Vincent D'Onofrio - TV Tropes
- ️Fri Apr 03 2015
Vincent Philip D'Onofrio (born June 30, 1959 in New York City, New York) is an American actor, director, producer, writer, and singer.
Although highly prolific, you might not even recognize him due to his status as "The Human Chameleon". As a character actor he's highly accomplished with numerous high-profile and critically acclaimed roles under his belt, such as his appearances in such films as Full Metal Jacket and Men in Black and his TV roles as Detective Robert Goren on Law & Order: Criminal Intent, and Wilson Fisk/The Kingpin in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
His daughter Leila George is also an actor.
Partial filmography:
open/close all folders
Film Roles
- Full Metal Jacket (1987) as Pvt. Leonard "Gomer Pyle" Lawrence
- Adventures in Babysitting (1987) as Dawson/Thor
- Mystic Pizza (1988) as Bill Montijo
- The Salute Of The Jugger (1989) as Young Gar
- Dying Young (1991) as Gordon
- JFK (1991) as Bill Newman
- The Player (1992) as David Kahane
- Ed Wood (1994) as Orson Welles (his voice was dubbed over by famed Welles impressionist Maurice LaMarche)
- Strange Days (1995) as Burton Stickler
- The Whole Wide World (1996) as Robert E. Howard
- Men in Black (1997) as Edgar/The Bug
- The Newton Boys (1998) as Dock Newton
- The Velocity of Gary (1998) as Valentinonote
- The Thirteenth Floor (1999) as Jason Whitney/Jerry Ashton
- The Cell (2000) as Carl Randolph Stargher
- Happy Accidents (2000) as Sam Deed
- Impostor (2002) as Hathaway
- The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys (2002) as Father Casey
- The Salton Sea (2002) as Pooh-Bear
- Sherlock: Case of Evil (2002) as Professor Moriarty
- Thumbsucker (2005) as Mike Cobb
- Five Minutes, Mr. Welles (2005) as Orson Welles, again. He did the voice himself this time.
- The New Tenants (2010) as Jan
- Brooklyn's Finest (2010) as Bobby "Carlo" Powers
- Kill the Irishman (2011) as John Nardi
- Fire with Fire (2012) as David Hagan
- Sinister (2012) as Professor Jonas
- Escape Plan (2013) as Lester Clark
- The Judge (2014) as Glen Palmer
- Run All Night (2015) as Detective Harding
- Jurassic World (2015) as Vic Hoskins
- In Dubious Battle (2016) as London
- The Magnificent Seven (2016) as Jack Horne
- CHiPs (2017) as Vic "The Ringleader" Brown
- Death Wish (2018) as Frank Kersey
- The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2021) as Jerry Falwell
- Dumb Money (2023) as Steve Cohen
Television Roles
- Men in Black: The Series (1997–2001) as Bug Drones
- Homicide: Life on the Street (1997) as John Lange, in the critically acclaimed episode "Subway". Notable for being the only Emmy nomination D'Onofrio has ever received (for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series).
- Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2001–11) as Det. Robert Goren
- Marvel Cinematic Universe as Wilson Fisk/The Kingpin
- Daredevil (2015–18)
- Hawkeye (2021)
- Echo (2024)
- Daredevil: Born Again (2025)
- Emerald City (2017) as The Wizard/Frank Morgan
- BoJack Horseman (2017) as himself in an Adam Westing cameo
- Godfather of Harlem (2019-) as Vincent "The Chin" Gigante
- Interrogation (2020) as Sgt. Ian Lynch
- Actor-Shared Background: He's stated that he believes he would have most likely been diagnosed as autistic as a kid
if the knowledge of autism back then had been where it is nowadays. Many fans of Law & Order: Criminal Intent speculate that D'Onofrio integrated this into Robert Goren, and thus view the character as on the spectrum. The episode "Probability" gives some credence to this interpretation. There's a few hints towards Goren being dyslexic as well, also like D'Onofrio. - The Big Guy: He's 6'4 with a heavy build so his characters are generally this by default.
- Brooklyn Rage: He was born and raised in Brooklyn among other places and plays a lot of very angry, troubled characters.
- The Cast Showoff: His skill with magic and sleight of hand tricks pops up here and there in Law & Order: Criminal Intent ("Crazy", "Vanishing Act", "All In").
- Creator's Favorite: He has said that Wilson Fisk is his favorite role he's ever played. He was ecstatic to return to the role in Hawkeye after Netflix had cancelled Daredevil, and then to return to the role again for Echo and Daredevil: Born Again.
- Dyeing for Your Art: He's famous for going to extreme lengths for roles, most notably gaining a whopping seventy pounds for his role in Full Metal Jacket.
- Harpo Does Something Funny: In the special features of the Law & Order: Criminal Intent Season 1 DVD, the producers say that after hiring him to play Detective Goren, they basically allowed him to do whatever he wanted, leading to many funny moments and one of the most distinctive characters in the crime genre.
- Large and in Charge: His imposing stature fits helps him play a lot of authority figures.
- What Could Have Been: He was very nearly cast as the voice of Arceus in the Pokémon film Arceus and the Jewel of Life, but a last-minute scheduling conflict caused him to drop out.