DeVito is one of the entertainment industry’s most versatile players, excelling as actor, producer and director. His award-winning performance as “Louie De Palma” on the television show Taxi was what propelled DeVito to national prominence, winning him an Emmy® and other awards for the role. In a 1999 readers’ poll conducted by TV Guide, DeVito’s “Louie De Palma” was voted number one among “TV’s Fifty Greatest Character’s Ever.”
DeVito is the principal of Jersey Film’s 2nd Avenue, a successor company of Jersey Films, through which he is currently producing Little Demon for FXX. The show includes characters voiced by DeVito, daughter and actor Lucy DeVito and Aubrey Plaza, with Dan Harmon executive producing. In film, they recently optioned the screen rights to Tom’s River: A Story of Science and Salvation, the Pulitzer Prize-winning book by Dan Fagin.
DeVito was last heard voicing the character “Bob” for Walt Disney Pictures’ The One and Only Ivan. In 2018, he was heard voicing “Dorgle” in Warner Bros.’ Smallfoot. Other beloved, voiced, animated characters include the title character in Universal Pictures’ The Lorax, based on the book by Dr. Seuss, and 1997 Disney classic Hercules as the fan favorite character “Phil."
On television, DeVito was most recently seen returning as “Frank Reynolds” in the 15th season of FXX’s acclaimed cult comedy, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. The show’s renewal in 2020 through season 18, makes it the longest-running scripted comedy in television history.
Upcoming films include Disney’s Haunted Mansion, Triplets and Sniff. He can currently be seen in the HBO biopic about Harry Haft, The Survivor, for which he has also served as executive producer. In 2019 DeVito also appeared in the highly successful sequel Jumanji: The Next Level and was reunited with Tim Burton for Disney’s Dumbo.
DeVito has starred in such classic films as Junior, Batman Returns, Twins, Romancing the Stone, Jewel of the Nile, Ruthless People, Tin Men, LA Confidential, Anything Else, Big Fish, Renaissance Man, The Big Kahuna, Heist, The Good Night and Deck the Halls, among others.
DeVito made his Broadway debut in 2017 in Arthur Miller’s The Price in the role of “Gregory Solomon,” earning him his first Tony Award® nomination. In 2012 DeVito and Richard Griffiths received rave reviews in the London stage revival of Neil Simon’s comedy The Sunshine Boys.
Throughout his career, DeVito has directed more than 25 projects including Matilda, Death to Smoochy, The War of the Roses, Hoffa, Throw Momma from the Train, The Ratings Game and numerous short films, TV movies and episodes of television, including Taxi. He has also served as producer on over 30 films, including Erin Brockovich, Pulp Fiction, Reality Bites, Garden State, Man on the Moon, Get Shorty and Freedom Writers.
In 2018, the mayor of Asbury Park, NJ, the town in which he was raised, declared November 17 (DeVito’s birthday) as “Danny DeVito Day” in perpetuity.
