Biography And Filmography:

Most audiences got to know James Gandolfini from his role as mobster Tony Soprano, a family man  in the midst of a mid-life crisis in the smash hit HBO television series "The Sopranos". But he has been around for awhile, as a respected character actor you have probably seen him in numerous projects, even if you didn't know his name, or who he was.

Born on September 18, 1961 in Westwood, New Jersey, he graduated from Rutgers University before a close friend talked him into attending acting classes. After studying at the Actors Studio, he began working in small theaters before making his Broadway introduction in 1992 as Steve Hubbell in "A Streetcar Named Desire". Not long after that, he was cast in his first movie role as Tony Baldessari, working alongside Melanie Griffith, in the crime thriller "A Stranger Among Us”. Producers loved the actors ability to play the bad guy with feeling, and wanted to cast Gandolfini in their movies.

An incredible break for the actor came in the role Virgil in the crime thriller "True Romance" (1993), working with an A-list group of celebrities that included Christian Slater, Patricia Arquette, Val Kilmer, Bronson Pinchot, Dennis Hopper, Brad Pitt and Samuel L. Jackson, in a story where Slater's character, Clarence, marries a hooker, steals cocaine from her pimp, and tries to sell it in Hollywood while the owners of the coke try to reclaim it. The film was a moderate success at the box office, but people took note of the actors role, and ability to hold his own among such a strong cast of big-name talent. A small role in the comedy "Money For Nothing" (1993), starring John Cusack, allowed him to polish his sly comedy talents, and audiences and critics loved it.

Another supporting comedy role came in the film "Angie", with Geena Davis, about a girl who lives in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn, New York and dreams of a better life than everyone she knows. He then returned to the thriller genre with his role as Ben Pinkwater in "Terminal Velocity" (1994), starring Charlie Sheen, where a maverick skydiver and a former KGB agent team up to stop the Russian mafia from stealing gold. Another thriller followed with "Crimson Tide" (1995), starring Denzel Washington and Gene Hackman, where on a United States nuclear missile sub, a young first officer stages a mutiny to prevent his trigger happy captain from launching his missiles before confirming his orders to do so. "Crimson Tide" was nominated for three Academy Awards, an MTV Movie Award, and won a Grammy Award. His star was rising, and the job offers started to pour in for the actor.

Another high-profile break came with the funny stuntman and mobster Bear in the crime comedy "Get Shorty" (1995), starring John Travolta, Gene Hackman, Rene Russo, and Danny DeVito, about a mobster who travels to Hollywood to collect a debt and discovers that the movie business is much the same as his current job. Next was the mafia thriller "The Juror" (1996), starring Demi Moore and Alec Baldwin, about a women who is selected as a juror in a big Mafia trial, and is forced by someone known as "The Teacher" to persuade the other jurors to vote "not guilty". He threatens to kill her son if she doesn't commit. He had nailed the personality and traits of mafia man and tough-guy. But the actor grew concerned he would become typecast and started searching for a broader set of characters for his projects.

But the tough-guy roles kept pouring in, and the actor was next cast as Joey Allegretto in the crime drama "Night Falls On Manhattan" (1996), about a newly elected District attorney who finds himself in the middle of a police corruption investigation that may involve his father and his partner. He then gave a disturbing account of an abusively drunk neighbor who tries to force himself on Robin Wright Penn in "She's So Lovely" (1997), before appearing in the television movie drama "12 Angry Men" (1997), the Golden Globe winning story of Twelve men who must decide the fate of one, when one juror objects to the jury's decision. 

The following year, he teamed with Denzel Washington in the crime thriller "Fallen" (1998), where a homicide detective witnesses the execution of serial killer, but soon after the execution the killings start again, and they are very similar to the ones of the man who as already died for them. James then teamed again with John Travolta in the dramatic "A Civil Action" (1998), where the families of children who died sue two companies for dumping toxic waste, in a case so expensive to prove it could bankrupt their lawyer. The actor wrapped the year next to Nicolas Cage in the mystery thriller "8MM" (1999), where a private investigator is hired to discover if a "snuff film" is authentic or not.

Gandolfini then starred opposite Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts in the action adventure film "The Mexican" (2001), about a man who tries to transport an ancient gun called The Mexican, believed to carry a curse, back across the border, while his girlfriend pressures him to give up his criminal ways. Next was the crime drama "The Man Who Wasn't There" (2001), starring Billy Bob Thornton, about a chain-smoking barber who blackmails his wife's boss and lover for money to invest in a dry cleaning business, but his plan goes terribly wrong. The actor finished the year next to Robert Redford in the action thriller "The Last Castle" (2001), where a convicted general rallies together 1,200 inmates to rise against the system that put him away.

He then took a few years off, staying away from making movies as he divorced his first wife and focused on his personal life. After recovering from his broken marriage, he jumped right back into the Hollywood scene and teamed with Ben Affleck for the holiday comedy "Surviving Christmas" (2004), about a lonely, obnoxious young millionaire who pays a family to spend Christmas with him. Without missing a beat, James took the starring role in "Romance And Cigarettes" (2005), working next to Susan Sarandon, Kate Winslet and Steve Buscemi, a down and dirty musical set in the world of working-class New York, the film tells a story of a husband's journey into infidelity and redemption when he must choose between his seductive mistress and his beleaguered wife. The film was nominated for a Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. 

In 2006, he once again worked with John Travolta in the crime thriller "Lonely Hearts" (2006), with Jared Leto and Salma Hayek, a film based on the true story of two homicide detectives who track Martha Beck and Raymond Martinez Fernandez, a murderous pair known as the "Lonely Hearts Killers" who lured their victims through the personals. Another thriller followed with the role of Tiny Duffy in "All The King's Men" (2006), starring Sean Penn, Jude Law, Anthony Hopkins and Kate Winslet, a story based on the Robert Penn Warren novel about the life of populist Southerner Willie Stark, a political character loosely based on Governor Huey Long of Louisiana.

All of these roles, however, were just a warm-up for his famous role of conflicted mob boss Tony Soprano on the smash hit show “The Sopranos,” one of the most difficult characters the actor ever had to play. Over the course of the first season, Gandolfini showed an entire range of emotions – from exasperation at the actions of his fellow mobsters to the frustrations of dealing with his high maintenance wife, growing children and domineering mother, to the anxiety of therapy sessions with Dr. Melfi (Lorraine Bracco). Audiences and critics adored Tony Soprano, and for his efforts he was rewarded with an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series in 2000 and 2001.

He returned for a seventh and final season of “The Sopranos”, where the biggest question was not if, but how Tony Soprano would get killed. Answers were not easily found in the final episode, however, one of the most talked about season finals in television history. In the final scene, Tony eats onion rings with his wife and son at a diner while waiting on Meadow to arrive. After a mysterious man disappears into a bathroom, and Meadow parks her car across the street, Tony suddenly looks up and the screen goes blank, leaving doubt as to whether or not he was actually killed. While most viewers were confused by the sudden cut to black – some even thought the cable had gone out – it later became clear to many after much discussion that Tony Soprano was dead. 

Not missing a beat, the actor lined up no less then nine television and feature film projects through the 2008-2009 season. First was the Spike Lee directed war drama "Miracle At St. Anna" (2008), set in 1944 Italy, the film tells the story of four black American soldiers who get trapped in a Tuscan village during WWII. Next was a starring role in the romantic thriller "Kiddie Ride" (2008), a story set on the Jersey shore, about the lives of three childhood friends begin to unravel when a secret from their past is revealed. He then returned to television for the dramatic "ABCD Camp" (2008), a story that chronicles the last high-school basketball camp founded by controversial sports executive Sonny Vaccaro.

The actor was then hired and cast in Spike Jonze family adventure "Where The Wild Things Are" (2009), a classic children's story, where Max, a rebellious little boy sent to bed without his supper, creates his own world - a forest inhabited by ferocious wild creatures that make Max their ruler. He then starred with British funnyman Steve Coogan in the comedy "In The Loop" (2009), before teaming again with Denzel Washington and John Travolta in Tony Scott's thriller "The Taking of Pelham 123" (2009), where armed men hijack a New York subway train and demand  a large ransom. 

More drama followed with "Welcome to the Rileys" (2009), about a troubled young woman who unites a grieving couple who have drifted apart after the death of their daughter. Gandolfini wrapped the year in the biographical music drama "Sexual Healing" (2009), a film that focuses on the later years of Marvin Gaye as he lived in Europe, putting his past drug abuse behind him and wrote his hit song "Sexual Healing", along with his promoter.

 Watch James Gandolfini In "Miracle At St. Anna" Movie Trailer

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