May 13, 1939

Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, NY

Keitel studied under both Stella Adler and Lee Strasberg, eventually landing roles in some off-Broadway productions. During this time, Keitel met another struggling filmmaker named Martin Scorsese and gained a part in Scorsese's student production, Who's That Knocking at My Door. Since then both Scorsese and Keitel have worked together on numerous projects. Keitel had the starring role in Scorsese's Mean Streets but this proved to be Robert De Niro's breakthrough film. He later appeared with DeN... ... (read more...) iro in Taxi Driver, playing the pimp Matthew for Jody Foster's character of Iris.
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Originally, Keitel was to have played the role of Captain Willard in Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now. However, he was fired early in the production and replaced by Martin Sheen. After this, it was many years before he would be able to get anything other than minor roles. At the end of the 1970s, Keitel was mostly working in European films for directors such as Ridley Scott, usually in sinister character parts.
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Throughout the 1980s, Keitel continued to find plenty of work on both stage and screen, but it was usually in the stereotypical role of a thug. This role reached its zenith when Keitel starred in Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs in 1992, where his performance as "Mr. White" relaunched his semi-slumping career. Ridley Scott also helped Keitel by casting him in Thelma and Louise in 1991. That same year he landed a role in Bugsy, for which he obtained an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Since then, Keitel has chosen his roles with care, seeking to change his image and show off a broader acting range. His decision to co-star in Jane Campion's The Piano marks the approximate beginning of this phase of Keitel's career. Among some later roles to follow including Winston Wolf in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, the fatherly Satan in Little Nicky, a wise navy man in U-571 and a diligent F.B.I. agent in National Treasure.