Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver

Robert De Niro, who is considered one of the greatest actors of his time, is to receive the Cecil B. deMille lifetime achievement award at the Golden Globes ceremony on January 16.

The announcement was made today at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills by five time Golden Globe nominee Kevin Spacey. 

The 67-year-old actor, who won a best actor Golden Globe for his role as boxer Jake La Motta in 1980’s Raging Bull and has been nominated five other times, has appeared in more than 80 movies and has produced 30.

Since his movie debut in 1965’s Three Rooms in Manhattan, he has gained a reputation as being one of hardest working and most meticulous actors in the business, paying close attention to the smallest details.

Born in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village, he trained at the famed Actors Studio with Stella Adler and, after appearing in several low budget films directed by Brian De Palma, he earned critical praise for his performance as a baseball player dying from Hodgkin’s Disease in Bang The Drum Slowly.

Then came Mean Streets, the first of many landmark collaborations with director Martin Scorsese, and he cemented his stature with The Godfather, in which he starred as a young Vito Corleone. He gave a seminal performance as Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver and has continued to work steadily in a wide variety of movies, ranging from thrillers (Ronin, 1998), broad comedy (Analyze This, 1999) and drama (The Good Shepherd 2007,which he also directed.)

He recently starred as a correctional officer in Stone and will next be seen in Little Fockers.

Robert De Niro and Jake La Motta on the set of Raging Bull. The role earned De Niro a Best Actor Golden Globe Award.