I think it's important to have had at least a few years of obscurity, where people treat you like everybody else.

Ann Romney. Dougan Andy (2003). Around this time he was offered the role of Mitch Leary in In the Line of Fire opposite Clint Eastwood.

He would also garner nominations for Taxi Driver in 1976 and Cape Fear in 1991. De Niro has received accolades for his career including the AFI Life Achievement Award and the Golden Globe Cecil B.