Lorraine Bracco
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Lorraine Bracco
Best known for her role as Dr. Jennifer Melfi on HBO's The Sopranos, Lorraine Bracco worked first as a model and a disk jockey before turning to acting. Her first major role was in the French movie, Duos Sur Canape, made in 1979. She made some other European movies before returning to the US and landing a starring role in Someone to Watch Over Me. In 1990, Bracco received a best supporting actress nomination for the film Goodfellas for her role as Karen Hill.
Bracco was born October 2, 1955, in Brooklyn, NY. Her bouts with clinical depression led her to write her autobiographical On the Couch.
Last updated: March 12, 2009.
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Lorraine Bracco
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Lorraine Bracco
Biography
With her thick Brooklyn accent, it's no surprise that Lorraine Bracco has was born and raised in a working-class neighborhood of New York City, but her twenties were not as predictable. Relocating to Europe, she spent several years living in France as a fashion model and working in radio, TV commercials, and films. She appeared in the Lina Wertmuller crime thriller Un Complicato Intrigo Di Donne, Vicoli E Delitti along with American actor Harvey Keitel, to whom she would be married for ten years. Moving back to New York to study acting with Stella Adler and the Actor's Studio, she made her U.S. debut as a hooker in The Pick-Up Artist (also with Keitel) and later starred as a Queens housewife in Ridley Scott's Someone to Watch Over Me.After a couple roles in Sing and The Dream Team, she received an Oscar nomination for her work as mobster Henry Hill's wife in Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas, making her a full-blown movie star overnight. She continued working in features for the remainder of the '90s, most notably opposite Sean Connery in Medicine Man, as the whip-cracking Delores Del Rio in Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, and as Leonardo DiCaprio's long-suffering mother in The Basketball Diaries.Then in 1999, when Bracco got the stellar role of Dr. Jennifer Melfi on the hit HBO series The Sopranos. Bracco stayed with the series until 2007, playing the understated psychiatrist of mob boss Tony Soprano, and picking up several Emmy, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild awards over the years. The show kept her busy, but the actress continued to pursue other projects, playing a nervous mother in Penny Marshall's Riding in Cars With Boys , and taking on a recurring role on the series Lipstick Jungle. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi
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Lorraine Bracco
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Lorraine Bracco
| Lorraine Bracco | |
|---|---|
 Lorraine Bracco, 2007 |
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| Born | October 2, 1954 Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1979–present |
| Spouse |
Daniel Guerard (m. 1979–1982) |
| Partner | Harvey Keitel (1982-1993) |
Lorraine Bracco (born October 2, 1954)[1] is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Dr. Jennifer Melfi on the HBO series The Sopranos and Karen Hill in the movie Goodfellas.
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Early life
Bracco was born in the Brooklyn, New York City neighborhood of Bay Ridge and grew up in Westbury, on Maxwell Drive on Long Island. She graduated from Hicksville High School in 1972. Her father is Italian American and her mother is English;[2] Bracco is fluent in English, French, and Italian.
Career
In 1974 Bracco moved to France, where she became a fashion model for Jean-Paul Gaultier. While there, she was introduced to the director and novelist Lina Wertmuller. In the early 1970s, Wertmuller recruited Bracco in a new film production titled Camorra. "She dressed me up like an Italian woman of no means. A street woman clad in disheveled clothes, hair unkempt and all that, and threw me on the set. She was so creative. I mean, Lina accentuated my eyes with dark make-up, the way Sophia Loren used to appear in those epic roles in the '60s. And talk about talent. She's so bright and perceptive. I mean, she's just fantastic. And yes, I learned a lot from her. She's a master of her profession, and I've been blessed not only with her, but also with so many masters," recounted Bracco to Daniel Simone during an interview, which was published in the December 14, 2007 issue of Dan's Papers.[3]
Bracco acted in several French-language films. She also once worked as a disc jockey for Radio Luxembourg. She appeared as Paul Guilfoyle's hostage in the first season Crime Story episode "Hide and Go Thief". Her sister Elizabeth played a hostage in the series pilot. Her other films include Someone to Watch Over Me, Riding in Cars with Boys, The Basketball Diaries, Medicine Man, Radio Flyer and Hackers.
Bracco received her big career break when offered the role as the mobster-wife Karen Hill in Goodfellas, which earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress and was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture, she won the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress and the Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress.
During the audition process for The Sopranos, David Chase wanted her to read for the lead female role of Carmela Soprano. However, Bracco had read the script and was drawn to the part of psychiatrist Dr. Jennifer Melfi. Bracco felt strongly enough about her ability and desire to play this part that she arranged a meeting with David Chase and talked him into letting her have a chance as Dr. Melfi.[4] It netted her three consecutive nominations for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series at the Emmy Awards in 1999, 2000 and 2001 and at the Golden Globe awards for Best TV Actress in a Drama in 2000, 2001 and 2002. She lost out at the Emmys in 1999 and 2001 and at the Golden Globes in 2000 to her co-star Edie Falco. She was nominated again at the 2007 Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series, thus being pitted against The Sopranos co-star Aida Turturro for the award.
Personal life
Bracco has been married and divorced twice. Her first marriage was to Daniel Guerard from the late 1970s to the early 1980s, after which she entered into a 12-year relationship with actor Harvey Keitel.[5] Following a subsequent breakup with Keitel, she then married Edward James Olmos in 1994. Their marriage ended in 2002. She has two children, Stella Keitel and Margaux Guerard.
She is the owner of Bracco Wines, with association of Straight-Up Brands LLC.[6][7] Her line of wines was featured on the Season 1 finale of Bravo's show Top Chef in 2006. She appeared as a guest judge for the two-episode finale.[8] She also appeared as a special judge on Top Chef: All Stars in the episode titled, "An Offer They Can't Refuse" which featured Italian cuisine.
Bracco appeared on a season 6 episode of Throwdown! with Bobby Flay as a guest judge for the ravioli Throwdown.
Selected filmography
- Someone to Watch Over Me (1987) - Ellie Keegan
- The Pick-up Artist (1987) - Carla
- Sing (1989) - Miss Lombardo
- The Dream Team (1989) - Riley
- Goodfellas (1990) - Karen Hill
- Switch (1991) - Sheila Faxton
- Talent for the Game (1991) - Bobbie
- Medicine Man (1992) - Dr. Rae Crane
- Radio Flyer (1992) - Mary
- Traces of Red (1992) - Ellen
- Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1993) - Delores Del Ruby
- Getting Gotti (1994) - Diane Giacalone
- Hackers (1995) - Margo
- The Basketball Diaries (1995) - Mrs. Carroll
- The Liars (1996)
- The Sopranos (1999-2007) - Dr. Jennifer Melfi (TV)
- Riding in Cars with Boys (2001) - Mrs. Teresa Donofrio
- My Suicidal Sweetheart (2005) - Sheila
- Snowglobe (2007) - Rose
- Son of Mourning (2009) - Leda
- Rizzoli & Isles (2010) - Angela Rizzoli[9]
- I Married A Mobster (2011) - Narrator
Bibliography
- On the Couch (Putnam Adult, 2006) ISBN 0-399-15356-X
See also
References
- ^ Lorraine Bracco, On the Couch, p. 38
- ^ Witchel, Alex (September 27, 1990). "A Mafia Wife Makes Lorraine Bracco a Princess". The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE2DE123BF934A1575AC0A966958260.
- ^ [1][dead link]
- ^ On the Couch, Lorraine Bracco
- ^ Lorraine Bracco, On the Couch, p. 129
- ^ "Bracco Wines". http://www.braccowines.com/.
- ^ "Straight up brands". http://straightupbrands.com/default.asp.
- ^ "Episode 12: The Challenge". BravoTV.com. http://www.bravotv.com/Top_Chef/Episodes/Episode_12/The_Challenge/index.shtml.
- ^ "TNT Aggressively Expands Original Programming Slate by Greenlighting Three New Original Series" (Press release). Turner Broadcasting System. January 21, 2010. http://turner.tekgroup.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=4931. Retrieved June 20, 2010.
External links
- Lorraine Bracco at the Internet Movie Database
- Cast profile at the-sopranos.com
- New York Times interview
- Bracco Wines
- Bracco Wines straight up brands
- IgoUgo interview
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