Born This Week in Film #8: Martin Scorsese and Danny DeVito

Two of the best-known names in American film share a birthday this week. Martin Scorsese and Danny DeVito were both born on November 17, two years apart, and both grew up within reach of New York City. On November 17, 2026, Scorsese turns 84 and DeVito turns 82.

Martin Scorsese: Born November 17, 1942

Scorsese was born in the Flushing neighborhood of Queens, New York City, on November 17, 1942. He was a frail child with asthma and grew up in the Italian American neighborhood of Little Italy on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. He first wanted to become a priest.

He studied film instead. He earned a Master of Arts degree from New York University in 1968. His first feature, Who’s That Knocking at My Door (1967), screened at the Chicago Film Festival. The style he became known for, including slow motion and freeze frames, first showed up in Mean Streets (1973).

His later films include The Color of Money (1986), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), Goodfellas (1990), Cape Fear (1991), The Age of Innocence (1993), Casino (1995) and Kundun (1997). The thriller Shutter Island followed in 2010. Hugo (2011) earned him his seventh Academy Award nomination for Best Director and a Golden Globe, and the film went on to win five Oscars.

The Academy’s top directing prize had come a few years earlier. He won Best Director for The Departed at the 79th Academy Awards in 2007, and the film also won Best Picture, Best Film Editing and Best Adapted Screenplay. It was the first time he had won the directing award. The American Film Institute had already given him its Life Achievement Award in 1997.

He has also worked in television and documentary. He is an executive producer of the HBO series Boardwalk Empire (2010) and directed its pilot episode. He directed Shine a Light (2008), a concert documentary about the Rolling Stones.

Danny DeVito: Born November 17, 1944

Daniel Michael DeVito Jr. was born on November 17, 1944, in Neptune Township, New Jersey, and grew up in Asbury Park, New Jersey. Before he started acting, he worked as a beautician in his sister’s salon in New Jersey. He enrolled at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York to learn professional makeup.

Television made him famous. In 1978 he started playing Louie De Palma, the short but domineering dispatcher of the fictional Sunshine Cab Company, on Taxi. The series ran from 1978 to 1983. Decades later, he became known to a new audience as Frank Reynolds on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

His film work includes Ruthless People (1986), opposite Bette Midler, along with The War of the Roses (1989), Batman Returns (1992) and Matilda (1996). He has said that his Penguin in Batman Returns is still one of the roles he most likes to talk about.

He has also had a big career as a producer. He founded the production company Jersey Films with Michael Shamberg. The company’s films include Pulp Fiction (1994), Gattaca (1997) and Erin Brockovich (2000), plus Man on the Moon (1999) and Garden State (2004). His company Jersey Television produced the Comedy Central series Reno 911!

His hometown has honored him. In 2018, the Asbury Park city council made his birthday, November 17, “Danny DeVito Day.”

FAQ

– Do Scorsese and DeVito have the same birthday?

Yes. Both were born on November 17. Scorsese was born in 1942 and DeVito in 1944.

– Which film won Scorsese the Oscar for Best Director?

The Departed. He won the award at the 79th Academy Awards in 2007, and the film also won Best Picture.

– What was DeVito’s breakout role?

Louie De Palma, the cab dispatcher on Taxi. He started playing the role in 1978.

Header photos: Martin Scorsese by Montclair Film / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 2.0; Danny DeVito by Gage Skidmore [CC BY-SA 3.0 ( via Wikimedia Commons / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0, modified: resized and blended with an AI-generated background. The people in the header are real photos; only the background is AI-generated.