Robert De Niro

Robert De Niro disappears so completely into a role that you forget there is a man beneath, and yet the chart says the man is a lion. Born in Manhattan on 17 August 1943, he carries the Sun in Leo, in its own domicile at full strength, the born king of the castle whose whole vitality blazes at the centre of the frame. That Sun sits in the second house, the Lion King of resources, so the pride and the identity build on solid ground and on craft that turns to gold; think of the timeless, worked-over performances that only gain value with the years. From Vito Corleone in The Godfather Part II to Travis Bickle, from Jake LaMotta in Raging Bull to Jimmy Conway, he became the finest actor of his generation, two Oscars in hand.

His Moon in Pisces is the sponge of a moon, the ultimate empath, and it sits in the ninth house of higher horizons, so his feeling-mind travels far and drinks deep; many Oscar souls carry such a moon, for they do not act, they truly feel the scene. Cancer rises, the lunar mask of the crab, guarded shell over watery, sensitive eyes; nobody knows emotion like a Cancer, and nobody could wield it on screen quite like him. A great heart hidden behind the shell, pouring itself out in character after character.