Joe Pesci was born in Newark, New Jersey on February 9th, 1943. His father, recognising his son's talents, worked three jobs in order to enrol him in acting, singing and dancing classes. At the age of four, Pesci made his radio debut. At ten, he became a regular on the TV variety show Startime Kids. After dropping out of high school, he attempted a career as a lounge singer, even recording an album under the name Joe Ritch, Little Joe Sure Can Sing. For a while, he played guitar for Joey Dee and the Starliters. Afterwards, he formed a comedy duo with Frank Vincent. They went on to make their debut movie, The Death Collector (1975). When the movie wasn't a hit, Pesci decided to quit show business and got a job managing an Italian restaurant.

This seemed like the end for Joe Pesci's brief movie career. Luckily, one of the people who happened to see The Death Collector was Robert DeNiro. He thought that Pesci would be perfect to play Joey La Motta, brother of DeNiro's character in Raging Bull. Director Martin Scorsese agreed, and both Pesci and Frank Vincent were given major roles in the movie. For his part, Pesci was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar. He had now broken into the big time.

Major stardom did not follow immediately. None of his next few movies, I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can (1982), Eureka (1982), and Dear Mr. Wonderful (1982, again with Frank Vincent), did much to lift Pesci's star. The same could not be said about 1983's Easy Money. Starring Rodney Dangerfield as a fast-living heir who must change his lifestyle in order to inherit $10 million, the film brought in $29 million in box office sales.

Pesci appeared in another Robert DeNiro film, Once Upon a Time in America, in 1984. This Italian/American production was so shocking that it was cut down from 236 minutes to 139 minutes when it was released in America. Despite critical praise, the movie only received $5.3 million in revenue.

Pesci appeared in more movies throughout the eighties, but did not achieve significant commercial success until 1989 with Lethal Weapon 2. As federal witness Leo Getz, Pesci stole nearly every scene in which he appeared with co-stars Mel Gibson and Danny Glover. The comic edge that Pesci brought to the movie made it a major hit, bringing in more than $147 million at the box office, more than twice as much as the first Lethal Weapon movie.

For his next movie, GoodFellas, Pesci was reunited with Vincent, DeNiro, and Scorsese. Although not as commercially successful as Lethal Weapon 2, the movie was unanimously praised by the critics. At Scorsese's request, Pesci wrote and directed a scene in which he berates a person for calling him funny. This became his trademark scene. For his part, he won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, his first and so far only Oscar win.

His next major success came as the bumbling burglar Harry in Home Alone (1990). With more than $285 million in box office receipts, this was easily Pesci's most commercially successful movie. This was the movie that made Macaulay Caulkin famous, before he followed the downhill path of most child stars.

1991 brought Pesci his first starring role in The Super. About a slumlord who is sentenced to live in his own apartments, the movie was met by indifferent critics and audiences. Much more successful on both counts was Oliver Stone's JFK, in which Joe Pesci played a smaller part.

After starring in the overlooked The Public Eye and reprising his role of Leo Getz in Lethal Weapon 3, Pesci starred in My Cousin Vinny. Of all the movies in which he has had the lead role, this was easily the most successful both critically and commercially. Pesci played Vinny Gambini, a lawyer who attempts to defend his cousin against murder charges despite having no courtroom experience. Of particular note was the on-screen chemistry between Pesci and Marisa Tomei, who won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for this movie.

Pesci broke no new ground with his next movie, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. He followed that up with a small role in A Bronx Tale, Robert DeNiro's directorial debut. DeNiro and Chaz Palminteri, who was also the writer, co-starred. The movie was met by enthusiastic reviews, but only grossed one-tenth of what Home Alone 2 did.

Both of Pesci's movies from 1994, With Honors and Jimmy Hollywood, were given similar reviews. Most of the critics thought Pesci played his characters well, but was limited by poor scripts. In With Honors, Pesci played a homeless man who enters the life of four Harvard Graduate students. The movie tried to hard to prove that the homeless are people too, resulting in a heavy-handed script. Jimmy Hollywood starred Pesci as a never-was actor who gains publicity by becoming a vigilante. The movie started well by portraying the downside of Hollywood but then looses itself in plot machinations. While With Honors was a moderate commercial success, grossing more than $20 million, Jimmy Hollywood was much less fortunate, bringing in less than $3.7 million.

Pesci put these setbacks behind him with Casino. This movie once again teamed him up with the people that made him famous, Frank Vincent, Robert DeNiro, and director Martin Scorsese. The critics loved this tale of two gangsters who take very different routes to controlling Las Vegas. Sharon Stone showed that she can act very well when given a decent script and was nominated for the Best Actress Oscar. Sadly, the film was not as successful commercially, turning a profit only after going into rentals.

Pesci once again played a gangster in 8 Heads in a Duffel Bag. This movie was given mediocre reviews, although most admitted that some of the scenes were quite funny. Their opinion on Pesci's performance was split into two camps. Some critics believed he saved the movie. Others were sick of seeing him play a gangster again. The movie was even less successful with the audiences, grossing less than $3.6 million.

Tragedy struck during the filming of Gone Fishin'. While filming a scene in which a boat jumps over a hedge, the boat flipped over and landed in a crowd of extras and other crew. Stuntwomen Janet Wilder was killed and her husband, Scott Wilder, and his father, Glenn, were injured. The release of the movie, which also starred Danny Glover and Roseanne Arquette, was delayed by a year. When it did come out, the critics massacred it. The movie grossed less than $20 million, which was less than half of the $53 million budget.

Pesci returned to the good graces of studio executives with his recent appearance in Lethal Weapon 4. In the short time since it was released, the movie has already entered into the Top 100 All-time Worldwide grossing movies with nearly $130 million in revenues. He has also released an album called Vincent La Guardia Gambini Sings, in which he sings songs as his character from My Cousin Vinny would. Included is I Can't Give You Anything But Love, a duet with Marisa Tomei. He also tries his hand at rap with Wise Guy.

In most of his movies, Joe Pesci's characters full into one of two categories. One character type is the smart-alec, an example of which would be Vinny Gambini. The other character type is the vicious gangster, which he played in Casino, GoodFellas, and countless other movies. Although he has escaped from these roles at times, the vast majority have him typecast in one of these two parts.