Anthony Soprano, Jr.

Anthony John "A.J." Soprano, Jr. (b. July 15, 1986), played by Robert Iler, is a fictional character on the HBO TV series The Sopranos. Usually just called "A.J.", he is the son of Carmela and Tony Soprano. He is a prototypical underachiever and is a constant source of stress and anxiety for his parents. While he is the only son of the Don, it becomes obvious he lacks potential for a career in his father's organization, though he tries to kill his own uncle, Junior Soprano, as retaliation for the shooting of his father.

Biography

Anthony is the chaotic younger brother of his more accomplished sister, Meadow. As a chronic underachiever with many doubts about life, A.J. is diagnosed as borderline ADD. Additionally, he crashed his mother's car, smoked marijuana at his own confirmation, got drunk on stolen communion wine, vandalized his school swimming pool, and was finally expelled after cheating on a test. As a result, his parents arrange to send him to military school, until they discover that he suffers from the same panic attacks that plagued his father and grandfather. Instead, he is sent to another private school. His birthday is July 15.

Tony and Carmela's concern has turned to A.J.'s future; Tony has no desire to groom his son into a position within his organization. In the fifth season of the show, A.J. displays an unexpected interest in pursuing a career in event planning, but he has since derided his parents' mentions of it.

In all Seasons, A.J. is portrayed as a fan of heavy metal, with product placements (shirts, coats, posters and Stickers) of bands like Pantera, Marilyn Manson, Slipknot, Coal Chamber, Trivium, Machine Head, and Limp Bizkit though as early as season 1 a poster of an Ulver black metal album can be spotted in his room.

In "Full Leather Jacket", A.J. says that he wants to go to Harvard University or West Point for college. Tony dismisses the idea as unrealistic given A.J.'s poor academic performance. During Season 3, when Tony asks him about it at a family dinner, A.J. claims that he never said that, as he knows his grades wouldn't be good enough. Throughout Season 5, references are made to the unlikelihood of A.J. being admitted to a four-year university.

In Season 6, A.J. admits to his parents that he has flunked out of the community college he was attending, a worrying parallel to Tony's own youth. A.J. acquired a large knife and went to the institution Uncle Junior was being held at in a futile effort to exact revenge for his father. He was arrested but later released without charge thanks to his father's political connections. At this time he has been seen delving into the New York City club scene and experimenting with cocaine.

After several days of Anthony claiming to be searching for jobs on the Internet with no result, Tony intervenes and arranges a construction job for his son. A.J. first claims he cannot do it because he will be trying again for community college, but Tony says that is not a problem as many of the men who work in construction are high school and college students. A.J. is reluctant to accept because of the early hours and outdoor work, which makes Tony angry. Tony grabs a football helmet and smashes the windshield of A.J.'s Nissan X-Terra, and warns A.J. not to test him. A.J. reluctantly works at the construction site where he meets Blanca Selgado, whom he begins dating. Blanca, who is Dominican and has a three-year-old son named Hector, meets with Carmela's disapproval. Tony however is more approving of the relationship, commenting that Blanca was Catholic like the Sopranos at least.

In 2007, A.J. proposes to Blanca at a fancy restaurant dinner by telling her that he will own a couple of restaurants in a couple years. However, Blanca soon gives the ring back and breaks up with him, leaving A.J. severely depressed. He quits his job and mopes about until his father forces him to attend a fraternity party with the college-age relatives of his fellow mafiosi. A.J. grudgingly attends but soon starts to enjoy himself. Several of the boys run a sports betting operation at the college and after a night of drinking, they beat and torture a man who neglected to pay them by pouring acid on his foot. A.J. joins in to help forget his relationship problems. Later he joins his new friends again when one of them carelessly opens the door of his car, hitting a passerby on a bicycle. They make racial slurs towards the man and blame the accident on him. His friends attack the man. However, A.J. is not helping them. Following that, A.J. is seen at his psychiatrist telling him that he is once again depressed about the world due to that incident.

This depression would lead to a botched suicide attempt, wherein he ties a brick to his leg with a too-long length of rope and attempts to drown himself in the pool at the Soprano home. His father hears his cries for help and dives into the pool and rescues him. He is then placed in a facility to get psychiatric care, where he meets Rhiannon, an ex-girlfriend of his former friend Hernan. After Tony tells him that his uncle Bobby has been shot dead, A.J. begins to cry, whine and complain about how Bobby's death negatively affects him. Tony loses patience with him, violently drags him out of his bed, slaps him around, and tells him to pack as the family leaves home quickly to elude a possible attack by the Phil Leotardo gang.

In the final episode, A.J. is in his Nissan Xterra with Rhiannon, his new girlfriend, and starts making out with her, but they both rush out of the vehicle when it catches fire due to A.J. parking it over a pile of leaves. He later decides he wants to join the Marine Corps , but he is talked out of it by his parents and girlfriend. Instead, Tony gets him a new BMW M3 and a job working for Little Carmine's production company. This sense of direction seems to alleviate A.J.'s depression, at least temporarily, and he is last seen having dinner with his family.

External links

• HBO Profile: Anthony Soprano, Jr.