Harvey Keitel

Overview

Born
May 13, 1939 · Brooklyn, New York, USA
Height
5′ 7″ (1.70 m)

Biography

Family

Spouse
Children
Parents

Trademark

Often works with Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino and Robert De Niro
Heavy Brooklyn accent
Frequently plays violent characters with a deep seated moral center
Intense emotional acting style

Trivia

Like his good friend Robert De Niro, Keitel is usually very uncomfortable during interviews, often nervously laughing through them.
Worked as a court stenographer in New York City for about 10 years while he was a struggling actor.
Served 3 years in the United States Marine Corps. In 1958, he was sent to Lebanon during a U.S. military intervention aimed at defusing a major political crisis there.
Has demonstrated extraordinary enthusiasm for working with first-time directors, from Martin Scorsese in 1968 to Ridley Scott, Paul Schrader, James Toback, Quentin Tarantino, and in 1999, Vietnamese-American Tony Bui.
Was in a long-term relationship with actress Lorraine Bracco (1982-1993). They had one daughter, Stella Keitel (born 1985).

Quotes

Everyone wants to learn something; maybe not everyone makes the effort, because they get discouraged. I certainly was like that as a teenager in Brooklyn, always trying to hide my ignorance. But you have to find the strength to acknowledge that ignorance within yourself, otherwise you are going to remain stagnant. I learnt a valuable lesson with Ridley Scott. My agent kept insisting that I go watch the show-reel of this commercial director and I kept turning him down, thinking there was no way that I was even going to consider working with a commercial director. In the end I saw his reel and I was blown away by how great it was.
Fear is a marker I need to rise above, otherwise I would drown in my fear of myself.
I don't want people to think that awards amount to the value of an actor. Real success means involvement - to engage oneself totally in something. Unless you become involved, you will stay uninvolved. If money is your god, you will accumulate money, but little else. If you seek out the experience of something... you have a good chance to have a full life.
Existence is a struggle.
[explaining why he supports a mandatory military draft] We, the people, should participate in the privileges we have in this democracy that we live in, and we should all share in the dangers and the risks with our lives to protect the freedoms that we have. I don't see how our young men can feel they're part of the country if they don't participate in the defense of the country - in the defense of our values - when it's necessary to do so. I feel, strongly, that by excluding themselves, they sacrifice something integral. They separate themselves from the hero's journey - this journey we all must take to find ourselves.