Martin Scorsese is one of the best filmmakers working today. This is a statement that someone could have said at just about any point within the last 50 years, and it would've been just as true then as it is now. He's been working tirelessly in the film industry for more than half a century at this point. His filmography quality has remained remarkably consistent in that time, as he's released at least a handful of classics within every decade since the 1970s.

During his filmmaking career, Scorsese has had numerous collaborators whom he's worked with multiple times, including screenwriter Paul Schrader and his regular editor, Thelma Schoonmaker. This also goes for actors, with a sizable number appearing in several Scorsese movies throughout their acting careers. The following are some of Scorsese's most frequent acting collaborators, ranked below from fewest to most collaborations.

Updated October 20, 2023, by Jeremy Urquhart:

The release of Killers of the Flower Moon marks another reason for Martin Scorsese fans to celebrate. It sees his reuniting with various collaborators (like cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto and the late musician/composer Robbie Robertson), and actors, and it stands as another impressive achievement within his towering filmography. Within such a filmography are plenty of familiar faces, with the following Martin Scorsese collaborators being the most frequently appearing of the lot.

13 Daniel Day-Lewis: 2 Appearances

It's no exaggeration to say that Daniel Day-Lewis is one of the greatest actors of the past few decades. He's known for bringing intensity and dedication to every film he appears in, and though he's been more selective in his roles in more recent years, he's still well-regarded for being able to steal just about any scene he appears in.

He's perhaps the biggest actor featured in precisely two Scorsese films; he's worth mentioning, even if he's not the most regular of collaborators. It's also interesting how different his two Scorsese roles have been: he was the male lead in the historical romance film The Age of Innocence and then played a villainous, scenery-chewing role in the historical crime film Gangs of New York.

12 Jodie Foster: 2 Appearances

Two of Jodie Foster's earliest roles were in a pair of Martin Scorsese movies released in the 1970s. The first of those was 1974's Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore – starring the great Ellen Burstyn – where Foster has a small role as a young girl who at one point befriends the son of Burstyn's character, Alice.

1976's Taxi Driver gave her a more substantial role, one that proved to be a breakout performance for a then-13-year-old Foster (she even received an Academy Award nomination). It was remarkable and very surprising for such a young actress to give, and was a sign of further great things to come for Foster in the coming decades (though as of 2023, she's never collaborated with Scorsese again).

11 Liam Neeson: 2 Appearances

In recent years, Liam Neeson has become best-known for playing tough old guys in action/thriller movies, but he's an accomplished dramatic actor too (as was established as far back as 1993's Schindler's List). He's also shown up in two small but significant roles within the filmography of Martin Scorsese.

The first of these was 2002's Gangs of New York, where his character's death in the prologue is the catalyst for the revenge story that follows throughout the film. His character in Silence also drives the plot, as he plays a Jesuit priest who goes missing in Japan, leading to two younger priests setting out on a journey to locate him.

10 John C. Reilly: 2 Appearances

Gangs of New York has a gargantuan cast, as beyond the aforementioned Daniel Day-Lewis and Liam Neeson, John C. Reilly also appears here, playing a character known as Happy Jack Mulraney. His second collaboration with Martin Scorsese came just two years later with the director's follow-up to Gangs of New York: The Aviator.

The Aviator is an ambitious and lengthy biopic that also has an impressive cast that Reilly fits right into. Two appearances in Scorsese movies might not be enough to make Reilly one of the filmmaker's most prolific collaborators, but two movies back to back have to count for something, and one imagines that getting to work with a director like Scorsese even just once would be an amazing experience.

9 Gary Basaraba: 3 Appearances

Gary Basaraba has been working since the 1980s, mostly appearing in TV shows and often nailing supporting or minor roles in films. Among the movies he has appeared in include three by Martin Scorsese.

The first of those was as the apostle Andrew in 1988's The Last Temptation of Christ, and then he had a role in The Irishman just over 30 years later. He also briefly appears in Killers of the Flower Moon, which takes his total number of collaborations with Scorsese to three.

8 Frank Vincent: 3 Appearances

While Frank Vincent might be best known for playing one of the most despicable characters on The Sopranos, Phil Leotardo, he also had a solid film career as a character actor. He had roles in two films by Spike Lee (Do the Right Thing and Jungle Fever) and had a total of three appearances in the films of Martin Scorsese.

Those films are Raging Bull, Goodfellas, and Casino, and in all three, he clashes violently with Joe Pesci's character (they both play different characters in each film). In Raging Bull and Goodfellas, Pesci's character initially comes out on top. In Casino, Vincent's character finally bests Pesci's, in an ironic twist of fate.

7 Joe Pesci: 4 Appearances

Even though he hasn't appeared in as many Scorsese films as a handful of other actors, Joe Pesci is particularly revered for his performances across the Scorsese films he has appeared in. Of Pesci's three Oscar nominations, all of them came from being in a Scorsese film, and he ended up winning the Best Actor in a Supporting Role Oscar for Goodfellas.

He frequently steals the show whenever he shows up in a Scorsese movie, and the director even got Pesci to come out of retirement for 2019's The Irishman. Pesci is frequently as funny as he is menacing whenever he's in a Scorsese film, and his collaborations with the director have led to countless memorable scenes.

6 Victor Argo: 5 Appearances

Victor Argo was featured in a total of five Martin Scorsese movies during his acting career, mostly featuring in smaller roles, with many of them being in Scorsese's earlier films. Still, some of these appearances proved memorable, despite the limited screentime, such as his role as a clerk in Taxi Driver, where he's present during Travis Bickle's first act of on-screen violence.

His last role in a Scorsese film was probably his most significant: that of one of Jesus' apostles, Peter, in The Last Temptation of Christ. He was a reliable supporting actor in Scorsese's arsenal and clearly had a good working relationship with the filmmaker.

5 Harry Northup: 6 Appearances

Like Victor Argo, Harry Northup's roles in Martin Scorsese films tend to be brief, where he'll only tend to be there for a scene or two. Some of his characters don't even get proper names, like how he's credited as "Soldier" in Mean Streets and "Bartender" in Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore.

Notably, he appeared in the first six films directed by Martin Scorsese, starting with 1967's Who's That Knocking at My Door and ending with 1977's New York, New York. He hasn't been in a Scorsese movie since then, but ultimately, a six-film streak is impressive, however, you look at it.

4 Harvey Keitel: 6 Appearances

Harvey Keitel is one of Martin Scorsese's favorite actors and had prominent roles in some of the filmmaker's earliest roles as well as one of his recent (The Irishman). He's particularly great at playing gangster characters in gritty, down-to-earth crime films, but that's not to say that's all Keitel excels at as an actor.

This is demonstrated by his performance in The Last Temptation of Christ, where he's second-billed in his role as Judas, the man who ends up betraying Jesus. Harvey Keitel's a welcome presence in any film he appears in, but that's especially true whenever he appears in a Scorsese film.

3 Leonardo DiCaprio: 6 Appearances

Though Leonardo DiCaprio hasn't won an Oscar for appearing in a Martin Scorsese movie (he had to get mauled by a bear in The Revenant for that to happen), he's still delivered countless great performances through his frequent collaborations with the director.

Since 2002, he's been Scorsese's go-to actor, given he's played the lead character (or co-lead) five times in a row. His sixth appearance is in Killers of the Flower Moon, and it's proven to be another fruitful collaboration between him and Scorsese.

2 Catherine Scorsese: 7 Appearances

Funnily enough, the person who's appeared in the second-most Martin Scorsese movies is his mother: Catherine Scorsese. Scorsese also cast his father in several cameo roles, but his mother ultimately appeared more often and overall got a little more screen time (especially in Goodfellas, where she plays the mother of Pesci's character).

While not a professional actor, she had a presence on screen that was always warm and pleasant, and it was endearing how Scorsese got his parents to appear in his movies, even when he was one of the biggest directors in America. Catherine Scorsese was also known for cooking food for cast and crew members on Martin Scorsese's sets, which makes her even more endearing.

1 Robert De Niro: 10 Appearances

Robert De Niro has had a career that's lasted about the same amount of time as Martin Scorsese's, and across the decades he's been active, De Niro's delivered countless great performances. As arguably Scorsese's favorite actor, it's inevitable that many of them have been in Scorsese's movies.

They first collaborated 50 years ago for Mean Streets (1973), and by 1995, De Niro had appeared in eight Scorsese movies, usually in the lead role. 24 years passed before they collaborated on a ninth film, The Irishman. Killers of the Flower Moon now takes their total number of collaborations to 10.

NEXT: The Best Robert De Niro Movies of All Time, Ranked