Most people probably remember Vincent D’Onofrio as the overweight and clumsy Marine trainee in Stanley Kubrick’s film Full Metal Jacket. His fame did go down after that, though.
The actor, who turned 64 on June 30, 2023, said that the role required a big change in his body, which made him look unattractive to women who used to love his curly dark hair and toned body.
Vincent D’Onofrio has a long and interesting list of jobs. He always gives each part his all, and he always seems to become the character so much that you forget who he is.
From his early years on, the actor from Brooklyn worked in stage shows, both on and off Broadway. He did other things, like bodyguarding Robert Plant and Yul Brynner, to pay for his acting career.
He used to work as a bar bouncer, drive taxis, hang curtains, and deliver flowers to make a living.
Matthew Modine, D’Onofrio’s friend and fellow actor, told him to send an audition tape to Stanley Kubrick, who was looking for his next big hit at the time, after he had a few small parts.
There were some rules about how D’Onofrio, who is 6 feet 3 inches tall and very fit, could play Leonard, who is fat and stupid.
D’Onofrio’s life changed when he worked with Kubrick because it gave him the chance to really become the character and improve his acting skills in a tough setting.
The father of three, who is 64 years old, had to take off his beautiful full head of hair and gain 70 to 80 pounds for the role. This is still the most weight an actor has gained for a role.
Later, I put on about thirty pounds after Kubrick asked me early on if I would be okay with doing so. I remember him telling me I looked like I could kick everyone’s ass. He thought that extra weight would be needed. D’Onofrio said of the role he played when he was 24, “I think it went up to 80 pounds, from 200 to 280.”
After gaining some weight, D’Onofrio had to go through the tough boot camp scenes in the movie.
Obstacle courses should have been easy for him because he was so fit, but at 280 pounds, it was really hard for him.
Many critics said D’Onofrio did a great job playing Leonard, who was fat, stupid, and mentally ill. But some fans thought he was the real Leonard.
When you get to that size, people see you differently. As you may remember, I shaved my head, which changed me from a tall, skinny actor to a big, strong guy with a bald head. It was a very strange change in my life. “It changed my life,” the Broken Horses star said. The women didn’t look at me; instead, they wanted me to look at their backs as they ran away. People who thought I was stupid used to say things to me twice.
After a year, the star of “The Magnificent Seven” was back to his old size and had grown a full head of hair.
A New York-born director, producer, author, and actor who wrote the book “Pigs Can’t Look Up” in 2023 says that Stanley Kubrick inspired him to have a long career.
When D’Onofrio was young, the split of his parents had a big effect on his life. America’s famous director and writer George Meyer married his mother.
This caused the family to move to the Hialeah, Florida area. When he was a kid, D’Onofrio liked to be alone with his thoughts in his room.
Living in Florida, he learned magic and sleight of hand from Cuban artists who ran a small magic shop. This is where his interest in these skills began.
It was in the early 1990s that actress Greta Scacchi and actor Vincent D’Onofrio were dating. They worked together on several movies during this time, such as Fires Within and The Player. Their daughter from their relationship, Leila George, was born in 1991 or 1992 and has been an actress ever since.
In 1997, Vincent D’Onofrio married models Carin van der Donk from the Netherlands.
Their first child together was born in 1999. But problems in their relationship made them break up in the early 2000s. They got back together and had a second son in 2008.
Following 26 years of marriage, D’Onofrio asked the Manhattan Supreme Court for a divorce from Carin van der Donk in June 2023.
D’Onofrio can be seen in the upcoming comedy Dumb Money and the Sandra Bullock-starred movie The Unforgivable, which comes out in 2021.
Vincent D’Onofrio did a great job in Full Metal Jacket, and his performance as Leonard’s mental breakdown is amazingly true to life!
Even though, as you might expect after many years, he looks very different now, we still enjoy his shows!
Comment on how you feel about how he presented Leonard as fat and stupid.
