After Playing His Role Very Convincingly, This Actor Had People Running Away From Him Because Of His Character

Dec 25, 2023 by apost team

Vincent D'Onofrio is one of the most underrated actors in Hollywood. He has been in the business for a long time but has flown under the radar despite the critical success he has received for the wide range of parts he has played.

D'Onofrio was born on June 30, 1959, in Brooklyn, New York. Growing up, the young D'Onofrio grew interested in the theater industry and sought employment in local theaters. He remained behind the curtains until he graduated from high school, after which he began studying method acting under the tutelage of coaches Sonia Moore and Sharon Chatten. 

While pursuing acting, D'Onofrio took on small jobs working as a bouncer for the Hard Rock Café and was also a bodyguard for Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant.

After playing bit parts on Broadway, he landed his first major screen role in Stanley Kubrick's "Full Metal Jacket" in 1987. He gained both critical acclaim and 80 pounds for playing the role of the clumsy and overweight Marine Private Leonard Lawrence.

He went on to star in "Mystic Pizza" and "Dying Young" with Julia Roberts, and "The Blood of Heroes" and "JFK" with Kevin Costner. In 1994, he played Orson Welles in the Oscar-winning "Ed Wood" alongside Johnny Depp. He played the antagonist in "Men in Black" in 1997. Starring opposite Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, he endeared himself to a new generation and set the pace for future roles as villains that he would come to perfect.

Although he played several characters and lived through different roles, D’Onofrio’s most iconic role was in “Full Metal Jacket,” where people had already started treating him like his character in the film. Read on to learn more about D’Onofrio and what he had gone through as an actor after the film.

Standing tall at 6'3½ feet, D'Onofrio excelled in the 2000 Jennifer Lopez vehicle "The Cell," in which he played a serial killer. 

From 2001 to 2011, D'Onofrio would take on what is arguably his most well-known role in "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" as Robert Goren, one of TV's most hardened investigators. D'Onofrio described his character to The Los Angeles Times as someone that is hard to understand.

"It's not for everybody, especially the way I play him is not to everybody's taste. People, I think, unless they allow themselves to take the leap of faith, they don't like the intelligence, the ridiculous amount of knowledge he has. It doesn't make it easy in a 40-minute show to solve a crime (persuasively) in the first place, but then to have a guy who's as clever as Goren solve it, it kind of makes it even harder to get away with. It's a battle for people to like that show, I think."

Working on the show was not easy for D'Onofrio, however, and in November 2004, he collapsed on the set of the show and was later diagnosed with nervous exhaustion. He attributed the incident to his overwhelming workload at the time.

He announced his departure from the show in 2009 and was replaced by Jeff Goldblum, but returned to film the final season in 2010

D'Onofrio's next major role would be in 2015's "Jurassic World" as head of security of the park's bioengineering division, InGen, and he had a ball filming it. He said: "It's so cool! … You're seeing the jeep from one movie and flying in the helicopter from another movie, you see this statue of (John) Hammond and the logo everywhere – it's fantastic. It's exactly what you would imagine it being like."

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With such a full acting life, it's a wonder how D'Onofrio manages to juggle his work and personal life, but this family man has been married for more than 25 years.

Before meeting his now wife, D'Onofrio had been in a long-term relationship with actress Greta Scacchi, with whom he had a daughter, Leila George, before they broke it off in 1993. In 1997, he married Dutch model Carin Van Der Donk. The couple has two children, sons Elias and Luka.

On July 30, 2020, D'Onofrio's then 28-year-old daughter George married then-59-year-old actor Sean Penn. This was the actor's third marriage after he was married to Madonna from 1985 to 1989 and to Robin Wright from 1996 to 2010. The tabloids were abuzz with news of the nuptials between the pair with a 31-year age gap, with many highlighting the fact that Penn was only a year younger than D'Onofrio. However, he told The Guardian there was no drama. He said: "I used to father her, and now, she daughters me. … It's enlightening, it's incredible, and Sean has a lot to do with that."

However, George filed for divorce in October 2021, and it was finalized in April 2022.

Meanwhile, D'Onofrio spread his creative wings by publishing a book, "Mutha: Stuff And Things," in May 2018. The Guardian called his process "largely free-associative, translating his daily doings and other musings into a clipped stream of consciousness marked by a raw sort of intimacy." 

With such a storied body of work, D'Onofrio could happily retire, but that would be a disservice to his fans, who want nothing more than to be entertained by the talented actor. While he may not have Hollywood headliner status, his reputation of nailing every role he takes on makes him a superstar in our eyes.

In fact, when D’Onofrio started in show business, he had gone through perhaps the biggest change of his life. His friend, actor Matthew Modine, encouraged him to submit an audition tape to Kubrick in 1986 for his next big hit – which turned out to be “Full Metal Jacket.” Eventually, D’Onofrio was cast as Marine Private Leonard Lawrence.

However, the role requires massive transformation from D’Onofrio. He had to gain around 70 to 80 pounds for the role.  Back then, his athletic figure would have no problem running in obstacle courses, but when he already weighed 280 pounds for the role, it was already taxing. As of 2023, D’Onofrio holds the world record for the most weight ever gained for an acting role. 

''I gained weight everywhere,'' D`Onofrio told The Chicago Tribune. ''My thighs were tremendous, my arms were tremendous, even my nose was fat. I had a tough time tying my shoelaces, but this was the only way I could play Leonard because I had to be weak-minded in the same way. Because of the weight and the fact that he was totally out of his element, Leonard`s mind became weak.''

His impressive portrayal of the chubby, dim-witted, and mentally disturbed private soldier earned him a lot of acclaim and reverence from critics and the public. However, the fame and glory came with a cost – people, including women, treated him like his character. 

Although he returned to his athletic physique after nine months, D’Onofrio recalled how cruel people were to him. 

''It changed my life,'' he recalled. ''Women didn`t look at me; most of the time, I was looking at their backs as they were running away. People used to say things to me twice because they thought I was stupid.''

Are you a fan of Vincent D’Onofrio? What is your favorite performance of his? What can you say about his journey as an actor? Let us know, and pass this on to your family, friends, and other Vincent D’Onofrio fans!