Name: Vincent D'Onofrio
Birthdate: June 30, 1959
Hometown: Brooklyn, New York
Vincent D'Onofrio was born in Brooklyn, New York, of Italian descent. His family moved around in his youth, and he grew up in Hawaii, Florida, and Colorado. He graduated from Hialeah-Miami Lakes High School in Florida in 1977 and then attended a Colorado University for about 18 months. He then dropped out of college to pursue acting. He was accepted for study with the American Stanislavsky Theatre in New York City.
In 1984, D'Onofrio became a full member of the American Stanislavsky Theatre and appeared in a number of its productions, including Of Mice and Men and Sexual Perversity in Chicago. He also made his Broadway debut as Nick Rizzoli in Open Admissions. Before this breakthrough, he had been acting in New York University student films and was working as a bouncer at the Hard Rock Cafe.
In 1987, D'Onofrio entered the mainstream consciousness with two film roles that showcased his range as an actor. Most notable was the role of the obese Private Leonard "Gomer Pyle" Lawrence in Stanley Kubrick's 1987 film, Full Metal Jacket. This was D'Onofrio's first major role, and he gained nearly 80 pounds for the part, going from 200 to nearly 280 lbs, which still stands as the Guinness World Record, for most weight gained for a single movie role. The other role was that of Dawson, the owner of Dawson's Garage in Adventures in Babysitting, which was directed by Chris Columbus. D'Onofrio only appears in one pivotal scene (near the end of the movie), but his role was memorable in that his muscular physique and long blonde hair cause Sara (the film's youngest character) to mistakenly believe that he is actually Thor, the superhero she idolizes.
In the time since, D'Onofrio has continued to play a wide variety of roles, including iconic director Orson Welles in Tim Burton's Ed Wood, farmer Edgar and the evil "Bug" that possesses him from Men in Black, the father of a saint in Nancy Savoca's Household Saints, Yippie founder Abbie Hoffman in Steal This Movie, a time traveler from the distant future in Happy Accidents, and fictional serial killer Carl Stargher in The Cell.
He also has dabbled in film production and direction, having, to date, produced two movies, The Whole Wide World and Guy in 1996 and 1997, respectively, executive produced two others, The Velocity of Gary in 1998 and Steal This Movie in 2000 and directed the short Five Minutes, Mr. Welles in 2005. This last represents a culmination of D'Onofrio's desire to improve on his performance as Welles in Ed Wood, which reputedly left director Tim Burton underwhelmed and in need of a voice-over artist (Maurice LaMarche) despite D'Onofrio's uncanny physical resemblance to the late actor/director.
D'Onofrio has since moved to the small screen. He received an Emmy nomination in 1997 for his appearance as John Lange, the doomed victim in the acclaimed "Subway" episode of Homicide: Life on the Street. He currently stars as Det. Robert Goren, a principal character, on the NBC television show Law & Order: Criminal Intent.