The film festival motivates the award with De Niro's genuine style "which expresses itself in a mild smile or a hard gaze", which has made him "a legend within film", it says in a press release.
De Niro, who was the festival's jury chairman in 2011, says he has "close feelings" for the festival.
"Especially now when there is so much in the world that pulls us apart, Cannes brings us together", he says in the press release.
Robert De Niro, 81, broke through in 1973 in "Mean Streets", directed by Martin Scorsese, and then continued the collaboration with him in "Taxi Driver" in 1976. The big breakthrough came in 1974 with a central role in "The Godfather 2" by Francis Ford Coppola.
After the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001, De Niro founded the Tribeca film festival in New York.
He now joins the company of, among others, Meryl Streep, Jane Fonda, Harrison Ford, and George Lucas.
