in Steal This Movie.
He also has dabbled in film production and to date has produced two movies, The Whole Wide World and Guy in 1996 and 1997 respectively and executive produced two others, The Velocity of Gary in 1998 and Steal This Movie in 2000.
Recently he has moved to the small screen where he has been no less appreciated. He now plays Detective Robert Goren, a principal character, on the NBC TV show Law & Order: Criminal Intent.
He received an Emmy nomination for his appearance as John Lange, the doomed accident/murder victim in the acclaimed "Subway" episode of Homicide: Life on the Street.
On 9 February 2005, NBC announced that Chris Noth, who played Detective Mike Logan in Law & Order from 1990 to 1995, would join the cast of Law & Order: Criminal Intent as Det. Logan from the 2005–2006 season. Noth is to relieve D'Onofrio, with each actor taking the lead in 11 of the 22 or so episodes.
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Personal life
D'Onofrio was married to model/photographer Carin van der Donk from 1997 to October 16, 2003. He has two children. His daughter Leila George (with actress Greta Scacchi) was born in March 1992 and his son Elias (with Carin van der Donk) was born in 2000.
He experienced a health scare in 2004 when he collapsed on the set of Law & Order: Criminal Intent on November 10. He collapsed again at home a few days later and was taken back to the hospital for more thorough testing and was subsequently diagnosed with exhaustion.
Trivia
Tim Burton was unhappy with D'Onofrio's impression of Orson Welles, as a result the voice heard in Ed Wood is a digital combination of his voice and the voice of Maurice LaMarche, a voice actor particularly noted for his impression of Orson Welles.
He played the same character, Bill Newman, an eyewitness to John F. Kennedy's murder, in two unrelated films – JFK and Malcolm X.
Gained 70 pounds for his role in the 1987 film Full Metal Jacket.
Gained 45 pounds for his role in The Salton Sea.
Film and television credits
Film
- Thumbsucker (2004)
- The Salton Sea (2002)
- The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys (2002)
- Bark (2002)
- Impostor (2002)
- Chelsea Walls (2001)
- The Cell (2000)
- Steal This Movie (2000)
- Happy Accidents (2000)
- Spanish Judges (1999)
- The Thirteenth Floor (1999)
- The Velocity of Gary (1998)
- Claire Dolan (1998)
- The Newton Boys (1998)
- Guy (1997)
- Men in Black (1997)
- Boys Life 2 (1997)
- Good Luck (1996)
- Feeling Minnesota (1996)
- The Winner (1996)
- The Whole Wide World (1996)
- Hotel Paradise (1995)
- Strange Days (1995)
- Stuart Saves His Family (1995)
- Nunzio's Second Cousin (1994)
- Imaginary Crimes (1994)
- Ed Wood (1994)
- Being Human (1993)
- Mr. Wonderful (1993)
- Household Saints (1993)
- Malcolm X (1992)
- Salt on Our Skin (1992)
- The Player (1992)
- JFK (1991)
- Naked Tango (1991)
- Fires Within (1991)
- Dying Young (1991)
- Crooked Hearts (1991)
- The Blood of Heroes (1990)
- Signs of Life (1989)
- Mystic Pizza (1988)
- Adventures in Babysitting (1987)
- Full Metal Jacket (1987)
- It Don't Pay to Be an Honest Citizen (1984)
- The First Turn-On!! (1983)
Television movies and series (including notable guest appearances)
- Case of Evil (2002)
- The Red Sneakers (2002)
- Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2001) – television series
- The Championship Season (1999)
- The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1998) – TV remake of the 1974 original
- Men in Black: The Series (1997)
- The Investigator (1994)
- Homicide: Life on the Street (1993) – guest appearance in "The Subway" (episode #6.7 – Dec 1997)