Harvey Keitel Biography Quotes 25 Report mistakes

Early Life and Training
Harvey Keitel was born in 1939 in Brooklyn, New York, to Jewish immigrant parents from Eastern Europe. Raised in a working-class home and in the tough, lively neighborhoods of Brooklyn, he absorbed the cadences and contradictions of city life that later gave his performances their streetwise authenticity. As a teenager he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps and served overseas; the discipline and seriousness of purpose that service demanded would become hallmarks of his craft. After returning to New York, he worked as a court stenographer in the citys criminal courts, a day job that kept him close to human drama while he began training as an actor. He studied with Stella Adler and Lee Strasberg and became a member of the Actors Studio, immersing himself in a tradition of rigorous method work alongside peers who included Al Pacino and Ellen Burstyn.

First Films and Bond with Martin Scorsese
Keitels breakthrough was inseparable from his early collaboration with Martin Scorsese. Cast in Scorseses debut feature Who's That Knocking at My Door, he became a key figure in the directors emergence. Their partnership reached new power with Mean Streets, where Keitel and Robert De Niro formed a combustible on-screen pairing that helped define American cinema of the 1970s. He continued with Scorsese on Alice Doesnt Live Here Anymore and later The Last Temptation of Christ, displaying a fearless willingness to tackle flawed, spiritually conflicted men. In Taxi Driver, opposite De Niro and Jodie Foster, Keitel gave a chilling portrait of a small-time pimp, deepening his reputation for playing characters on moral fault lines.

Exploration Across the 1970s and 1980s
As American filmmaking shifted, Keitel sought out directors who were pushing boundaries. He starred in Ridley Scotts debut The Duellists, in Paul Schraders Blue Collar with Richard Pryor and Yaphet Kotto, and in Nicolas Roegs Bad Timing. Francis Ford Coppola initially cast him in Apocalypse Now before replacing him early in production, an episode that did nothing to blunt Keitels momentum or curiosity. He moved between studio and independent projects, from Brian De Palmas Wise Guys to borderland dramas and European art films, cultivating an international profile and a reputation for intensity and credibility.

Resurgence and Reinvention in the 1990s
The 1990s cemented Keitel as both a star and a patron saint of independent cinema. In 1991 he had mainstream visibility in Ridley Scotts Thelma & Louise, and earned an Academy Award nomination for his supporting turn in Barry Levinsons Bugsy, acting alongside Warren Beatty and Annette Bening. He was crucial to the making of Quentin Tarantinos Reservoir Dogs, joining early, serving as a co-producer, and anchoring the ensemble as Mr. White; his faith in a first-time filmmaker helped launch an era. The same year, Abel Ferraras Bad Lieutenant found Keitel at his most raw and vulnerable, a portrait of sin and reckoning that became one of his signature performances. He then moved nimbly from Jane Campions The Piano, opposite Holly Hunter and Anna Paquin, to Tarantinos Pulp Fiction as Winston Wolf, a sly, unforgettable fixer whose calm authority became iconic.

The mid-90s showcased his versatility. In Wayne Wangs Smoke, written by Paul Auster, Keitel played a Brooklyn tobacconist whose modest daily rituals opened onto deep emotional currents; he returned for the improvisatory companion piece Blue in the Face. He headlined Spike Lees Clockers, appeared in Robert Rodriguezs From Dusk Till Dawn, and balanced indie credibility with broad appeal in Sister Act opposite Whoopi Goldberg. Throughout, he gravitated toward strong collaborators, embracing ensembles with Samuel L. Jackson, John Travolta, Geena Davis, Susan Sarandon, and others who defined the decade.

2000s and Beyond
Keitel continued to weave between mainstream adventure and auteur-driven cinema. He appeared in U-571 and became widely recognized to new audiences as FBI agent Peter Sadusky in the National Treasure films with Nicolas Cage, later revisiting the character on television. He reunited with Jane Campion for Holy Smoke!, took on the lead in City of Industry, and worked internationally in projects such as The Red Violin. With Wes Anderson he joined ensembles in Moonrise Kingdom, The Grand Budapest Hotel, and the animated Isle of Dogs, embracing the director's precise, whimsical style. He collaborated with Ari Folman on The Congress and with Paolo Sorrentino on Youth, lending gravitas and sly humor to late-career roles.

His long relationship with Martin Scorsese came full circle with The Irishman, in which he portrayed mob boss Angelo Bruno alongside Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci. He also played Meyer Lansky in Lansky, embodying the aging strategist reflecting on a lifetime in organized crime. These roles reaffirmed his enduring command of quiet menace and moral ambiguity.

Stage, Mentorship, and the Actors Studio
Beyond the screen, Keitel maintained a deep connection to the Actors Studio, eventually serving as a co-president with Al Pacino and Ellen Burstyn. In that role he championed process, discipline, and the nurturing of new voices, mirroring the support he once received from mentors like Stella Adler and Lee Strasberg. His presence in workshops and labs, and his advocacy for independent filmmakers, helped sustain a bridge between tradition and reinvention in American acting.

Personal Life
Keitels personal life, long centered in New York, includes relationships that were often in the public eye. He was partnered for a time with Lorraine Bracco, with whom he has a daughter, and later was in a relationship with Lisa Karmazin, with whom he has a son. In 2001 he married actress and writer Daphna Kastner; they have a son together. The constancy of family, his Brooklyn roots, and a strong sense of cultural heritage have remained touchstones amid the volatility of an actors career.

Craft and Legacy
Harvey Keitel built a career on empathy for bruised souls and a refusal to flatter either his characters or the audience. Whether working with Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, Ridley Scott, Jane Campion, Spike Lee, Abel Ferrara, or Wes Anderson, he brought alertness, humility, and risk. He is central to the story of the New Hollywood generation and to the rise of American independent film in the 1990s. With an Academy Award nomination for Bugsy, landmark roles from Mean Streets and Taxi Driver to Bad Lieutenant and Pulp Fiction, and later resurgence in ensemble work and international cinema, he has sustained relevance across decades. His legacy is an ethic: listen hard, honor the text, protect the director's vision, and let the human contradictions show. In that sense, the most important people around him have been collaborators who dared greatly, and he, in turn, helped them dare.

Our collection contains 25 quotes who is written by Harvey, under the main topics: Witty One-Liners - Art - Music - Learning - Meaning of Life.

Other people realated to Harvey: Michael Caine (Actor), Sylvester Stallone (Actor), Raquel Welch (Actress), Warren Beatty (Actor), Michael Madsen (Actor), Willem Dafoe (Actor), James Lipton (Educator), Tim Roth (Actor), Gretchen Mol (Actress), Sam Neill (Actor)

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