Vincent D'Onofrio

Vincent D'Onofrio (cool slide show for real fans)

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Vincent Philip D'Onofrio(born June 30, 1959) is an American actor, producer, and singer. He is known for his roles as Private Leonard Lawrence (" Gomer Pyle ") inStanley Kubrick 's war filmFull Metal Jacket(1987),Wilson Fiskin theNetflixseriesDaredevil , Edgar/the Bug inMen in Black(1997), and DetectiveRobert Gorenin the crime television seriesLaw & Order: Criminal Intent . He has also co-starred inThe Judge(2014),Run All Night(2015), andJurassic World(2015).D’Onofrio was born in theBensonhurstneighborhood ofBrooklyn ,New York City ,New York . He is ofItaliandescent, with ancestors fromSicily . His parents, Gennaro (Gene) D’Onofrio, aninterior designerand theater production assistant, and Phyllis, aserverand restaurant manager, met while Gene was stationed inHawaiʻiwith theU.S. Air Force . In 1956, they had their first child, Antoinette. She was followed byElizabeth(1957), an actress and drama coach residing inFort Myers Beach, Florida , then by Vincent. He was raised in Hawai'i and Colorado in his younger years. D’Onofrio’s parents divorced when he was young, and his mother later married George Meyer, who had a son, Guy, and daughter, Connie, from a previous marriage. The family moved to theHialeah, Florida , area. A shy boy who spent “a lot of time in my room, staying in my head”, D’Onofrio later became interested in magic and sleight of hand, tricks he learned fromCubanentertainers who owned a small magic shop. In his teens, he worked backstage, building sets and running sound at a number ofcommunity theatersrun by his father. He graduated fromHialeah-Miami Lakes Senior High School . After graduating from high school, D’Onofrio started to appear in front of the curtain. During an 18-month stint at theUniversity of Coloradoin Boulder, Colorado, he was involved with small community theater productions. He later studiedmethod actingat the American Stanislavsky Theater and theActors Studio , under coaches Sonia Moore and Sharon Chatten which landed him his first paid role in Off-Broadway'sThis Property Is Condemned . He went on to appear in a number of their productions, includingOf Mice and MenandSexual Perversity in Chicago . D'Onofrio continued his career by performing in manyNew York Universitystudent productions while also working as a bouncer at theHard Rock Cafe , a bodyguard forRobert PlantandYul Brynner and a deliveryman. In 1984, he made his Broadway debut as Nick Rizzoli inOpen Admissions . In 2012, D'Onofrio returned to teach at the Lee Strasberg Theater & Film Institute where his daughter, Leila George, is a student. In 1986, D’Onofrio took on the role often considered the defining moment in his acting career, as Pvt. Leonard Lawrence, an overweight, clumsyMarinerecruit in the movieFull Metal Jacket . On a tip from friendMatthew Modine , D'Onofrio was urged to send audition tapes to directorStanley Kubrick , in England. Four tapes later D'Onofrio landed the role. Originally, the character of Pvt. Lawrence had been written as a "skinny ignorantredneck "; however, Kubrick believed the role would have more impact if the character were big and clumsy. D'Onofrio gained 70 lb (32 kg) for the role, bringing his weight to 280 lb (130 kg). This remains the record for most weight gained by an actor for a movie, surpassingRobert De Niro 's accumulation of 60 lb (27 kg) for the filming ofRaging Bull(1980). While filming an obstacle course scene for the movie, D'Onofrio injured his left knee, compounded by the excessive weight, which required surgical reconstruction. After filming ofFull Metal Jacketwas completed, having lost nearly all the weight gained for the movie in just nine months, by eating a diet "consisting mostly of birdseed" and chicken nuggets, D’Onofrio went on to play Dawson, the owner of Dawson’s Garage inAdventures in Babysitting(1987). D'Onofrio appears in only one scene near the end of the film, but his small role attracted attention because of his sexy physique (in complete contrast to the overweight character he played inFull Metal Jacket ) and long blond hair (a wig) which causes Sara, the film's youngest character, to mistakenly believe he is the Norse GodThor , the comic-book superhero she idolizes. In 1988, D'Onofrio was cast in another supporting role in the filmMystic Pizza , playing the fiance ofLili Taylor 's character. In the movie, which wasJulia Roberts ' breakout film, he was billed under his full name "Vincent Phillip D'Onofrio".D'Onofrio continued to play a wide variety of minor or su