Harvey Keitel Biography

Born in 1939 in Brooklyn, New York, Harvey Keitel studied acting at The Actors Studio with Frank Corsaro, Lee Strasberg and Stella Adler, later becoming one of the co-presidents of the institution alongside Ellen Burstyn and Al Pacino.

He first gained recognition with a series of gritty roles in the early films of Martin Scorsese. Keitel and Scorsese made their onscreen feature debuts in 1967 with WHO’S THAT KNOCKING AT MY DOOR in which he played Scorsese’s alter ego. Five years later, they collaborated on MEAN STREETS and a series of subsequent partnerships through the ‘70’s, including ALICE DOESN’T LIVE HERE ANYMORE (1974) and TAXI DRIVER (1976). In 1977, he starred in Ridley Scott’s THE DUELLISTS and one year later in James Toback’s haunting psychological drama FINGERS. In 1988, he was cast as Judas in Scorsese’s THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST. His role as a sympathetic detective in Ridley Scott’s THELMA & LOUISE in 1991 proved to be a turning point in his career. His Oscar nomination for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his portrayal of gangster Mickey Cohen in Barry Levinson’s BUGSY the same year put him in the forefront on the big screen.

In 1992, his work in Abel Ferrara’s BAD LIEUTENANT earned him an Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead. The same year he played in Quentin Tarrantino’s cult debut feature RESERVOIR DOGS opposite Steve Buscemi and Tim Roth. He also starred in Jane Campion’s critically acclaimed art drama THE PIANO with Holly Hunter and Sam Neil, which won the Palme d’Or at the 1993 Cannes Festival. In the 1990s Keitel continued to turn out solid performance in such films as Quentin Tarantino’s Palme d’Or winner PULP FICTION (1994), Spike Lee’s CLOCKERS (1995), and James Mangold’s COP LAND (1997).

One of his most memorable characterizations, cigar shop owner Auggie Wren, came from his 1995 collaboration with writer Paul Auster and director Wayne Wang on SMOKE and BLUE IN THE FACE, which Auster wrote and Wang directed. He also teamed with Auster again in 1990 on LULU ON THE BRIDGE.
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In the past two decades, Keitel was seen in a variety of films, notably Tony Bui’s THREE SEASONS (1999), in which he played an American soldier searching for his lost daughter in Vietnam, Jane Campion’s HOLY SMOKE (1999), in which he played a man sent to deprogram Kate Winslet of religious cult teachings, and Tim Blake Nelson’s THE GREY ZONE (2001) as a Nazi officer.
He also worked with several other European directors such as Bertrand Tavernier (DEATH WATCH, 1980), Ettore Scola (THE NIGHT OF VARENNES, 1982), Carlo Lizzani (CARO GORBACIOF, 1988), Theo Angelopoulos (ULYSSES’ GAZE, 1995), István Szabó (TAKING SIDES, 2001), Manuel Pradal (GINOSTRA,2002 and A CRIME, 2006) and Renzo Martinelli (THE STONE MERCHANT, 2006).
His on-stage career has also illuminated off-off Broadway, off-Broadway and famed Broadway productions, such as A Lie of the Mind, written and directed by Sam Shepard, and the 1985 Tony Award-winning Hurlyburly, written by David Rabe and directed by Mike Nichols. In 2008, he starred as Jerry Springer in Jerry Springer - The Opera, in concert at Carnegie Hall.

Keitel will next be seen in Ari Folman’s animated film THE CONGRESS, an adaptation of Stanislaw Lem’s classic short novel The Futurological Congress.