Harvey Keitel

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Birthday:

13 May 1939, Brooklyn, New York, USA

Height:

171 cm

American actor and producer Harvey Keitel was born on May 13, 1939 in Brooklyn, New York City. An Oscar and Golden Globe Award nominee, he has appeared in films such as Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets (1973) and Taxi Driver (1976), Ridley Scott's The Duellists (1977) and Thelma & Louise (1991), Peter Yates' Mother, Jugs & Speed (1976), Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs (1992) and Pulp Fiction (1994), Jane Campion's The Piano (1993), Abel Ferrara's Bad Lieutenant (1992), Robert Rodriguez's From Dusk Till Dawn (1996), James Mangold's Cop Land (1997), Paolo Sorrentino's Youth (2015). He is regarded as one of the greatest method actors ever. Along with actors Al Pacino and Ellen Burstyn, he is the current co-president of the Actors Studio.Keitel studied under both Stella Adler and Lee Strasberg and at the HB Studio, eventually landing roles in some Off-Broadway productions. During this time, Keitel auditioned for filmmaker Martin Scorsese and gained a starring role as "J.R.", in Scorsese's first feature film, I Call First (1967). Since then, Scorsese and Keitel have worked together on several projects. Keitel had the starring role in Scorsese's Mean Streets (1973), which also proved to be Robert De Niro's breakthrough film. Keitel re-teamed with Scorsese for Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974), in which he had a villainous supporting role, and appeared with Robert De Niro again in Scorsese's Taxi Driver (1976), playing the role of Jodie Foster's pimp. Show less «

Everyone wants to learn something; maybe not everyone makes the effort, because they get discouraged. I certainly was like that as a teenage...Show more »

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. Show less «

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 some...Show more »

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. Show less «

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 ...Show more »

[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. Show less «

Violence has its own texture, and it needs to be respected, prayed to, idolized, swallowed, digested.

I'm learning to enjoy living because I'm learning to cope with sadness and loneliness. I'm learning not to run away from those things into o...Show more »

I'm learning to enjoy living because I'm learning to cope with sadness and loneliness. I'm learning not to run away from those things into other places... I don't want to pretend to know why, but living is difficult, and living is beautiful; without difficulty there would be no beauty. Show less «

My characters aren't nasty; they're troubled. I don't see these these guys as bad guys at all. There's no difficulty for me in keeping them ...Show more »

My characters aren't nasty; they're troubled. I don't see these these guys as bad guys at all. There's no difficulty for me in keeping them human. Show less «