Daniel Michael "Danny" DeVito, Jr. (born November 17, 1944) is
an American actor, comedian, director and producer. He first gained
prominence for his portrayal of short statured dispatcher Louie De Palma
on the
ABC and
NBC television series
Taxi (1978–1983), for which he won a
Golden Globe and an
Emmy.
DeVito and his wife,
Rhea Perlman, founded Jersey Films, a production company known for films such as
Pulp Fiction,
Garden State, and
Freedom Writers. DeVito also owns Jersey Television, which produced the
Comedy Central series
Reno 911!. DeVito and Perlman also starred together in his 1996 film
Matilda, based on
Roald Dahl's children's novel. He currently stars as
Frank Reynolds on the
FX sitcom
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
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DeVito played Martini in the 1975 film
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, reprising his role from the 1971
off-Broadway play
of the same name. He gained fame in 1978 playing Louie De Palma, the
short but domineering dispatcher for the fictional Sunshine Cab Company,
on the hit TV show
Taxi. After
Taxi ended, DeVito began a successful film career, starting with roles in 1983's
Terms of Endearment, and as the comic rogue in the romantic adventure
Romancing the Stone, starring
Michael Douglas and
Kathleen Turner, and its 1985 sequel,
The Jewel of the Nile. In 1986, DeVito starred in
Ruthless People with
Bette Midler and
Judge Reinhold, and in 1987, he made his feature-directing debut with the
dark comedy Throw Momma from the Train, in which he starred with
Billy Crystal and
Anne Ramsey. Two years later, DeVito reunited with Douglas and Turner in
The War of the Roses, which he directed and in which he co-starred.
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DeVito's work during this time includes
Other People's Money with
Gregory Peck, director
Barry Levinson's
Tin Men as a competitive rival salesman to
Richard Dreyfuss' character, two co-starring vehicles with
Arnold Schwarzenegger (the comedies
Twins and
Junior), and playing
The Penguin as a deformed sociopath in director Tim Burton's
Batman Returns
Although generally a comic actor, DeVito expanded into dramatic roles with
The Rainmaker,
Hoffa (1992), which he directed and in which he co-starred with
Jack Nicholson,
Jack the Bear (1993),
L.A. Confidential,
The Big Kahuna, and
Heist (
2001), as a
gangster nemesis to
Gene Hackman's character.
DeVito has an interest in documentaries: In 2006, he began a partnership with
Morgan Freeman's company
ClickStar, on which he hosts a documentary channel called Jersey Docs. He was also interviewed in the documentary
Revenge of the Electric Car, about his interest in and ownership of
electric vehicles.
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