Biography for
Robert Davi More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

26 June 1951, Astoria, Queens, New York City, New York, USA

Birth Name

Robert John Davi

Height

6' 3" (1.91 m)

Mini Biography

From his portrayal of James Bond villain Franz Sanchez to FBI profiler Bailey Malone in "Profiler" (1996), Robert Davi is one of the film industry's most recognized tough guys, whether on the big screen or on television. His tough exterior masks a powerful inner sensitivity, which he calls upon for his most notorious roles. A stickler for research, Davi contacted Quantico and arranged to meet Bill Hagenmeyer, the real-life FBI profiler. Davi received critical acclaim within the industry for his provocative and smoldering portrayal of Bailey Malone. The show, currently in syndication, struck a chord with audiences, paving the way for such shows as "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" (2000), "Without a Trace" (2002), "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" (2001) and many others.

His work as a Palestinian terrorist Salim Ajami in an award-winning TV movie brought him critical acclaim and caught the eye of legendary James Bond producer Albert R. Broccoli, who cast Davi as Colombian drug lord and lead villain Franz Sanchez in the Bond film Licence to Kill (1989). Davi studied with the legendary Stella Adler, who became his mentor, and he was also a member of the Actors Studio, where he studied with Lee Strasberg. His big break came when he was cast opposite Frank Sinatra in the telefilm Contract on Cherry Street (1977) (TV), and he has gone on to work in projects with Marlon Brando, Roberto Benigni, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Clint Eastwood, Benicio Del Toro, Danny Glover and Adam Sandler, to name a few.

Among his many notable film credits are Die Hard (1988), The Goonies (1985), Son of the Pink Panther (1993), Licence to Kill (1989), Raw Deal (1986) and Showgirls (1995). He has worked with such directors as Steven Spielberg, Richard Donner, Blake Edwards, John McTiernan and Paul Verhoeven, among others. He is equally adept at comedy, also, as is evident by his work in a Rodney Dangerfield romantic comedy, as a con artist (once again a very funny and believable character), and he can be seen in the Rob Schneider/Adam Sandler comedy The Hot Chick (2002). He recently produced and is starring in Hitters (2002), a film that takes a realistic look at the struggles that occur within a neighborhood mob crew.

Besides working and raising his five children, Davi stays busy volunteering his time in such charities such as The Dream Foundation, Exceptional Children's Foundation, Heart Of A Child Foundation, The National Italian-American Foundation, Unico, and he is the national spokesperson for I Save America.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Rob Nardelli and Pat Reale/rowsdower@attbi.com

Spouse

Christine Bolster	(19 August 1990 - present) 4 children
Jeri McBride	(29 November 1980 - 1 January 1990) (divorced) 1 child
Jan Borenstein	(14 February 1971 - 2 July 1980) (divorced)

Trivia

Originally trained as an opera-singer, until he damaged his voice. Sometime protégé of famous opera star Tito Gobbi.

Children: Sean Christian Davi (b.1981) with Jeri McBride, Ariana Marie Davi (b.April 3th 1990), Frances Davi (b.1992), Isabella Davi and Nicholas Edward Davi (twins, born on January 11th 2001) with Christine Bolster.

Only actor to star in all three of MGM's biggest franchises - James Bond, Pink Panther and Stargate (he is a recurring character on Stargate: Atlantis).

Attended Seton Hall High School, Patchogue, New York.

Attended Hofstra University on a drama scholarship.

Made his professional debut with Long Island's Lyric Opera Company.

Met his wife-to-be Christine Bolster in 1989 when he invited friend Mickey Rourke over to his home for some karaoke fun. Rourke, who was dating the fashion model at the time, introduced her to Davi, and he vowed to Rourke that he would marry her one day. Bolster later received an invitation from Davi to join him on a pictorial spread he was doing for GQ Magazine. He proposed to her during the shoot and they married soon after.

Loves Harley-Davidson motorcycles.

He went to Catholic primary schools on Long Island as a kid and then to Seton Hall, a Catholic high school in Patchogue, New York.

He got into Hofstra University on a drama scholarship and began working with its famous Shakespeare program, which includes a campus replica of Shakespeare's Globe Theater. After a time, though, Robert lost interest in school. Instead, he held a larger ambition: to work with the great Stella Adler. He ended up studying with Adler for three years and also studied with Lee Strasberg. During his apprenticeship, he acted in a rich variety of plays, from Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard and The Seagull to Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing and Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

His father, Sal, was born in southern Italy, and though his mother, Mary, was born in America, her family came from southern Italy as well.

Speaks fluent Italian.

Between 1977 and 1979, his parents, his sister and two of his grandparents died. Davi says dealing with the family tragedies was profoundly painful.

Personal Quotes

[on George W. Bush and the "war on terrorism"] We have to protect America. And I think that, thank God we have this administration and this president.

I know a couple of my friends - quite a few - there is a conservative movement in Hollywood, and we kind of stay amongst ourselves.

The war on terrorism is part of the war with Iraq.

Great storytellers in the past would go to an unknown land and return to tell the stories they've found. Those were also journeys into their inner psyches and that's still true today. An actor, a writer, does that as if saying, "Here's what I've discovered about myself and about the world I'm in. I would like to share this with you." It's an act of giving.

I can play the bad guy, the character with the edge, but I would like him to get the girl without having to put a gun to her head, you know? Look at the careers of Robert Mitchum, Humphrey Bogart and James Cagney started out playing the adversary, too. I feel an affinity towards them. Right now, you have a lot of leading boys, but no leading men in the old sense of the word. There's a need for that and I think I can bring that to the screen.

(on his beginning acting training) I was frustrated at Hofstra (University), so I moved to Manhattan, worked as a waiter and at a fruit-and-vegetable stand. I lived in a cheap railroad flat on East 171st Street, took classes at Juilliard and finally worked my way into Stella Adler's actors' studio. And that made all the difference. This woman was like getting a flame inside you, she was so inspirational.

(on being typecast) If you look at the careers of people like Anthony Quinn, Cagney, even Tommy Lee Jones, they all were cast as villains. There comes a certain point in your life, in your late 30s, early 40s, when suddenly that can change. Maybe a director sees a glimpse of something else within you along the way. I played comedy in The Goonies, which showed something else was going on. Even when I played the Bond villain in Licence to Kill, there were some people who were rooting for that character ahead of the traditional hero. Now, in Profiler, I get to play Bailey Malone, and I get to show another essence of myself. Stage performances show off multi-varied aspects of an actor, film has always been something else entirely. You always have a prejudice as to what you can and can't do, but your soul is able to come out more.

In the 8th Grade I found I had a voice for opera, so I followed that path a little, but my impulse has always been an actor. I have always liked cinema, and let's face it, opera singers are just bad actors! I didn't want to translate myself in that direction. My heroes were people like Spencer Tracey, Bogart, Mitchum, Marvin, Richardson, Caine, all those sort.

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