Movie-star topic archive

#CelebrityRestaurants

Actors and directors with credible restaurant, hospitality or dining-room connections, from Nobu to Italian restaurant design.

3 profiles in this archive

Profiles and food stories

Actor and restaurateur

Robert De Niro is one of the few actors who is a genuine restaurant operator, as co-founder of Nobu and Tribeca Grill.

Regional connection: Italian-American New York, with family roots in Molise and Campania
Food on screen: The prison kitchen in Goodfellas — razor-thin garlic, the tomatoes, the roast — is the food scene his fans quote most, even though the line is Paul Sorvino's.

Co-founded Nobu with chef Nobu Matsuhisa, now a global restaurant and hotel group
Co-founded Tribeca Grill in downtown Manhattan
Long-running involvement in the Tribeca neighborhood's restaurant scene

Director and designer

Luca Guadagnino makes films that eat well, and has a side career designing interiors, including restaurants.

Regional connection: Palermo, Sicily
Food on screen: Call Me by Your Name's apricots, soft-boiled eggs and Lombard summer table are the most copied food images in recent arthouse cinema.

Runs a design studio that has worked on hospitality and restaurant interiors in Italy
Builds meals into his films as structure rather than decoration

Actor and writer

Michael Imperioli starred in the show that made Sunday gravy, baked ziti and Vesuvio part of American food language.

Regional connection: Mount Vernon, New York; Italian-American
Food on screen: The Sopranos turned a New Jersey Italian-American restaurant into a recurring character, and its food is discussed as much as its plot.