(Louise Pomeroy \/ For The Times)<\/span><\/p>\n Martin Scorsese is one of our greatest directors, but he\u2019s rarely celebrated for his talent in front of the camera. At long last, though, he\u2019s received recognition for his acting, earning a guest acting Emmy nomination<\/a> for his work on the satirical Apple TV+ show \u201cThe Studio.\u201d<\/a> It\u2019s a fitting acknowledgment of his underrated chops, which he has wielded infrequently but skillfully across his long career. Below is a brief timeline of his most memorable acting moments, which also doubles as a guide to his evolving onscreen persona, whether he\u2019s playing himself or not.<\/p>\n From the beginning, Scorsese made brief cameos in his films. But it wasn\u2019t until his haunting portrait of troubled New York cab driver Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) that the director gave a truly arresting performance, despite appearing for just four minutes.<\/p>\n Playing a racist, quietly unhinged passenger, Scorsese\u2019s unnamed, well-dressed character calmly explains to Bickle that he\u2019s planning to kill his cheating wife, laying out in disturbing detail what his .44 Magnum will do to her. This mesmerizing turn saw Scorsese embody the city\u2019s spiritual sickness that\u2019s poisoning Bickle\u2019s mind.<\/p>\n When Robert Redford cast Scorsese as corrupt Geritol boss Martin Rittenhome for his quiz-show-scandal drama, he explained to The Times<\/u><\/a>, \u201cI found it interesting to have him play a tough character gently. And given his delivery style, in which he talks real fast, I thought it would make the character extremely menacing.\u201d<\/p>\n Scorsese proved him right, his composed character\u2019s every smirk as lethal as a gunshot. While Rittenhome casually declaws Rob Morrow\u2019s crusading attorney, Scorsese slyly plays off the audience\u2019s familiarity with his dark, violent crime films. Rittenhome never lifts a finger, but Scorsese\u2019s coiled performance drives home the point that corporate executives can be as ruthless as mobsters.<\/p>\n By the 1990s, Scorsese was widely regarded as the<\/i> American auteur. So, naturally, he was frequently courted for roles that sent up his elevated image, which set the stage for this very funny American Express commercial.<\/p>\n The premise is simple \u2014 Scorsese, perfectionist filmmaker, mercilessly ridicules the photos he took of his nephew\u2019s birthday party \u2014 but it\u2019s his deadpan performance that really sells the joke. Lambasting his creative choices, and silently judging the one-hour-photo employee who calls his shots \u201cpretty,\u201d Scorsese good-naturedly mocked the zealous dedication he brought to his movies. \u201cIt was very easy to do,\u201d he later said<\/u><\/a> of his self-deprecating portrayal, before admitting, \u201cYou know, the damn thing is, you got to be serious about making a picture.\u201d<\/p>\n The intense young man responsible for searing dramas such as \u201cRaging Bull\u201d didn\u2019t seem likely to become Cinema\u2019s Lovable Grandpa. But Scorsese has successfully made the leap thanks to his adoring daughter Francesca, who recruited him to star in her TikToks, quizzing him on contemporary slang or scripting a bit in which he informs the family dog Oscar that he wants him for his next picture.<\/p>\n The videos quickly became a sensation, showing off Scorsese\u2019s more private side \u2014 he\u2019s never been so cuddly or endearing. \u201cI was tricked into that. \u2026 I didn\u2019t know those things go viral,\u201d he told The Times in 2023<\/u><\/a>, amused, about his TikTok celebrity.<\/p>\n Scorsese\u2019s examination of the 1920s Osage murders<\/a> \u2014 a grim study of greed and corruption \u2014 felt like a definitive statement on themes that have long consumed the director. That feeling was driven home by the movie\u2019s striking epilogue, set during a radio show dramatizing \u201cKillers\u2019\u201d events, which ended with Scorsese\u2019s narrator solemnly standing onstage relating the sad fate that befell Lily Gladstone\u2019s Mollie Burkhart.<\/p>\n \u201cMarty realized that he needed to have somebody come in as a moderator to explain stuff,\u201d \u201cKillers\u201d production designer Jack Fisk told Vulture<\/u> in 2024<\/u><\/a>, \u201cbut he said he didn\u2019t understand exactly how to direct that person. How could he impart so much of the four years or five years of research he\u2019d done into an actor? He decided to try it once himself.\u201d The result was one of Scorsese\u2019s simplest, most powerful performances \u2014 a moving eulogy not just for the slain Osage but also all the innocent characters victimized by his films\u2019 litany of bad men.<\/p>\n Scorsese had played himself in comedies like \u201cEntourage\u201d and \u201cCurb Your Enthusiasm,\u201d but his meta turn in the Emmy-nominated Hollywood takedown crystallizes everything that\u2019s made him so good in front of the camera: It\u2019s focused, edgy and never, ever winking. He\u2019s playing a character but also subverting our impression of him as an uncompromising, ultra-serious auteur.<\/p>\n In \u201cThe Studio,\u201d Scorsese is hilarious as an avatar of artistic integrity who, of course, gets screwed over by Seth Rogen\u2019s spineless studio head. But there\u2019s a whiff of bitter truth to his character\u2019s dilemma. We can easily imagine the real Scorsese has had to face similar ordeals with facile Hollywood suits. How many world-class filmmakers are also such convincing Method actors?<\/p>\n\u201cTaxi Driver\u201d (1976)<\/b><\/h2>\n
\u201cQuiz Show\u201d (1994)<\/b><\/h2>\n
American Express commercial (2003)<\/b><\/h2>\n
TikTok (2022-)<\/b><\/h2>\n
\u201cKillers of the Flower Moon\u201d (2023)<\/b><\/h2>\n
\u201cThe Studio\u201d (2025)<\/b><\/h2>\n