Mayor Bloomberg and Mayor’s Office of Media & Entertainment Commissioner Katherine Oliver presented the seventh annual “Made in NY” Awards, honoring individuals and organizations that have made significant contributions to the City’s entertainment and digital media industries. The 2012 “Made in NY” honorees include: Academy Award-winning actor, director, producer Robert De Niro; Academy Award-winning actress Meryl Streep; Academy Award, Emmy, Tony and Grammy winner Whoopi Goldberg; Emmy-winning actress and television host Kelly Ripa; award-winning media company radical.media, which develops, produces and distributes innovative content across all forms of media; and New York City-based Kickstarter, the world’s largest funding platform for creative projects.
This year’s “Made in NY” Mayor’s Award for Lifetime Achievement was presented to actors and legendary husband-and-wife comedy team Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara. The Mayor made the announcement at Gracie Mansion, where Raven-Symoné and the cast of the Broadway musical Sister Act performed. The musical, which received five Tony Award nominations, features an original score by Alan Menken and Glenn Slater and is currently playing at the Broadway Theatre.
“This has been a remarkable and record-breaking year for New York City’s entertainment and digital media industries, which are vital parts of our economic diversification strategy,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “More New Yorkers than ever before are taking advantages of the opportunities within these growing industries. Congratulations to all of the honorees, who are proof positive that when you’re Made in NY, you can make it anywhere.”
“Our City is home to some of the most talented people in the world, who are part of a creative community that continually amaze and impress us all,” said Commissioner Oliver. “It’s an honor to recognize these individuals and organizations tonight for all of their achievements as we celebrate the seventh annual ‘Made in NY’ Awards.”
Video profiles featuring intimate conversations with each of the honorees have been produced and are available to watch online at facebook.com/NYCMINY. The videos were created with the support of various guilds and studios, and the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment wishes to thank the guilds, Columbia Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Universal Studios, Warner Bros. Television and SOFA Entertainment for their assistance.
“Danny” Aiello Jr. is an American actor who has appeared in numerous motion pictures, including Once Upon a Time in America, Ruby, The Godfather: Part II, Hudson Hawk, The Purple Rose of Cairo, Moonstruck, Léon: The Professional, Two Days in the Valley, and Dinner Rush. He had a pivotal role in the 1989 Spike Lee film Do the Right Thing as Salvatore “Sal” Frangione, the pizzeria owner, which earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Aiello is also known for his role as Don Domenico Clericuzio in the miniseries, Mario Puzo’s The Last Don.
Aiello broke into films in the early 1970s. One of his earliest roles came as a ballplayer in the 1973 baseball drama, Bang the Drum Slowly, with Robert De Niro. Aiello had a walk-on role as small-time hood Tony Rosato in The Godfather Part II (1974), ad-libbing the famous line “Michael Corleone says hello!” during a hit on a rival gangster Frank Pentangeli (Michael V. Gazzo).
In 1980, Aiello had a co-lead role with Jan Michael Vincent in Defiance, about some Manhattan residents who fight back against the thugs terrorizing the neighborhood. The next year, he received considerable acclaim for playing a racist New York City cop in Fort Apache, The Bronx (1981) with Paul Newman.
In 1981, Danny Aiello won a Daytime Emmy award for his appearance in an ABC Afterschool Special called A Family of Strangers.
Aiello’s singing has been on display in films such as Hudson Hawk (1991), Once Around (1991), and Remedy that starred his son Ricky Aiello and Jonathan Doscher. He has released several albums featuring a big-band sound including I Just Wanted To Hear The Words (2004) and Live From Atlantic City (2008). Aiello and EMI songwriter Hasan Johnson released an album in 2011 of standards fused with rap entitled Bridges.
He played the title character for the video of Madonna’s song, “Papa Don’t Preach” (1986).
Aiello’s Broadway theatre credits include Gemini, The Floating Light Bulb, Hurlyburly, and The House of Blue Leaves. He also was in the 1976 Broadway play Wheelbarrow Closers, directed by Paul Sorvino.
In July, 2011, opened Off Broadway in the two-act drama The Shoemaker, written by Susan Charlotte and directed by Antony Marsellis. The play is a stage version of his 2006 movie A Broken Sole, which began life in 2001 as a one-act play.
Robert De Niro
In 1974, Robert De Niro won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for The Godfather, Part II, and in 1980, he won his second Oscar, as Best Actor, for his portrayal of Jake La Motta in Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull. He has also earned four other Academy Award nominations.
De Niro appeared in and made his directorial debut with A Bronx Tale and later directed and appeared in The Good Shepherd; both films shot in New York City. In 2009, he received the Kennedy Center Honor for his lifetime contribution to film and was honored with the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the 2011 Golden Globes.
In 2001, De Niro co-founded the Tribeca Film Festival with Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff as a response to the attacks on the World Trade Center. The festival was conceived to foster the economic and cultural revitalization of Lower Manhattan through an annual celebration of film, music and culture.
