Early life

Davi was born in Astoria, Queens, New York, the son of Maria (née Rulli) and Sal Davi. His mother was an Italian American whose family came from Nusco and his father was a native of Torretta, Palermo, Sicily;

Davi spoke Italian during his childhood. He attended Seton Hall, a Roman Catholic high school in Patchogue, New York. He has two sisters, Yvonne Davi (deceased), and Mrs. Michelle Queal. He graduated from Hofstra University, which he attended due to that university's strong drama department as well as its unique reproduction of Shakespeare's Globe Theater.

Acting career

Davi made his motion picture debut in Contract On Cherry Street, in which he shared the screen with Frank Sinatra. He subsequently worked with Marlon Brando, Clint Eastwood, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Benicio del Toro, James Franco, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Bruce Willis, and Roberto Benigni, among others. He has appeared in movies including The Goonies, Die Hard, Showgirls, Son of the Pink Panther, and in the Bond film Licence to Kill (1989) as the villain Franz Sanchez, a South American drug lord and murderer.

On television, he starred as Commander Acastus Kolya on Stargate Atlantis, appeared in two-part episodes of Criminal Minds, and played Supervisory Special Agent Bailey Malone of the FBI Violent Crimes Task Force in 88 episodes of his own NBC series, Profiler. In 1989, Davi appeared as Mafia Albert Cerrico on the television series Wiseguy, in the 10 episode Mafia arc titled Garbage Wars. He sang in the first installment of the arc, called Le Lacrime de Amore Part I.

In 2011, Davi appeared alongside Val Kilmer and Christopher Walken in the gangster movie Kill the Irishman. The film, in which Davi played Mafia hitman Ray Ferritto, is a biopic of Danny Greene, an Irish-American mob boss who warred with the Cleveland crime family during the 1970s. Released the same year, he was also in Game of Death with Wesley Snipes. He followed up these projects with crime thriller The Iceman (2012).

In 2014, Davi appeared as Goran Vata in The Expendables 3.

In 2015, Davi appeared in a music video for Bob Dylan's recording of "The Night They Called It A Day", from Dylan's album Shadows In The Night, a selection of songs which had been recorded by Frank Sinatra. Rolling Stone suggested that Davi's role in the video may be a nod towards Davi's having made his acting debut alongside Sinatra in the crime film Contract on Cherry Street, and Davi's release of his own album of Sinatra covers.

Directing career

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In 2007, Davi made his directorial debut with The Dukes, a parable regarding the mid-2000 economic crisis and its impact. In addition to Davi, the film stars Chazz Palminteri and Peter Bogdanovich. The Dukes was selected for the premiere section at the Rome Film Festival, along with films by Francis Ford Coppola, Sean Penn, Robert Redford, and Sidney Lumet. He was the only first-time director in the premiere section. At the Monte Carlo Comedy Film Festival, the film received awards for best first-time director and best screenplay. Later, The Dukes was invited to the Alpe d'Huez International Comedy Film Festival in France, among other festivals.

Recording career

In high school, Davi was praised for his singing, and auditioned for the Metropolitan Opera after being awarded first place at the prestigious New York State School Music Association’s Solo Competition, where he sang Vincent Youman's "Without A Song". He subsequently received classical training with top vocal teachers, Samuel Margolis and Danial Ferro of Juilliard and Tito Gobbi. Davi damaged his voice, and later explained that he was a baritone with the "heart of a tenor and had pushed too hard, too early."

Davi began to focus again on singing in 2011, and worked with "Voice Builder" Gary Catona as he prepared to record his first album.

With a thirty-piece orchestra, he recorded the album at the legendary Capitol Records Building in Hollywood, where Frank Sinatra recorded on many occasions.

The album, which featured new arrangements by composer Nic. tenBroek, was produced by Phil Ramone, engineered by Dan Wallin, and mixed by the legendary Al Schmitt. The album, Davi Sings Sinatra -- On The Road To Romance, was released October 24, 2011, and received significant attention from the media, garnering positive reviews. Jazztimes called Davi Sings Sinatra "uniformly impressive", and critic Don Heckman wrote in the Orange County Register that "there are, of course, dozens of Sinatra imitators and simulators. But what Davi does is a whole different matter. A tribute? Yes, indeed; all that and more." AllMusic noted that "Davi makes no attempt to copy Sinatra's vocal sound ... Rather, he is his own singer." The album reached the Top 10 on the Billboard jazz charts.

Quincy Jones said: "I have never heard anyone come this close to Sinatra's sound - and still be himself. Many try, but Robert Davi has the voice, tone, the flavor and the swagger."

In December 2012, Davi appeared along with Roger Cicero in the French/German Arte TV program Durch die Nacht mit.... The episode was shot in the Little Italy area of New York City and featured conversation between Cicero and Davi and solos of Sinatra standards by both performers. In December 2013, Davi released a Christmas single, "Mistletoe and Holly", with all proceeds benefiting The Salvation Army.

In September 2013, Davi recorded a single by Nick Vallelonga called, "New York City Christmas", which was arranged by Chris Walden, performed by members the Chris Walden Big Band, and recorded and mixed at Capitol Records by Al Schmitt and Steve Genewick. It was released in November 2013.

Davi has lent his voice to political ads, including Carly Fiorina's "Demon Sheep" attack ad, "Hot Air: The Movie", and others produced by Republican media consultant Fred Davis.

Personal life

Davi, a devout Roman Catholic, is an outspoken political conservative and often speaks at Republican Party gatherings. He has been invited to comment on numerous political shows and backed John McCain during his presidential campaign. He narrated several film montages that aired during the 2008 Republican National Convention. Davi spoke at the 2009 Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C. Davi also writes a regular political column for Breitbart News Network. He was a frequent guest on Fox News's late-night satire program Red Eye w/ Greg Gutfeld.

Davi's children are Sean Christian Davi (born 1981), with Jeri McBride, and Ariana Marie Davi (born April 3, 1990), Frances Davi (born 1992), and Isabella Davi and Nicholas Edward Davi (twins, born on January 11, 2001), with Christine Bolster.

Awards and honors

For his notable contributions to the Italian community, Davi was enshrined in Toronto's Italian Walk of Fame in 2013.

TV and filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1977	Contract on Cherry Street	Mickey Sinardos, Greek hijacker	TV
1978	Charlie's Angels	Ritchie	TV Series
1979	And Your Name Is Jonah	Dickie	TV
	From Here to Eternity	Guard	mini TV series
	The Legend of the Golden Gun	William Quantrill	TV
1980	Alcatraz: The Whole Shocking Story	Hubbard	TV
1982	St. Elsewhere	man in restaurant	TV, 1 episode
1982	T. J. Hooker	Joseph "The Barber" Picartus/Tom Warfield	TV, 2 episodes
1984	City Heat	Nino
	The A-Team	Boyle (episode "Sheriffs of Rivertown")
1985	The Goonies	Jake Fratelli
	Hunter	Sonny Dunbar	TV series
1986	The Equalizer	Michael Riegert	TV series
	Raw Deal	Max Keller
1987	Wild Thing	Chopper
1988	Terrorist on Trial: The United States vs. Salim Ajami	Salim Ajami
	Action Jackson	Tony Moretti
	L.A. Law	Dominic Simonetti	TV series
	Die Hard	FBI Special Agent Johnson
	Traxx	Aldo Palucci
1989	Licence to Kill	Franz Sanchez
	Wiseguy	Albert Cerrico	TV series
1990	Peacemaker	Det. Sgt. Frank Ramos
	Deceptions	Jack 'Harley' Kessler
	Maniac Cop 2	Det. Sean McKinney
	Predator 2	Captain Phil Heinemann
	Amazon	Dan
1991	Legal Tender	Fix Cleary
	Under Surveillance
	White Hot: The Mysterious Murder of Thelma Todd	Lucky Luciano
	The Taking of Beverly Hills	Robert Masterson
1992	Wild Orchid II: Two Shades of Blue	Sully
	Center of the Web	Richard Morgan
	Illicit Behavior	Lt. Matt Walker
	Christopher Columbus: The Discovery	Martin Pinzon
1993	Maniac Cop III: Badge of Silence	Det. Sean McKinney
	Night Trap	Mike Turner
	Son of the Pink Panther	Hans Zarba
	Quick	Matthew Davenport
	FBI: The Untold Stories	Donnie Brasco	TV series
1994	No Contest	Sergeant Crane
	The Dangerous	Billy Davalos
	Blind Justice	Alacran
	The November Men	Robert Davi
	Cops and Robbersons	Osborn
1995	Cyber Vengeance	R.D. Crowley
	VR.5	Simon Buchanan	TV series
	Codename: Silencer	Eddie Cook
	Delta of Venus	The Collector
	Showgirls	Al Torres
	The Zone	Rowdy Welles
1996	Absolute Aggression	R. D. Crowley
	For Which He Stands	Carlito Escalara
	An Occasional Hell	Trooper Larry Abbott
	Profiler	Agent Bailey Malone	TV series
1997	The Beneficiary	Gil Potter
1998	The Bad Pack	McQue
1999	Batman Beyond	Dr. Mike Morgan	TV series
	My Little Assassin	Frank Sturgis
	The Pretender	Agent Bailey Malone	TV series
2001	Soulkeeper	Mallion
2002	The Sorcerer's Apprentice	Merlin/Milner
	Verdict in Blood	Wade Waters
	Grand Theft Auto: Vice City	Colonel Juan Garcia Cortez
	The 4th Tenor	Ierra
	The Hot Chick	Stan, April's Dad
	Hitters	Nick
2003	One Last Ride	Father
2004	Call Me: The Rise and Fall of Heidi Fleiss	Ivan Nagy
	Karen Sisco	Denton	TV series
	Halo 2	Rtas 'Vadumee (SpecOps Leader)
	Stargate: Atlantis	Commander Acastus Kolya	TV series
2005	Breaking Vegas	Narrator	TV series
	In the Mix	Fish
2006	Huff	Dickins	TV series
	Scarface: The World Is Yours	Alejandro "Alex" Sosa
2007	The Dukes	Danny (also: directorial debut)
	Halo 3	Shipmaster Rtas 'Vadumee
2008	An American Carol	Aziz
	Burnin' Up	Jonas Brothers	Music video
2009	American Summer	Himself
	The Butcher	Murdoch
	Magic Man	Simpson
2010	Spring Break '83	Dean Whitter
	Magic	Dr. David Ortero
	One in the Gun	Vincent
	Ballistica	Macarthur
	Apocalypse Island	Narrator
	Game of Death	Frank Smith
2011	Doonby	Sheriff Woodley
	Kill the Irishman	Ray Ferritto
	Swamp Shark	Sheriff Watson
2012	The Iceman	Leonard Marks
2013	A Long Way Off	Frank
	Blood of Redemption	Hayden
2014	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Marvin Braxton
	The Expendables 3	Goran Vata
2015	Sicilian Vampire	Big Sal
2016	Criminal	Admiral Lance	Uncredited
TBA	Reagan	Leonid Brezhnev	Post-production

[ Source: Wikipedia ]