Joe Pesci

After years of struggling as a professional musician and comedy performer, actor Joe Pesci was vaulted into the limelight thanks to his Academy Award-nominated performance in director Martin Scorsese's "Raging Bull," starring Oscar-winner Robert De Niro. The film marked the first of several successful collaborations between Pesci, De Niro and Scorsese over the years.

Though he settled into a few rather forgettable roles following his initial triumph, Pesci re-emerged later in the decade with several unforgettable performances, starting with his comic turn as mob accountant-turned-state's witness Leo Getz in "Lethal Weapon 2," a role he reprised for the third and fourth installments to the franchise. But it was his portrayal of an uncontrollably violent mobster rising up the ranks in Scorsese's brilliant crime saga "Goodfellas" that became his defining role. So good was Pesci that he even eclipsed De Niro in critical plaudits and went on to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Pesci next rose above a large ensemble cast to play alleged assassination conspirator David Ferrie in Oliver Stone's "JFK," which he followed with a rare starring turn in "My Cousin Vinny." Following another collaboration with De Niro and Scorsese in "Casino," he appeared in "Gone Fishin'" and "8 Heads in a Duffel Bag," which precipitated a surprise retirement from acting in 1999 in order for him to concentrate on music.

With a cameo in De Niro's "The Good Shepherd" in 2006 and a starring role in "Love Ranch" in 2010, Pesci was poised to once again rise to Hollywood prominence.

In addition to his acting career, Pesci is one of the producers of the hit Broadway musical "Jersey Boys," which premiered in 2004. The musical is based on the lives of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. Pesci was present during the formation of the group as a young man and is a friend of the group's Tommy Devito. Pesci is a character in the musical, pivotal for introducing DeVito and Valli to the singer/songwriter who would become a seminal Seasons' member, Bob Gaudio.