Best Known As: Tony Soprano in the TV series The Sopranos
James Gandolfini spent most of the 1990s on stage and in small parts in movies such as True Romance (1993), Get Shorty (1995) and A Civil Action (1998). In 1999 he was cast as Tony Soprano, the central character in the HBO mobster soap opera The Sopranos, and he became a star. Gandolfini continued work in feature films, including The Mexican (2001, with Julia Roberts), The Man Who Wasn't There (2001, starring Billy Bob Thornton) and Romance & Cigarettes (2005, with Kate Winslet).
Career Highlights: The Mexican, Get Shorty, The Man Who Wasn't There
First Major Screen Credit: Italian Movie (1993)
Biography
Born and raised in New Jersey, press-shy James Gandolfini forged a film career as a prolific character actor before finally emerging as a bona fide star in the critically-lauded HBO series The Sopranos. After earning his college degree in 1983, Gandolfini headed to New York to study at the Actors Studio. Supporting himself for almost ten years as a bartender and nightclub manager, Gandolfini's major break came in 1992 with a role in a Broadway version of A Streetcar Named Desire starring Alec Baldwin and Jessica Lange, and his film debut in Sidney Lumet's A Stranger Among Us. Following small parts in several 1993 films, including the Quentin Tarantino-scripted True Romance, Gandolfini played more substantial roles as one of the heavies in Terminal Velocity (1994), Geena Davis' neighborhood boyfriend in Angie (1994), one of the submarine crew in Crimson Tide (1995), and a stuntman-turned-Mob enforcer in Get Shorty (1995). Equally gifted at playing characters on either side of the law, Gandolfini appeared as the violent neighbor who assaults Robin Wright Penn in She's So Lovely (1997) and a cop in Lumet's legal drama Night Falls on Manhattan (1997).
Gandolfini played supporting roles in several more films, including Fallen (1998) and A Civil Action (1998), before he was cast as the head of a dysfunctional Mafia family in The Sopranos. Anchored by Gandolfini's superbly-nuanced performance as Prozac-popping, mother-bedeviled capo Tony Soprano, The Sopranos was hailed as a TV masterpiece for its alternately funny, surreal and deadly-serious look at New Jersey Mob life. Though he was passed over for the Emmy, Gandolfini won the SAG and Golden Globe Awards for Lead Actor in a TV drama for The Sopranos' 1999 season. During the series break, Gandolfini appeared as a slimy pornographer in 8MM (1999).
Gandolfini finally added the Emmy to his trophies in 2000 for the second season of The Sopranos. Despite the inevitable criticism about the series' sophomore slump, there was no question as to Gandolfini's continuing excellence as the New Jersey Mob paterfamilias. Gandolfini followed his Emmy triumph with a supporting role as a gay hit man in The Mexican (2001), easily stealing the film from co-stars Julia Roberts and Brad Pitt. Even as he was earning The Mexican's few good notices in theaters, Gandolfini was garnering still more plaudits for The Sopranos' controversial third season, as Tony's increasingly delinquent son elicited anguished soul-searching from Tony about his legacy. Though his third Emmy nomination spoke to his formidable TV presence as Tony, Gandolfini also further burnished his movie credits with a small part in Joel Coen and Ethan Coen's Cannes Film Festival award winner The Man Who Wasn't There (2001), and a major starring role as a corrupt Army colonel who goes head-to-head with Robert Redford's incarcerated general in The Last Castle (2001).
Gandolfini continued to impress on The Sopranos for the next few years, but he struggled to match that success on the big screen. He was a part of the infamous bomb Surviving Christmas, and had the lead in the never released John Turturro directed musical Romance & Cigarettes. In 2006 he was a part of the high-powered ensemble for Steve Zaillian's All the King's Men that included Sean Penn, Jude Law, Anthony Hopkins, and Kate Winslet. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
Gandolfini was born in Westwood, New Jersey[1] to Joan, a school lunch lady, and James Gandolfini, Sr., a building maintenance
chief at a Paramus Catholic High School.[2][3] His parents, Italian immigrants, spent part of their childhoods
in Italy and often spoke Italian.[2][4] Gandolfini grew up in
Park Ridge, New Jersey and graduated from Park Ridge High School in 1979, where he played basketball and acted in school plays.[5] He holds a bachelor of arts degree in communications from
Rutgers University, where he worked as a bouncer at an on-campus pub.[6] Gandolfini also worked as a bartender and club manager before embarking on an acting
career.[6] Gandolfini was introduced to acting
as a young man living in New York City when he accompanied a friend to an acting
class.
Acting career
After acting on Broadway, Gandolfini established a film career. One of his more
well-known film roles is that of Virgil, a brutal woman-beating mob enforcer, in the 1993 romantic thriller True Romance. In 1994 film Terminal Velocity,
Gandolfini played Ben Pinkwater, a seemingly mild-mannered insurance man who turns out to be a violent Russian mobster. He also
appeared in The Juror as a mob enforcer with a conscience. In Get Shorty he appeared as a bearded ex-stuntman with a southern accent.
The Sopranos
Gandolfini's most acclaimed role is that of Tony Soprano, the Mafia boss and family man in the multi-award-winning HBO series The Sopranos, which debuted in 1999. To date, he has won three
Emmys for "Best Actor in a Drama" for his depiction of New Jersey Mafia boss Tony Soprano, an
aging baby boomer who constantly questions his own identity and purpose. Gandolfini has been
acclaimed for his portrayal of Tony Soprano and is probably best known for his work on the show. Gandolfini eventually garnered
$1,000,000 per episode in the series.
Personal life
Gandolfini is typically identified as politically liberal yet independent.[7] He is an
ardent supporter of Rutgers' football team, and has appeared in several television
commercials for the university's football program, usually alongside head coach Greg
Schiano and most recently with another famous Rutgers alumnus, Mario Batali. In
contrast to his on-screen character Tony Soprano, Gandolfini is modest and obsessive. He has even described himself as "a
260-pound Woody Allen."[8] He considers himself a pacifist and has maintained reservations about continuing his portrayal of
the violent mob boss. His sister Johanna is a prominent official with the New Jersey
Family Court system.
Gandolfini is a big fan of motorbikes, and owns a Harley Davidson and a Vespa
Scooter.
He keeps ties with his hometown by supporting The Octoberwoman Foundation for Breast Cancer Research for his friends Judy and
Phillip DiBella. He appears at their annual October banquet and often brings other cast memebers of the Soprano's to help The
Foundation draw a large crowd.
On May 4, 2006, Gandolfini crashed his Vespascooter into a taxi. He was forced to undergo knee surgery after the
accident, postponing the filming of the final Sopranos episodes.
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