De Niro is widely respected for his commitment to method acting. He mainly worked in off-Broadway theatre productions and a number of theatre workshops. his first official film appearance was in 1968's Greetings, another De Palma number.
In 1973, his role as a terminally ill baseball player in Bang the Drum Slowly earned him a great deal of public attention. Later that year, his long-term collaborative relationship with Martin Scorsese began when he starred alongside Harvey Keitel in Mean Streets. This relationship saw him starring in films such as Taxi Driver, New York, New York, Raging Bull, The King of Comedy, Goodfellas, Cape Fear and Casino.
The next year, De Niro played the young Don Vito Corleone in the Godfather, Part II, a Francis Ford Coppola film. His performance earned him his second Oscar, for Best Supporting Actor.In 1978, De Niro's appearance as Michael Vronsky in The Deer Hunter earned him another Oscar Nomination, this time for Best Actor.
In addition to acting, De Niro also directed several films. In 2009 he was named a Kennedy Center honoree, and two years later he received the Cecil B. DeMille Award (a Golden Globe for lifetime achievement). In 2016 he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.