Joe Pesci

Pesci was born on February 9, 1943, in Newark, New Jersey. His mother, Maria (Mesce), worked part time as a barber, and his father, Angelo Pesci, was a forklift truck driver for General Motors and a bartender. He is of Italian descent with family origins both in Turin and Aquilonia in the province of Avellino. Pesci was raised in Belleville, New Jersey, and graduated from Belleville High School. By the time Pesci was five years old he was appearing in plays in New York. At age 10 he was a regular on a television variety show called Startime Kids, which also featured Connie Francis. As an entertainer from Belleville, he was acquainted with guitarist Tommy DeVito of The Four Lovers, a novelty act from Belleville that included (among others) singer Frankie Valli; Pesci also knew keyboardist Bob Gaudio of The Royal Teens. Pesci introduced Gaudio to DeVito and Valli in 1958, which led to the formation of the band The Four Seasons. Pesci and DeVito remained friends for the rest of DeVito's life; when DeVito fell on hard times in the 1970s following his resignation from the Four Seasons, Pesci placed DeVito on his personal payroll, and Pesci arranged for DeVito to make cameos in some of Pesci's 1990s films. Pesci was childhood friends with American Mafia figure Robert Bisaccia.