A biography of legend Harvey Keitel

28 February 2010

Harvey Keitel was born on May 13th, 1939 in Brooklyn New York. He made the decision at 16 to leave school to join the United States Marine Corps where he was stationed in Lebanon while serving his country. Upon his return to the United States he lived a modest but comfortable life working as a court reporter.

Harvey Keitel eventually caught the acting bug and had the opportunity to study at the HB Studio. This led him to roles in some off Broadway productions and eventually to his first appearance on film which was in Martin Scorseses production of Whos That Knocking At My Door.

This role was just the beginning of a working relationship between Keitel and Scorsese, who at the time was not a hugely well known producer.

The two worked together many times after this, and while Scorseses career began to take off fast, this was unfortunately not the case for Keitel.

Even after scoring the lead in the movie Mean Streets, which was directed again by Scorcese and also starred up and coming star Robert De Niro, he didnt receive the recognition that he had hoped for.

Still determined to achieve his goals, he took many of the small roles that were offered to him over next few years. By the time the 80s rolled around he didnt have much of a problem finding work, however he was seemingly always type casted as a gangster, or thug type character.

He eventually landed a starring role in the movie Reservoir Dogs which helped restart what appeared to be his failing career.

It was in the 90s that Keitels career really seemed to take off. In this decade he was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance in Bugsby. He was working hard to change his image and no longer wanted to be type casted into roles as a gangster thug.

Keitel was ready to branch out to a broader range of roles.

It wasnt until 2000 when he landed the role of Satan in Little Nicky that people started to see Keitel in a different light. He followed up his success in this movie with roles in National Treasure and its sequel National Treasure: Book of Secrets, in which he plays the role of Special agent Peter Sadusky.

Today Keitel is a highly respected and well known actor, and while his rise to the top was not always easy, he was not always alone, often taking roles in feature films where the filmmaker was equally as unknown. Upon taking roles in Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, Quentin Tarantino was just a young screen play writer looking for his first big hit.

Success definitely found Keitel, and many of those that he worked with over the years. In 2002 he was honored with the Stanislavsky Award at the Moscow International Film Festival. He received this award for his achievement in his acting career as well as for his devotion to the principles of Stanislavskys school. He also went on to become one of the co-presidents of The Actors Studio and is still acting in various roles today.
Tags: martin scorsese, robert de niro, harvey keitel, bad lieutenant, brooklyn, pulp fiction, harvey keitel interview, mean streets, reservoir dogs, quentin tarantino,
Posted In: Hollywood, Biographies,

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