VINCENT D'ONOFRIO
RETURN OF THE KINGPIN
By Lee Parham
As Vincent D'Onofrio officially rejoins the MCU in Hawkeye as Wilson Fisk aka Kingpin, let's take a look back on decades of tremendous character work from the talented actor.
Vincent D'Onofrio was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1959. His father, Gennaro, spent time in the US Air Force and did amateur theater work. The theater would define D'Onofrio's upbringing.
D'Onofrio spent time helping out his father backstage with community theater productions during his teenage years. After a brief stint in college, he decided to drop out and pursue acting full-time.
D'Onofrio followed in his father's footsteps and began acting on stage before turning to film and television in the mid-1980s. His first part in a movie was the teen comedy The First Turn On! in 1983.
It didn't take much longer for the actor to land a significant role. In 1987, D'Onofrio had his breakout part when he starred as Gomer Pyle in Stanley Kubrick's war film Full Metal Jacket.
In the following years, he established himself as a viable character actor, with parts in movies such as Adventures in Babysitting, Mystic Pizza, JFK, and Ed Wood.
An early highlight of his character work came in 1997's Men in Black, where he played the villainous Edgar, who eventually turns into a horrifying and disgusting bug alien.
D'Onofrio even reprised his Men in Black role for Men in Black: The Series, an animated show that ran for four seasons on Disney Channel.
With the turn of the century came a slight turn in D'Onofrio's career as he began focusing on television more than film.
His most prominent role was Detective Robert Goren on Law & Order: Criminal Intent, which ran for ten seasons on NBC from 2001-11.
D'Onofrio found himself on the other side of the law as the iconic Marvel villain Wilson Fisk/Kingpin in the Netflix series Daredevil opposite Charlie Cox as the Man Without Fear.
Daredevil ran for three seasons before being canceled by Netflix. While there have been questions about whether the show is canonical in the MCU, Kingpin has now made a triumphant return.
After rumors, speculation, and teases, Vincent is reprising his Kingpin part in Hawkeye, the latest MCU series, setting up his involvement in the criminal underworld of the Marvel Universe.
Beyond Daredevil, D'Onofrio has appeared in bigger scale films in the 2010s and 20s, such as a part in Jurassic World, Sinister and its horror sequel, and the remake of The Magnificent Seven.
Most recently, he appeared in the biopic The Eyes of Tammy Faye and has a part in Netflix's mystery drama The Unforgivable alongside Sandra Bullock and Viola Davis.
Years of fantastic supporting parts from theater, television, and film have led to Vincent D'Onofrio creating a name for himself in Hollywood as a beloved character actor.