Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio have been Martin Scorsese’s go-to leading men, but which actor has starred in more of the director's movies? De Niro first collaborated with Scorsese on the filmmaker's third feature, Mean Streets, and has been playing tough-as-nails gangsters for him ever since, including roles in such acclaimed movies as Taxi Driver, Goodfellas, and The Irishman. After starring alongside DiCaprio in the coming-of-age drama This Boy’s Life, De Niro recommended the young actor to Scorsese (via /Film), who cast him in Gangs of New York and kicked off a decades-long working relationship.
Scorsese’s adaptation of Killers of the Flower Moon marks the first time he has cast both De Niro and DiCaprio in the same movie. Killers of the Flower Moon is an epic Western about the Osage Indian murders of the 1920s. DiCaprio plays Ernest Burkhart, the prosecution’s star witness, while De Niro plays William Hale, who made his fortune raising cattle. Both De Niro and DiCaprio have given some of the finest performances of their respective careers in Scorsese’s movies, but one of them has starred in more of the director's works.
Robert De Niro Appears In The Most Martin Scorsese Movies
Robert De Niro has starred in 10 of Martin Scorsese's movies, whereas Leonardo DiCaprio has only starred in six. They also both appeared in The Audition, an ment Scorsese directed for a hotel-casino resort in Macau. De Niro played troublemaking hood Johnny Boy in Mean Streets, insomniac vigilante Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver, narcissistic saxophonist Jimmy Doyle in New York, New York, boxer Jake LaMotta in Raging Bull, aspiring comedian Rupert Pupkin in The King of Comedy, gangster Jimmy Conway in Goodfellas, criminal Max Cady in Cape Fear, gambling kingpin Sam Rothstein in Casino, mob hitman Frank Sheeran in The Irishman, and William Hale in Killers of the Flower Moon.
DiCaprio's roles for Scorsese include young criminal Amsterdam Vallon in Gangs of New York, eccentric entrepreneur Howard Hughes in The Aviator, undercover cop Billy Costigan in The Departed, U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels (or so it seems) in Shutter Island, unscrupulous stockbroker Jordan Belfort in The Wolf of Wall Street, and Ernest Burkhart in Killers of the Flower Moon. Unlike De Niro, DiCaprio has occasionally played characters for Scorsese who are on the right side of the law. If DiCaprio continues working with Scorsese at their current rate, he could eventually overtake De Niro’s number of collaborations.
Other Actors Martin Scorsese Has Cast Multiple Times
Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio aren’t Martin Scorsese’s only frequent collaborators. The filmmaker has cast Victor Argo, Harvey Keitel, and Harry Northup in six movies each. Murray Moston appears in five Scorsese movies; Illeana Douglas, J.C. MacKenzie, and Joe Pesci each appear in four; and Frank Vincent, Barry Primus, and Verna Bloom each appear in three. Other actors who have appeared in more than one Scorsese movie include Alec Baldwin, Willem Dafoe, Daniel Day-Lewis, Barbara Hershey, Ben Kingsley, Emily Mortimer, Liam Neeson, Nick Nolte, Jesse Plemons, John C. Reilly, Frank Sivero, and Ray Winstone.
