James Gandolfini

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James Gandolfini
Born	September 18, 1961 (age 45) Westwood, New Jersey
Notable roles	Tony Soprano (The Sopranos) series Eddie Poole (8mm) Virgil (True Romance)
Emmy Awards
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series 2000-2001, 2003 The Sopranos

James R. Gandolfini (born September 18, 1961) is a prominent, three-time Emmy award winning American actor, known for his multi-faceted portrayals of conscientious yet often inherently sinister characters. He is most famous for playing Tony Soprano in the hit HBO series The Sopranos, an Italian-American crime boss struggling to reconcile his family life with that of his underworld dealings. Among his other notable roles are those of disturbing pornographer Eddie Poole in 8mm, sadistic woman-beating mob enforcer Virgil in the Quentin Tarantino-written thriller True Romance, a gay hitman in The Mexican and enforcer/stuntman Bear in Get Shorty. He ruled as a King with the Krewe of Bacchus on Sunday February 18, 2007 for Mardi Gras in New Orleans.

Contents 1 Background 2 Acting career 3 The Sopranos years 4 Trivia 5 Filmography 6 External links

[edit] Background

The son of Italian-Americans Jumbo Gandolfini (1935-2005) and Santa Gandolfini (1937-1992), he was exposed to acting while a young man living in New York City when he accompanied a friend to an acting class.

Gandolfini was born in Westwood, New Jersey, grew up in Park Ridge, New Jersey, graduated from Park Ridge High School, and currently lives in New York City. He holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Communications from Rutgers University.

[edit] Acting career

Among some of his more well-known film roles include playing Virgil in 1993 romantic thriller True Romance where he plays a brutal woman-beating mob enforcer. 1994 saw Gandolfini play Ben Pinkwater in Terminal Velocity as nice guy turned Russian mafia leader. He also appeared in The Juror as a mob enforcer with a conscience.

The next two years were busy for Gandolfini as he appeared in three blockbuster movies. First was Crimson Tide where he appeared alongside Gene Hackman and Denzel Washington. He later appeared with the same two actors in different movies; Washington in the thriller Fallen in 1998, and Hackman in the comedy The Mexican in 2001. In the same year, looking a good deal different than he did in Crimson Tide, Gandolfini returned to play the tender bodyguard Bear in Get Shorty .

In 8mm (1999), he played Eddie Poole (based loosely on playboy studio director Darryl F. Zanuck) beaten to death by Nicholas Cage in an abandoned house for being part of a snuff movie in which a young girl was murdered. Other characters he played are the charismatic but ill-fated salesman in The Man Who Wasn't There, an enemy of Robert Redford in The Last Castle, and a homosexual hitman in The Mexican.

[edit] The Sopranos years

Although he acted on Broadway and in various films in the 1990s, 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. He has won three Emmys for Best Actor in a Drama for his work on the show.

[edit] Trivia

• On May 4, 2006, Gandolfini crashed his Italian Vespa scooter into a taxi. Gandolfini was hurt and needed knee surgery. Subsequently, the final episodes of the The Sopranos have been postponed.
• Is typically identified as politically liberal, yet independent. [1] [2]
• Gandolfini was a DJ at New Brunswick, New Jersey night club, the Melody Bar. Another famous record spinner at this bar was Matt Pinfield of MTV (120 Minutes) and now VH1 fame.
• He currently makes $1,000,000 per episode for The Sopranos.
• Has appeared in three films with John Travolta.
• His talent agent is Jamie Gold, the reigning 2006 World Series of Poker champion.
• Plays "a mean trumpet" according to NNDB.com.[3]
• His sister Johanna is a prominent official with the New Jersey Family Court system.
• Well trained in Krav Maga, (an Israeli style of Martial Arts) which he practiced for two and a half years.
• Is friends with former New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani.
• Is an ardent supporter of Rutgers' football team, and is featured in several television commercials for Rutgers' football program, usually with head coach Greg Schiano and most recently with another famous Rutgers alumnus, Mario Batali.

[edit] Filmography

• The Average Joe Fishing (1987)
• A Stranger Among Us (1992)
• True Romance (1993)
• Money for Nothing (1993)
• Mr. Wonderful (1993)
• Italian Movie (1993)
• Angie (1994)
• Terminal Velocity (1994)
• New World (1995)
• Crimson Tide (1995)
• Get Shorty (1995)
• The Juror (1996)
• Night Falls on Manhattan (1997)
• She's So Lovely (1997)
• 12 Angry Men (1997) TV movie
• Perdita Durango (1997)
• Fallen (1998)
• The Mighty (1998)
• A Civil Action (1998)
• 8mm (1999)
• A Whole New Day (1999)
• The Mexican (2001)
• The Man Who Wasn't There (2001)
• The Last Castle (2001)
• Surviving Christmas (2004)
• Flightplan (2005)(Cameo in background)
• Romance and Cigarettes (2005)
• All the King's Men (2006)
• Lonely Hearts (2006)
• Magma Suit (working title) (2010)

[edit] External links

• James Gandolfini at the Internet Movie Database
• James Gandolfini at the TCM Movie Database
• James Gandolfini at Yahoo! Movies