Inside Robert De Niro & Al Pacino's Decades-Long Friendship

Actors Robert De Niro and Al Pacino have been friends for more than five decades, sharing the screen, tender moments and even conversation in an advertisement for Moncler. In the ad campaign, released on Instagram in 2025, De Niro and Pacino are sitting side by side, posing in Moncler winter jackets in a series of black and white photos. 

"Warmth was never about the outside. It was always about what was happening on the inside," De Niro said in a teaser video for its "Warmer Together" campaign. In a press release, Pacino echoed that sentiment, saying, "Friendship is the greatest thing you can have. Friends, people whom you share the same world with. There is just an innate trust. And the understanding of life." He added, "Friendship is the greatest thing you can have. Friends, people whom you share the same world with. There is just an innate trust. And the understanding of life."

Apart from simply acting together and remaining friends for 50-plus years, Pacino and De Niro have led parallel lives, People reported. They both grew up in New York City — Pacino in the Bronx and De Niro in Greenwich Village and Little Italy — and both entered the film industry in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Over the years, their professional bond has also fueled a lasting friendship.

While the actors both appeared in "The Godfather Part II," they did not share the screen until 1995 in the thriller "Heat," in which they portrayed two opposing forces as a detective and a thief. More recently, in 2019, the actors shared the screen in "The Irishman," an epic gangster film directed by Martin Scorsese — and one of the most perfect movies on Netflix, according to Metacritic. Aside from appearances in said films, both actors have enjoyed successful careers, with Robert De Niro even making Oscar history. 

In a 2019 interview with GQ, Al Pacino recalled the first time he met De Niro at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting in the late 1960s. "I remember the meeting very clearly," Pacino said. "Unbelievably, I saw this guy, I thought, Wow, he's got such charisma. He wasn't doing anything. He was just walking. Remember? You know, he was Bob. But you felt something from him."

In the years since their first meeting, the pair has maintained a strong — and at times, playful — friendship. The playful bit of their relationship was on display during De Niro's tribute to Pacino during the inaugural American Icon Awards, where he was honored with an award. "Al and I got to be friends over the years, hanging out from time to time, talking about work, life, whatever, competing viciously with each other for parts," De Niro said, according to The Hollywood Reporter. "Al's career exploded with 'The Godfather,' and two years later in 'Godfather II,' Al reprised his role of Michael Corleone; I played the young old Vito Corleone in the flashbacks. In other words, I played Al's father. And that's when I think I became a father figure to Al, and he's looked up to me in that way ever since."