Robert De Niro Has 18 Dogs: Woody Harrelson Reveals a Surprising Side of the Star’s Life

Robert De Niro is known for playing tough and intimidating characters on screen, but at home, it seems he has to contend with an entire army of little dogs.

Woody Harrelson revealed that the legendary actor has an impressive pack of four-legged companions. In a recent interview with Interview magazine, the Hunger Games star said De Niro has 18 dogs.

Harrelson recalled visiting De Niro’s home in New York, where he was greeted by several of the actor’s pets.

“We went to his house here in New York, and nine dogs came running to the door,” the 65-year-old Harrelson said. “They’re these little dogs, and they’re allowed to do whatever they want.”

“When you think of Bob De Niro, you don’t exactly picture him surrounded by a million dogs,” the actor added.

It turns out that De Niro’s dogs are more than just part of his home life. Several of his pets have even had a taste of Hollywood stardom, appearing alongside their famous owner in the 2025 film The Alto Knights.

In the movie, De Niro played two leading roles — rival mob bosses Frank Costello and Vito Genovese.

Debra Messing, who played De Niro’s on-screen wife, Bobbie Costello, previously revealed on Today that the dogs really do belong to the actor. Their appearance on set came as a surprise to her as well.

“It was incredible. First of all, those are Bob’s actual dogs. His dogs, and I was laughing so hard. He walked in with these little dogs, and I thought, ‘Okay, something is not adding up here.’ But it was fantastic,” the 58-year-old Messing recalled.

The actress said she asked De Niro to “lend” her his pets for one of the scenes. In the film, her character and De Niro’s character have no children, so, as Messing explained, “the dogs are our children.”

“As a result, the dogs ended up having a much, much bigger role than originally intended. They were also put in mink coats,” the actress said.

And while Harrelson’s revelation that De Niro has 18 dogs may come as a surprise, De Niro himself has previously hinted that his home is indeed packed with four-legged companions.

In 2022, while appearing on the Table Manners podcast, the actor admitted that he doesn’t even know all of his dogs’ names.

“There’s so much going on that I don’t even know their names. I have a bunch of little dogs. I don’t even know all my dogs’ names,” De Niro said.

When asked exactly how many dogs he had at home, the Meet the Parents star gave a typically succinct answer: “Several. More than ten.”