Lillo Brancato

The Kid Who Imitated De Niro

Robert De Niro was discovered on a Long Island beach during the summer of 1992. Lillo Brancato was sixteen years old and had no interest in acting. But he could mimic every gesture of Taxi Driver, and that won over the veteran enough to cast him in the lead role of A Bronx Tale.

His physical resemblance to a young De Niro was so striking that the press dubbed him his natural heir. He signed a $1 million contract before turning eighteen. Overnight, the adopted son of a Yonkers family found himself at the center of the world of cinema.

It was his golden ticket.

Work followed on Crimson Tide and a recurring role in season two of The Sopranos in 2000. He played Matthew Bevilaqua, a small-time thug who meets a bad end after trying to impress Tony Soprano. No one suspected that fiction was about to blur with a much darker reality.

The Robbery That Ended in Tragedy

Addiction to crack and heroin derailed his chances of breaking into Hollywood's top tier. In December 2005, his name left the entertainment pages and landed in the crime section. Brancato and an accomplice tried to rob a home in New York to get drugs.

An off-duty police officer, Daniel Enchautegui, tried to stop them and was killed in the shootout that followed. The actor was shot several times but survived. Prosecutors sought life in prison for his direct involvement in the robbery.

And the movie world turned its back on him.

A jury acquitted him of murder in 2008 but convicted him of attempted robbery and sentenced him to ten years in prison. He served much of his sentence at Oneida prison. There he worked cleaning floors and tried to get clean while his former co-stars collected awards at galas he was no longer invited to.

Surviving on the Margins

He was released on parole in December 2013. His return to the industry was slow and met with strong opposition from New York police unions. But he landed small roles in independent productions, such as Dead on Arrival in 2017.

Brancato focused on giving talks about drug prevention while trying to get back into the work rhythm. In 2018, he shot the documentary Wasted Talent, in which he candidly examined his own rise and fall. The industry no longer saw him as a star but as a cautionary tale with legs.

Landed a supporting role in The Birthday Cake in 2021.

His acting work stays on the fringes of low-budget film, with titles like Sleepyhead in 2022. He lives in Yonkers and remains under supervision that limits his international travel. His police record gets more attention than his filmography in any industry database.