--- title: How Joe Pesci Connects 'Jersey Boys' and 'Goodfellas' description: He's a character in one movie and acts in another, but there's a little more to it than that canonical: https://time.com/2906538/the-bizarre-fantastic-joe-pesci-link-between-jersey-boys-and-goodfellas/ author: Eric Dodds article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-06-20T20:38:47.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T08:32:51.619Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: The Bizarre, Fantastic Joe Pesci Link Between "Jersey Boys" and "Goodfellas" og:description: He's a character in one movie and acts in another, but there's a little more to it than that og:url: https://time.com/2906538/the-bizarre-fantastic-joe-pesci-link-between-jersey-boys-and-goodfellas/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6b0b73dabe7f0d4b/698698ad3bc99903651a4323/joe-pesci-jersey-boys-cropped.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Opening Of "Jersey Boys" - Joe Pesci with Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Bizarre, Fantastic Joe Pesci Link Between "Jersey Boys" and "Goodfellas" twitter:description: He's a character in one movie and acts in another, but there's a little more to it than that twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6b0b73dabe7f0d4b/698698ad3bc99903651a4323/joe-pesci-jersey-boys-cropped.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Bizarre, Fantastic Joe Pesci Link Between _Jersey Boys_ and _Goodfellas_ by [Eric Dodds](/author/eric-dodds/) ## Eric Dodds Jun 20, 2014 8:38 PM CUT  (L to R) Actor Joe Pesci joins Tommy DeVito, Bob Gaudio and Frankie Valli of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons onstage during the curtain call at the play opening night of "Jersey Boys" on November 6, 2005 in New York City. (L to R) Actor Joe Pesci joins Tommy DeVito, Bob Gaudio and Frankie Valli of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons onstage during the curtain call at the play opening night of "Jersey Boys" on November 6, 2005 in New York City.Paul Hawthorne—Getty Images by [Eric Dodds](/author/eric-dodds/) ## Eric Dodds Jun 20, 2014 8:38 PM CUT Pretty much everyone is familiar with Joe Pesci, either from his role in popular Christmas-themed children’s film _Home Alone_ or his role in Martin Scorsese’s Oscar-winning gangster classic _Goodfellas_. He largely retired from acting in 1999, but starting today, you can see him on the big screen in Clint Eastwood’s _Jersey Boys_. Just one hitch: you’ll be seeing an actor (Joseph Russo) playing the character “Joe Pesci” rather than the actor Joe Pesci playing a character in the film. _Jersey Boys_ the film is based on _Jersey Boys_ the play, which tells the story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons from the group’s inception all the way through to (spoiler alert) the group’s reunion at the 1990 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Turns out, Joe Pesci actually played a not-inconsequential role in the formation of the popular doo-wop band. Growing up near Newark, N.J., young Pesci was friendly with Tommy Devito and the rest of the band and, according to the canon that the film presents, Pesci connected DeVito (the band’s behind-the-scenes leader at the time) with “Short-Shorts” writer Bob Gaudio, who would later write nearly all of the Four Seasons’ most popular songs. Now, according to the movie, DeVito works for Pesci. Yeah, that Joe Pesci. Small world, right? The connection doesn’t end there, though. Later, Pesci—the actor, not the _Jersey Boys_ character, who was a real person but not played by Joe Pesci because real-life Pesci was already in his 60s by the time _Jersey Boys_ the play arrived on Broadway in 2005—starred in Scorsese’s _Goodfellas_. His name in the film? Tommy DeVito. And in case that weren’t enough of an in-joke, at one point during _Goodfellas_, Karen (Lorraine Bracco) confronts Henry (Ray Liotta), and says to him, “”Who the hell do you think you are, Frankie Valli or some kinda big shot?” Valli, in addition to being the lead singer in the Four Seasons, also allegedly had ties to the Italian mob (as did DeVito), so there’s more than enough self-referentiality going on here. Anyhow, here’s the point: without Joe Pesci, we likely wouldn’t have The Four Seasons, _Jersey Boys_ (the play or the film), _Goodfellas_ or _My Cousin Vinny_. There are likely plenty more links to be made, but probably best to stop here before the universe collapses on itself. _Jersey Boys_ opens in theaters today. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2906538/the-bizarre-fantastic-joe-pesci-link-between-jersey-boys-and-goodfellas/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2906538/the-bizarre-fantastic-joe-pesci-link-between-jersey-boys-and-goodfellas/"},"headline":"The Bizarre, Fantastic Joe Pesci Link Between Jersey Boys and Goodfellas","datePublished":"2014-06-20T20:38:47.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T08:32:51.619Z","description":"He's a character in one movie and acts in another, but there's a little more to it than that","url":"https://time.com/2906538/the-bizarre-fantastic-joe-pesci-link-between-jersey-boys-and-goodfellas/","keywords":["movies","broadway","Clint Eastwood","Theater","martin scorsese"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6b0b73dabe7f0d4b/698698ad3bc99903651a4323/joe-pesci-jersey-boys-cropped.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eric Dodds","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/eric-dodds/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6b0b73dabe7f0d4b/698698ad3bc99903651a4323/joe-pesci-jersey-boys-cropped.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Opening Of \"Jersey Boys\" - Joe Pesci with Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons","caption":"Opening Of \"Jersey Boys\" - Joe Pesci with Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons","creditText":"Paul Hawthorne—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2906538/the-bizarre-fantastic-joe-pesci-link-between-jersey-boys-and-goodfellas/","name":"The Bizarre, Fantastic Joe Pesci Link Between Jersey Boys and Goodfellas"}}]}] ```