A boy of Jewish immigrants from Poland and Romania, he spent most of his youth on the streets of New York City. At a age of Sixteen, Keitel decided to join a United States Marine Corps, a guide which took him to Lebanon. Fallowing his link to to the United States, he floundered for a while inside mediocre jobs prior to beginning his acting career.

Keitel exposed under two Stella Adler and Lee Strasberg, eventually landing roles around a select few off-Broadway productions. When you took this instance, Keitel met an additional struggling movie maker known as Martin Scorsese and gained a a share around Scorsese's student production. Since so each Scorsese & Keitel use worked together in many projects. Keitel got a leading role around Scorsese's Mean Streets but this proved to be Robert De Niro's breakthrough film.

Originally, Keitel was to use played a role of Captaaround Willard in Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now. Yet, he was fired early in the production & replaced by Martin Sheen. When this, it was several years prior to he would exist as take a breath for anything otherwise bit part. At a prevent of the Seventies Keitel was mostly working within European Films for Directors like Ridley Scott, usually within sinister character area.

Throughout a 1980s, Keitel continued to find plenty of operate in two stage & screen, however it was unremarkably in the stereotypical role of a thug. This role reached its apotheosis when Keitel starred in Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs in 1992, where his performance when Mr. White mass produced him the star. Ridley Scott besides helped Keitel by casting him when a sympathetic police officer within Thelma and Louise. Since so, Keitel has chosen his roles by using care, looking for to vary his image & flash the wide acting range. His guide to co-star within Jane Campion's The Piano marks the approximate beginning of this phase of Keitel's career. He has too shown the willingness to help more parvenu filmmakers by appearing in their 1st feature. He has done this non merely for Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino, but likewise Ridley Scott (The Dueler), Paul Schrader (Blue Collar), James Toback (Fingers), and Tony Bui (Yellow Lotus).

Selected filmography
''Who's That Knocking at My Door (1967) Mean Streets (1973) Taxi Driver (1976) Fingers (1978) Bad Timing (1980) The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) Thelma and Louise (1991) Bugsy (1991) Bad Lieutenant (1992) Reservoir Dogs (1992) Sister Act (1992) The Piano (1993) Pulp Fiction (1994) Smoke (1995) Blue in the Face (1995) From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) Cop Land (1997) The Prince of Central Park (1999) Three Seasons (1999) U-571 (2000) Little Nicky (2000) Red Dragon (2002) National Treasure (2004) Be Cool'' (2005)