Drena De Niro

Drena De Niro (born September 3, 1967) is an American actress and filmmaker who is the daughter of Diahnne Abbott and the adoptive daughter of Robert De Niro after their marriage in 1976.

Drena De Niro
De Niro at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival Vanity Fair party
Born	(1967-09-03) September 3, 1967 (age 57) New York City, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1996–present
Children	1 (deceased)
Parent(s)	Robert De Niro (adoptive father) Diahnne Abbott (mother)
Relatives	Raphael De Niro (half brother) Virginia Admiral (adoptive grandmother) Robert De Niro Sr. (adoptive grandfather)

Life and career

De Niro is the daughter of actress Diahnne Abbott, and the adoptive daughter of actor Robert De Niro, whose last name she took upon her mother's marriage to him in 1976.

De Niro had a bohemian upbringing and divided her time living in New York City, Los Angeles, and Italy. The transient lifestyle is said to have been a factor in her choice to work in the arts. After high school she began her career in the entertainment industry working as a model.^[1] Having interests in fashion and music she became a DJ and fashion consultant.^[1] It led to working as a musical supervisor for Giorgio Armani creating and coordinating runway shows.^[1]

Her transition to the field of acting began with her role in Allison Anders' Grace of My Heart. Since then De Niro has worked with and trained under Larry Moss, author of the acting guide, Intent to Live, and Susan Batson of The Black Nexxus Acting Studio. After 2000 De Niro wrote and directed her first film, Girls and Dolls. The documentary examined a young stylist's obsession with her dolls, and she won the Best Directorial Debut Award at the New York Independent Film/Video Festival in 2001. She has appeared in several of her father's films, including Showtime (2002), Wag the Dog (1997), City by the Sea (2002) and The Intern (2015).

Recently De Niro's endeavors have led her back to Italy, where she worked on her latest film^{[citation needed]}. Since 2006, she has been the spokesperson for the Kageno Orphan Sponsorship Program,^[2] which helps provide care for orphaned children in Kageno villages. De Niro currently lives in New York City.^[1][3] In July 2023, De Niro announced that her son Leandro had died aged 19.^[4][5] It was later revealed to be due to accidental fentanyl poisoning.^[6]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996	Grace of My Heart	Receptionist #1
1997	Wag the Dog	Gate Stewardess
1998	Too Tired to Die	Waitress
1998	Great Expectations	Marcy
1999	At First Sight	Caroline
1999	On the Run	Rita
1999	The 24 Hour Woman	Lori
1999	Personals	Sherie
1999	Entropy	Waitress
2000	The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle	RBTV Lackey
2001	Freewheeling in Roma	Keechie
2002	Showtime	Annie
2002	Ghetto Dawg	Semi
2002	City by the Sea	Vanessa Hansen
2002	Soliloquy	Kara
2003	Death of a Dynasty	Female Staff Writer
2005	Freezerburn	Nada, The Handler
2005	The Collection	Various
2007	The Lovebirds	Stella Clark
2009	Karma, Confessions and Holi	Megan
2009	ExTerminators	Dr. Press
2009	A Day in the Life	'P'
2011	New Year's Eve	Ahern Waitress – Ahern Party
2014	Welcome to New York	Executive Assistant
2015	The Intern	Hotel Manager
2015	Joy	Cindy
2016	Hands of Stone	Adele
2018	Furlough	Linda
2018	A Star Is Born	Paulette Stone

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1998	Witness to the Mob	Girl In Beauty Shop
2002	The Groovenians	Glindy (voice)	TV short
2012	NYC 22	SVU Detective Irma Bolland	Episode: "Block Party"

References

1. Living the De Niro Dream Archived October 23, 2013, at the Wayback Machine, avenuemagazine.com, 2011
2. Orphan Sponsorship Assistance Archived 2009-01-26 at the Wayback Machine, Kageno.org
3. Thompson, D. L. (January 19, 2020). "Drena De Niro, Robert De Niro's Adopted Daughter: 5 Fast Facts". Heavy.com. Archived from the original on July 16, 2020. Retrieved July 17, 2020.
4. Scorziello, Sophia (July 3, 2023). "Robert De Niro's Grandson Leandro De Niro Rodriguez, Who Acted in 'A Star Is Born', Dies at 19". Variety. Archived from the original on July 3, 2023. Retrieved July 3, 2023.
5. Ushe, Naledi (July 6, 2023). "Robert De Niro's grandson Leandro died from 'fentanyl laced pills', mom Drena says". USA Today. Archived from the original on July 7, 2023. Retrieved July 7, 2023.
6. "Leandro De Niro Rodriguez's cause of death revealed as accidental drug overdose, reports say". USA Today. August 8, 2023. Archived from the original on August 9, 2023. Retrieved August 9, 2023.

External links

• Drena De Niro at IMDb