Pesci has starred in a number of high profile films including Goodfellas, Casino, Raging Bull, Once Upon a Time in America, My Cousin Vinny, JFK, Home Alone, and the Lethal Weapon series. Pesci was raised in Belleville, New Jersey and attended Belleville High School. Subsequently, he performed with De Niro in the films Once Upon a Time in America, and in Scorsese’s Goodfellas (for which Pesci received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, in 1990), and Casino. The pairing became famous enough to inspire a recurring sketch on Saturday Night Live (SNL) called “The Joe Pesci Show”. (The real Pesci and De Niro made a surprise appearance in one episode.) Pesci hosted SNL on October 10, 1992. During the monologue, he restored a picture of Pope John Paul II, which had been torn by Sinéad O’Connor on the previous broadcast; he demonstrated this by tearing up a photo of O’Connor, which was met with huge applause. in 1988, Pesci co-starred with pop singer Michael Jackson in the musical-fantasy film Moonwalker as the film’s antagonist, Frankie “Mr. Big” LiDeo (an anagram for one of the film’s producers and longtime Jackson manager Frank DiLeo). Pesci also played David Ferrie in 1991′s JFK and the title character in the 1992 comedy My Cousin Vinny.

Pesci was born in Newark, New Jersey, the son of Mary, who worked part-time as a barber, and Angelo Pesci, a forklift driver for General Motors and bartender. The first film he starred in was the 1975 low budget crime film The Death Collector with Frank Vincent. (The real Pesci and De Niro made a surprise appearance in one episode.) Pesci hosted SNL on October 10, 1992. in the film, Pesci was featured in the fifth and final segment, a full-length movie called “Smooth Criminal” which was based on Michael Jackson’s song of the same name. Two years later, he reprised his role in the sequel. He had starring roles in several other films including Easy Money (1983), Once Upon a Time in America (1984), Man on Fire (1987), The Super (1991), Jimmy Hollywood (1994), With Honors (also 1994) and Gone Fishin’ (1997). Vincent LaGuardia Gambini Sings Just For You was an album that was both humorous and serious, exploring a variety of genres, though most of it was big band Jazz, and which paid homage to his character name from the 1992 film My Cousin Vinny, not only through its album title, but also by its lead track “Yo Cousin Vinny”.

Pesci was born in Newark, New Jersey, the son of Mary, who worked part-time as a barber, and Angelo Pesci, a forklift driver for General Motors and bartender. By the time Pesci was five years old, he was appearing in plays in New York. The pairing became famous enough to inspire a recurring sketch on Saturday Night Live (SNL) called “The Joe Pesci Show”. “Wise Guy” interpolated the 1980 one-off Hip-Hop hit “Rapture” by Blondie and was co-written and produced by Poke & Tone–the Hip-Hop production team better known as Trackmasters, who first musically introduced the world to 50 Cent.

Hugo: Martin Scorsese’s Family-Friendly Foray [Video] Here’s the trailer for Hugo, a 3D fantasy/adventure film that will hit theaters this November. Based on Brian Selznick’s children’s novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret and directed by none other than Martin Scorsese, Hugo tells the story of an orphan who lives in the walls of a 1930s Paris train station. A mysterious/magical train station! The movie stars Sacha Baron-Cohen and Ben Kingsley, among others, and while Joe Pesci is conspicuously absent, Hugo still looks to be a Thanksgiving Weekend must-see. [via NYM] More » [link]