Danny DeVito

Biography

Danny DeVito is one of the entertainment industry’s most versatile players, excelling as actor, producer and director. 

The award-winning performance as Louie De Palma on the television show “Taxi” was what propelled DeVito to national prominence. He won both an Emmy and a Golden Globe. In a 1999 readers’ poll conducted by TV Guide, DeVito’s Louie De Palma was voted number one among “TV’s Fifty Greatest Characters Ever.” 

DeVito co-runs Jersey Films 2nd Avenue, a successor company of Jersey Films, alongside two of his children, Lucy DeVito and Jake DeVito. Through Jersey Films 2nd Avenue, he most recently produced the comedy thriller feature film “Drag,” starring Lucy DeVito, Lizzy Caplan, John Stamos and Christine Ko, which made its world premiere at SXSW in March of this year. He served as an executive producer on Amazon Prime Video's docuseries Game 7 with Jake and Lucy, which premiered in 2024, and their FXX animated comedy “Little Demon” in 2022, including characters voiced by DeVito, Lucy DeVito, and Aubrey Plaza, with Dan Harmon executive producing.  

In film, DeVito is next set to appear in Sony’s upcoming “Jumanji: Open World,” due to be released on December 25, 2026. He joined the franchise in the previous film “Jumanji: Next Level.” 

He can currently be seen returning as “Frank Reynolds” in the history-making 18th season of FXX’s acclaimed cult comedy “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” which holds the record of the longest-running scripted comedy in television history.  In 2025, he was seen as “Frank” both in the 17th season of the show, and in Abbott Elementary” for a special crossover episode with “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.” 

In 2024 DeVito reunited with friend and former co-star Arnold Schwarzenegger in the Super Bowl commercial for State Farm, and again on stage presenting together at the 96th Academy Awards. In March of last year, he narrated his role in the beloved 1996 classic “Matilda,” with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra performing the music live, while the film played on screen, and most recently did an encore live performance in Toronto in January 2025.  This year he will bring the live, narrated show to Cleveland, San Francisco, London, and Atlanta. 

Throughout his career, DeVito has directed more than 25 projects, including “Matilda,” “Death to Smoochy,” “The War of the Roses,” “Hoffa,” “Throw Momma from the Train,” “The Ratings Game” and numerous short films, TV movies and episodes of television, including “Taxi.” 

Jersey Films has produced over 20 motion pictures, including “Freedom Writers,” “Be Cool,” “Garden State,” “Along Came Polly,” “Man on the Moon,” “Pulp Fiction,” “Out of Sight,” “Get Shorty,” “Hoffa,” “Matilda,” “Living Out Loud” and “Erin Brockovich,” which was nominated for an Academy Award. 

Apart from his work with Jersey Films, DeVito has starred in such films as “The War of the Roses,” “Junior,” “Batman Returns,” “Twins,” “Romancing the Stone,” “Jewel of the Nile,” “Ruthless People,” “Throw Momma From the Train,” “Tin Men,” “Anything Else,” “Big Fish,” “Renaissance Man,” “The Big Kahuna” and “Heist.”  He also starred in “The Good Night,” “Deck the Halls,” “Relative Strangers,” “The OH in Ohio,” “Be Cool” and “Even Money.” 

DeVito attended Our Lady of Mt. Carmel grammar school and Oratory Prep School in Summit, N.J., but appeared in only one school play, as St. Francis of Assisi.  After graduation, he pursued several odd jobs, always with the idea of acting in the back of his mind. He finally entered the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York. "They had fencing and a speech class," he said mockingly, "So you don't talk funny." Unable to get work, Danny bought a round-trip ticket and headed to Hollywood.  After years of unemployment, he returned to New York.  He called an old friend and former American Academy professor who, coincidentally, had been seeking him out for a starring role in one of three one-act plays presented together under the title of "The Man With the Flower in His Mouth." Soon Danny was into big money ($60 a week), and other stage performances followed.  Among his credits were "Down the Morning Line," "The Line of Least Existence," "The Shrinking Bride" and "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." 

In 2018, the mayor of Asbury Park, NJ—the town in which he was raised—declared November 17 (DeVito’s birthday) as Danny DeVito day in the city of Asbury Park, in perpetuity.

DeVito carries his success well. Never forgetting that there were more difficult times, he maintains a healthy sense of perspective. As "Taxi" character Louie DePalma, would say, "If you don't do good today, you'll be eatin' dirt tomorrow."