Early Life
Miano was born in New York City and raised in the Southeast Bronx area.
At the age of fifteen, he started a fledgling singing career when a talent agent heard him singing with a doo-wop group on a Bronx street corner. This would lead to a recording of "Kingdom Of Love" by the Preludes on the Cub Label, a new subsidiary of MGM Records.
Years later, at an open casting call, Robert auditioned for the lead rock singer in the play "Satyricon". He landed the role. The musical was presented at the Stratford Shakespearean festival in Ontario, Canada and was a success. Afterward, he traveled to Europe. He spent the next 2​1⁄2 years traveling around the world as a troubadour. Miano earned his living by singing and playing his guitar on the streets, in restaurants and bars wherever he found an audience.

Career
Miano started his film career in 1974 in New York, when director Michael Winner cast him as one of the muggers in the original Death Wish, with Charles Bronson.

Soon afterward, director Howard Koch, familiar with Miano from his singing career, offered Robert a role in the movie Badge 373 with Robert Duvall.

Miano moved to Los Angeles and has spent the last 30 years as a character actor, appearing in over 100 feature films and numerous television programs. He is perhaps best known for repeatedly playing mobster characters.

Miano portrayed real-life Bonanno crime family capo Alphonse "Sonny Red" Indelicato in the 1997 film Donnie Brasco, alongside Al Pacino, Michael Madsen, and Johnny Depp. He also co-starred in the film The Funeral, with Christopher Walken, Chris Penn, and Benicio del Toro.

In 1994 and 1995, Miano played Bronx mob boss Joe Scully on the soap opera General Hospital. There his character was the one-time mentor and possible future rival to resident mobster Sonny Corinthos.

In 2005, Miano appeared on stage as King Heironymous in the children's play The Christmas Princess.

Miano also played a mobster character called Frank "Frankie Eyes" Chalmers on the sci-fi series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and real-life Mafia boss Vito Genovese in the 1999 made-for-TV movie Lansky, written by David Mamet.

In 2013 Miano played the mature prophet, Daniel in The Book of Daniel.[citation needed]

In 2015 Miano's film An Act of War was released on Netflix. The film was directed by Ryan M. Kennedy and produced by Atit Shah.