Goodfellas followed the story of Henry Hill since his teenage years, but who played young Henry and what has he done since Goodfellas was released? Although Martin Scorsese has explored a variety of genres in his movies, earning him the praise and respect of critics and viewers, he continues to be best-known for his gangster movies, which touch on topics like redemption and guilt and take a look at the Italian-American identity. While he has done some truly memorable gangster movies, the one often regarded as his best is the 1990 movie Goodfellas.
Based on the book Wiseguy, by Nicholas Pileggi, Goodfellas chronicles the life of mob associate Henry Hill (Ray Liotta), from his days as a teenager running errands for Paul Cicero (Paul Sorvino) and his crew in his Italian-American neighborhood in Brooklyn, to his full involvement with them and his decision to become an FBI informant. During his time working for the Lucchese crime family, Henry became acquainted with some big names in the mob, as were Jimmy Conway (Robert De Niro) and Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci), whom he met when they were young. While Goodfellas pays more attention to Henry’s adult life as a gangster, it spends part of its first act showing how he got involved with Paul’s crime family along with his first arrest, after which it jumps a couple of years into the future.
Before Ray Liotta takes the lead as an adult Henry, his younger version is played by Christopher Serrone. The role of young Henry Hill in Goodfellas was Serrone’s big-screen debut, which he has described as a great experience, even sharing stories of how nice and down-to-Earth some of the actors were, particularly Robert De Niro. As expected, Goodfellas opened many doors for the young actor, who according to The Columbian, began to pursue lead roles, and was up for some really big roles, as were those of Jack “Cowboy" Kelly in Newsies, Charlie Simms in Scent of a Woman, Calogero “C” Anello in A Bronx Tale, and even Robin in Batman & Robin. However, those roles ended up going to different actors, as were Christian Bale (Newsies), Chris O’Donnell (Scent of a Woman and Batman & Robin), and Lillo Brancato (A Bronx Tale).
That wasn’t the end of Serrone’s career, and he got a part in an off-Broadway production of The Shooting of Dan McGrew and appeared in four episodes of a 1990s CBS show titled Brooklyn Bridge, but the series was canceled before those episodes could air. His next acting credit after Goodfellas was the 2011 movie Pathfinders: In The Company of Strangers, and he later appeared in A Strong Collected Spirit and the TV series Amoral, where he played Don-Manh. He currently has some projects waiting to be released, as are the movies The Families Feud, Pumpkinhole, Once Upon a Time in New York City, and the TV shows Unmakeable and Ombre Ma Fi.
Of course, Christopher Serrone continues to be best-known as Goodfellas’ young Henry Hill, which according to him doesn’t bother him, which shows that he’s still grateful for the opportunity he was given – after all, not every actor gets to star in a Martin Scorsese movie without previous acting experience. With various projects either in production or post-production and a career as a producer as well, Christopher Serrone might be on his way to be known for more than just his role as Henry Hill in Goodfellas, which will in turn open more doors for him in his career as both actor and producer.