The first role of De Niro and first collaboration with Brian De Palma materialized in 1963 at the age of 20 years, when he appeared in The Wedding Party, however, the film was not released only in 1969. De Niro has spent much of the '60s working in theater productions and "off Broadway". He had an extra role in French film "Three Rooms in Manhattan" (1965) and made its official debut collaborating again with Brian De Palma in "Greetings" (1968). Later he continued his role in "Greetings" to "Hi, Mom" (1970).
He drew attention to the role of a baseball player in "Bang The Drum Slowly" (1973). The same year he started working for success with director Martin Scorsese when he played a young man in a slum, "Johnny Boy" alongside "Charlie", played by Harvey Keitel in Mean Streets (1973). In 1974 De Niro played a more important role in Francis Coppola's film, The Godfather Part II, where he plays the young Don Vito Corleone, having previously given evidence for the roles of Sonny Corleone, Michael Corleone, Carlo Rizzi and Paulie Gatto in the first film. The benefit to him his first Oscar for "Best Actor in a Supporting Role" although one that was Coppola accepted the award, as De Niro was not at the awards ceremony. He became the first Oscar-winning actor to speak in a language almost throughout the film, mostly Sicilian dialects (spoken to a few phrases in English).
After working with Scorsese in "Mean Streets" director relationship has developed, giving rise to films such as Taxi Driver (1976), "New York, New York" (1977), Raging Bull (1980), "The King of Comedy" (1983), Goodfellas (1990), "Cape Fear" (1991) and Casino (1995). Also, the two played together in "Guilty by Suspicion" and have lent their voices for animated film "Shark Tale".
In many of his films, De Niro play parts of sociopaths. Taxi Driver is a milestone in the actor's career. The benefit was as Travis Bick became famous because of De Niro improvised monologue during filming: "You talkin 'to me?". In 1976, De Niro appeared in the film about the Second World War, "Novecento" ("1900"), directed by Bernardo Bertolucci, the war is seen by two Italian childhood friends, belonging to classes different social.
In 1978, De Niro starred as Michael Vronsky in the hit film about the Vietnam War, The Deer Hunter has been nominated for an Oscar for "Best Actor in a Leading Role".