Diahnne Abbott sometimes credited as Diahnne Eugenia Abbott or Diahnne Déa, is an African-American actress and singer. Abbott played supporting roles in films of the 1970s and 1980s, including Taxi Driver

Taxi Driver

Taxi Driver is a 1976 American drama film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Paul Schrader. The film is set in New York City, soon after the Vietnam War. The film stars Robert De Niro and features Jodie Foster, Harvey Keitel, and Cybill Shepherd. The film was nominated for four Academy...

. Abbott was married to actor Robert De Niro

Robert De Niro

Robert De Niro, Jr. is an American actor, director and producer. His first major film roles were in Bang the Drum Slowly and Mean Streets, both in 1973...

. They had a son together, Raphael, named after the hotel in Rome where he was conceived, and De Niro adopted Drena, Abbott's daughter from a previous marriage. (Drena De Niro

Drena De Niro

Drena De Niro is an American actress and producer. She is the daughter of actress Diahnne Abbott, and adopted daughter of Robert De Niro, whose last name she took upon her mother's marriage to him in 1976...

 has appeared in her father's movies Showtime

Showtime (film)

Showtime is a 2002 action-comedy film directed by Tom Dey and starring Robert De Niro and Eddie Murphy.-Plot:The film centers on two cops, Mitch Preston and Trey Sellars , who are paired together for a reality police show and run into real trouble with a crime lord...

, Wag the Dog

Wag the Dog

Wag the Dog is a 1997 black comedy film starring Dustin Hoffman and Robert De Niro, co-starring Anne Heche, Denis Leary and William H. Macy about a Washington spin doctor who, merely days before a presidential election, distracts the electorate from a sex scandal by hiring a Hollywood film producer...

and City by the Sea

City by the Sea

City by the Sea is a 2002 film starring Robert De Niro, James Franco, Eliza Dushku, Frances McDormand and William Forsythe. It deals with a family problems of wayward youth and set against a man trying to break free of his past. It was directed by Michael Caton-Jones...

.) De Niro and Abbott divorced in 1988.

Abbott has a cameo in the film New York, New York

New York, New York (film)

New York, New York is a 1977 American musical-drama film directed by Martin Scorsese. It is a musical tribute, featuring new songs by John Kander and Fred Ebb as well as standards, to Scorsese's home town of New York City, and stars Robert De Niro and Liza Minnelli as a pair of musicians and...

, in which she sings Fats Waller's classic torch song, "Honeysuckle Rose

Honeysuckle Rose (song)

"Honeysuckle Rose" is a 1928 song composed by Fats Waller, whose lyrics were written by Andy Razaf. Fats Waller's 1934 recording was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999....

".

She also played the object of Robert De Niro's affections in Scorsese's 1983 film, The King of Comedy

The King of Comedy (1983 film)

The King of Comedy is a 1983 American dark comedy film starring Robert De Niro and Jerry Lewis, and directed by Martin Scorsese. The subject of the movie is celebrity stalking...

, as well as roles in the television series Crime Story (character of Sonia) and the film Jo, Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling (Mother). She is the cousin of singer Gregory Abbott

Gregory Abbott

Gregory Abbott is an American soul musician , singer, composer and producer. He currently lives in both New York and the San Francisco Bay Area.- Biography :...

, known for his 1980's song "Shake You Down."

Film roles

Year	Title	Role
1976	Taxi Driver Taxi Driver Taxi Driver is a 1976 American drama film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Paul Schrader. The film is set in New York City, soon after the Vietnam War. The film stars Robert De Niro and features Jodie Foster, Harvey Keitel, and Cybill Shepherd. The film was nominated for four Academy...	Concession Girl
1976	Welcome to L.A. Welcome to L.A. Welcome to L.A. is a 1976 film directed by Alan Rudolph and starring Keith Carradine.-Plot:The theme of romantic despair and shallowness is displayed utilizing a La Ronde-like circle of sexual adventures and failed affairs centered around songwriter Carroll Barber, played by Keith Carradine, which...	Jeanette Ross
1977	New York, New York New York, New York (film) New York, New York is a 1977 American musical-drama film directed by Martin Scorsese. It is a musical tribute, featuring new songs by John Kander and Fred Ebb as well as standards, to Scorsese's home town of New York City, and stars Robert De Niro and Liza Minnelli as a pair of musicians and...	Harlem Club singer
1983	The King of Comedy The King of Comedy (1983 film) The King of Comedy is a 1983 American dark comedy film starring Robert De Niro and Jerry Lewis, and directed by Martin Scorsese. The subject of the movie is celebrity stalking...	Rita Keane
1984	Love Streams Love Streams Love Streams is an 1984 American film directed by John Cassavetes that tells the story of a middle-aged brother and sister who find themselves caring for one another after the other loves in their lives abandon them. The visual style of the film is decidedly different from Cassavetes' other works,...	Susan
1986	Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling is a 1986 film starring Richard Pryor. This was the first and only feature film he directed .-Plot:...	Mother
2000	Before Night Falls Before Night Falls Before Night Falls is the 1992 autobiography of Cuban writer Reinaldo Arenas, describing his life in Cuba, his time in prison, and his ultimate escape to the United States. It was on The New York Times list of the ten best books of the year 1993...	Blanca Romero
2002	Soliloquy	Leah

Television roles

Year	Title	Role
1988	Crime Story Crime Story (TV series) Crime Story is an NBC TV drama created by Gustave Reininger and Chuck Adamson. The executive producer was Michael Mann, who had left Miami Vice to oversee Crime Story and direct the film Manhunter. The show premiered with a two hour pilot — a movie which had been exhibited theatrically —...	(three episodes) Sonia

External links