Vincent D'Onofrio - Early Life

Early Life

Vincent D'Onofrio was born in the Bensonhurst neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, of Italian descent. He is the son of Gennaro (Gene) D’Onofrio, an interior designer and theater production assistant, and Phyllis, a waitress and restaurant manager. The couple met while Gene was stationed in Hawaii with the U.S Air Force. In 1956, they had their first child, Antoinette, who now owns the Rib City restaurant in American Fork, Utah. She was followed by Elizabeth (1957), an actress and drama coach now residing in Fort Myers Beach, Florida, then by Vincent. D'Onofrio's parents divorced when he was young, and his mother later married George Meyer who had a son, Guy, and daughter, Connie, from a previous marriage. The family moved to the Hialeah area of Florida. A shy boy who spent "a lot of time in my room, staying in my head", D'Onofrio later became interested in magic and sleight of hand, tricks he learned from Cuban entertainers who owned a small magic shop. In his teens, he worked backstage, building sets and running sound at a number of community theaters run by his father.