Robert De Niro’s Six Biracial Children Have Changed How He Views The World

May 03, 2021

Robert De Niro's iconic roles in "The Godfather" movie series as well as in the cult classic "Taxi Driver" continue to show up in pop culture references even today. The senior star's inherent talent in acting has inspired generations of actors to step out of their comfort zones as they act and follow in his strong footsteps. Even though he has been out of the spotlight for a few years, De Niro is still a magnanimous personality in the entertainment industry. 

Over the years, De Niro has made a strong name for himself all amidst the successes and failures of his various relationships. After all, long marriages are infrequent in Hollywood as fame is sometimes too harsh on the private lives of celebrities. Despite the challenges that came with each of the three failed marriages in De Niro's life, he has made it a point to raise his six children as well as he can. 

Today, the 78-year-old veteran actor's children have not all followed in their father's footsteps, instead choosing a more quiet life away from the spotlight. Most children have kept their lives notoriously private, so not much is known about most of them. However, De Niro has spoken to various outlets about his role as a parent as well as his children a few times. 

Many parents and children in Hollywood have shown how magical genes can be, and it looks like De Niro's family is no exception. Read on to learn more about Robert De Niro's unconventional family and the women with whom the star had children.

Robert Anthony De Niro Jr. was born in Manhattan, New York City to parents who were both respected artists. His father, Rober De Niro Sr. was a highly acclaimed poet, sculptor and artist, while his mother Virginia Admiral was a gifted painter who made a name for herself in the New York art scene in the '40s and '50s, according to Biography. His parents were known as the "golden couple" in the New York art circle at the time but split when Robert Jr was only two years old. Since his father continued to be singularly dedicated to his art, Robert was raised primarily by his mother, who supported her son through her job as a typesetter and printer. 

All throughout his childhood and young adulthood, Robert loved to watch movies, which he would devour often when he spent time with his father. As part of Admiral's compensation at her job, Robert was allowed to take children's acting classes for free, which he took on with zeal. His first play was "The Wizard of Oz" in which he played the cowardly lion.

Once his talent for acting was recognized, Robert was soon accepted into the highly selective and prestigious High School of Music and Art, which is an institution that specializes in visual and performing arts. However, the program was much too intense and competitive for Robert, who dropped out and joined public school instead. While attending high school, Robert was essentially unremarkable as a student and showed no interest in his studies or academic excellence. 

In fact, according to Biography, Robert was even part of an Italian street gang while a teenager! Though he was no troublemaker in the tame gang, the experience did provide him with the skills needed to portray an Italian mobster, which would prove to be life-changing in a few years. In the end, Robert never finished high school opting instead to drop out and pursue his dream of acting. 

He enrolled in the Stella Adler Conservatory, which was later renamed the Stella Adler Studio of Acting where he learned the skills to become the gifted actor he was to be in the next few years. Stella Adler strongly believed in the Stanislavski method of acting, which required deep psychological character investigation. Adler was a tough but strong teacher and would remember Robert as one of her best students. 

After asking his mother for his college funds to pursue his acting career, Robert began attending the Actor's Studio in New York City and studied under Lee Strasberg for a while before he began attending auditions. Like all actors who have to go through the difficult phases of relative obscurity for a while before their big breakthrough, Robert too had to climb a steep slope before making it to the top of his industry. His first memorable role came in the 1973 films "Bang the Drum Slowly," in which he played a terminally ill catcher on a baseball team, and "Mean Streets," his first of many future collaborations with director Martin Scorsese. The next movie with Scorsese, "The Godfather II" would cement his reputation. 

The following year saw the release of "Taxi Driver" and Robert's chilling portrayal of vengeful cabbie Travis Bickle gave him a permanent place in the Hollywood fraternity. His particular catchphrases during the movie, specifically, the "You talkin' to me?" speech, continue to remain a pop culture reference in television shows and movies even today.  From here onwards, Robert's career took a huge upswing that has yet to come down. 

He received his first Academy Award for Best Actor in 1981 for his work in the commercially unsuccessful but critically admired movie "Raging Bull," which was also directed by Scorcese. In the movie, Robert portrayed middleweight boxer Jake LaMotta, and for this role, the previously skinny actor put on 60 pounds of muscle and gave a riveting performance. 

Throughout the 1990s, Robert starred in a number of critically acclaimed movies that would continue to drive home the fact that he is a gifted actor. Most of the movies he starred in were of a serious nature, and Robert had also naturally become sought after for many mob and gangster-related movies. Even to this day, Robert's acting skills continue to be praised and inspire a gaggle of new actors. 

“He has so much artfulness in commanding a character inside the narrative,” Michael Mann, who directed Robert in the heist movie "Heat," told Everything Zoomer.

“He has a sense of scale that’s extraordinarily calibrated and precise. He knows how much to feel, how much to allow himself to react. It’s artistic wisdom. You don’t realize how perfect his perception is until you have the whole movie together. Film editors and directors wonder at it.”

The serious and mob-related movies continued from the mid-90s to the early 00s, but it was at the turn of the new millennium that Robert began pursuing movies whose nature was vastly different from what he was used to. It began with 1999's "Analyze This," a funny and highly popular spoof of the type of mob movies that had accumulated his fame. In 2000, he played the role of Jack Byrnes in the movie "Meet The Parents." This comedic venture was received very well, and through the early 2000s, Robert switched between comedic roles and serious roles. He continued to make movies well into the 2010s as well. 

In 2017, Robert helped put together a documentary about his late father, which was titled, "Remembering the Artist: Robert De Niro, Sr." Everything Zoomer reported that later in his life, Robert's father came out as gay, and while it is not clear how Robert of his mother took the news, it is clear that Robert Sr was very loved by his son. 

When asked about why he wanted to create this documentary about his father, Robert responded, "I wanted to do a documentary before his contemporaries were gone because they were important for the story," and added, "I wanted it for my kids, my grandkids, and for friends." This was also the same reason that Robert kept his father's studio intact even after his death, “so that my kids and grandkids would know who their grandfather and great-grandfather was, see what he did. Because it’s real, and he has a lot to show for it.” Robert shows himself to be an affectionate and sentimental man through these actions.

While his hefty and commendable acting career is something that Robert is proud of, his role as a father is something he cherishes even more. Robert has been married twice in the past. His first marriage was to singer Diahnne Abbot, whom he was married to for 12 years from 2976 to 1988. During this time, Robert and Abbot had one son, Raphael De Niro, together, and Robert also adopted daughter Drena De Niro from Abbot's previous relationship. Mindfood reports that Rapahel worked as an actor for some time before pursuing a career in real estate. 

After Abbot, he was in a long-term relationship with model Toukie Smith from 1988 to 1996, during which time he had twin sons Aaron and Julian with Smith through a surrogate, according to PEOPLE. 

His final marriage was to actress Grace Hightower, with whom he shared a somewhat volatile relationship. The couple married in 1997 and had a son, Eliot, who was born in 1998 before the couple split in 1999. The pair then engaged in a custody battle for a while according to PEOPLE but eventually smoothed things over and even had a vow renewal ceremony in 2004 before splitting permanently in 2018. The couple shares two children, Eliot, and daughter Helen, who was born in 2011 through surrogacy. 

When it comes to interviews and speaking openly about any of his experiences, Robert is known for his notoriously tight lips. Over the years, he has said very little about his likes, dislikes and opinions, but through those times, he has opened up about his family as well. His children are of varying ages and have different upbringings, which means that there are always challenges. 

Robert told Everything Zoomer, "I try to keep us all together as a family. Have things to do together. Have everybody have awareness of the family thing, so they look after each other, especially after I’m not around anymore. It’s a fragmented family. But I try my best to keep everybody together." 

It was revealed by Robert that his son Eliot had autism in 2016, which can be hard on any parent. However, Robert has shown that his love for his children always wins over other frustrations he might have. 

“I love my children, just being with them,” Robert told Us Weekly. “It’s not easy. Sometimes it’s fun and you love your kids, and sometimes you want to kill them!” The actor also added, "Then, when you have the good moments, you forget about the ones that weren’t good." Many parents can probably understand where the actor is coming from.

Robert also told MindFood in 2014, "I try to be honest with my kids and have them confide in me, if you will. I let them know that what they’re going through is not very different from what I went through growing up." 

Robert is also a happy father to have all his children close to him. He told LA Times, "Everybody’s in New York and, hopefully, my younger kids will go to college in New York and find something they want to do so they’ll stay in the city," and he added, "I like the kids to be around. If they want to go to college here and live at home, I won’t have a problem with that."

One of his twin sons, Julian Henry De Niro, has been coming into his own recently. Like most of Robert's kids, Julian has not been in the spotlight much and there isn't a lot of information available about the 25-year-old. However, as per his Instagram profile, it seems that Julian is following in his mother Toukie Smith's footsteps and has now become a fashion model. Closer Weekly reported that both Julian and his brother Aaron seem to be quite close with their father. 

Not much else is known about Julian's life or career. Though he has grown up with two parents who were in the spotlight, Julian has chosen a life that is more private. He has nothing to worry about his career choices, however, as his father is supportive of all the paths his children choose. 

Speaking to PEOPLE in January 2020, he said, "For my kids, I tell them, ‘If you want to be an actor or you want to do this or that, that’s fine as long as you’re happy. Just don’t sell yourself short.’ That’s the most I would say — push yourself a little more and reach for what you really think it is you want to do. Don’t be afraid," He also added, "It’s important for them to find their own lane."

We are sure that Julian has a great dad, and it's so wonderful to see that Julian has inherited his father's incredible looks! Julain's face structure is similar to that of Robert, and both father and son have the same charisma and confidence. We are sure that great things are in store for Julian Henry De Niro! 

Do you think that Julian De Niro looks like his father? Tell us your thoughts, and be sure to let others know about this uncanny resemblance as well.