James Gandolfini Biography

James Joseph Gandolfini, Jr. (September 18, 1961 " June 19, 2013) was an American actor best known for his role in The Sopranos as Tony Soprano, a troubled crime boss struggling to balance his family life and career in the Mafia. Gandolfini garnered enormous praise for this portrayal, winning three Emmy Awards, three Screen Actors Guild Awards and two Golden Globes for Best Actor " Drama Series as well as two further SAG Awards as a member of the series' ensemble. Gandolfini's other roles include the woman-beating Mob henchman Virgil in True Romance, enforcer/stuntman Bear in Get Shorty, and the impulsive Wild Thing Carol in Where the Wild Things Are.

Gandolfini produced the 2007 documentary Alive Day Memories: Home from Iraq, in which he interviewed ten injured Iraq War veterans. His second documentary Wartorn: 1861"2010, released in 2010, analyzes the impact of posttraumatic stress disorder on soldiers and families through several wars in American history, from 1861 to 2010.

Early life

Gandolfini was born in Westwood, New Jersey. His mother, Santa (née Penna), a high school lunch lady, was born in the United States, of Italian ancestry, and raised in Naples, Italy. His father, James Joseph Gandolfini, Sr., a native of Borgotaro, Italy, was a bricklayer and cement mason and was later the head custodian at Paramus Catholic High School in New Jersey. James, Sr. earned a Purple Heart in World War II. Gandolfini's parents were devout Roman Catholics and spoke Italian at home. Due to the influence of his parents, he developed a strong sense of being Italian and visited Italy regularly.

He grew up in Park Ridge, New Jersey and graduated from Park Ridge High School in 1979, where he played basketball, acted in school plays, and was awarded the title "Class Flirt" in his senior yearbook. He attained a Bachelor of Arts degree in communication studies from Rutgers University in 1982, where he worked as a bouncer at an on-campus pub. He also worked as a bartender and club manager in Manhattan prior to his acting career. He was introduced to acting as a young man living in New York City, when he accompanied friend Roger Bart to a Meisner technique acting class, where he studied for two years under Kathryn Gately at The Gately Poole Conservatory.

Career

Gandolfini performed in a 1992 Broadway production of On the Waterfront for six weeks. One of his best-known film roles was that of Virgil, a brutal woman-beating mob enforcer, in the romantic thriller True Romance (1993), for which Gandolfini said one of his major inspirations was an old friend of his who was a hitman. In the film Terminal Velocity (1994), Gandolfini played Ben Pinkwater, a seemingly mild-mannered insurance man who turns out to be a violent Russian mobster. In Get Shorty (1995), he appeared as a bearded ex-stuntman with a Southern accent, and in The Juror (1996), he played a mob enforcer with a conscience.

Gandolfini's most acclaimed role was Tony Soprano"?the lead character in the HBO drama The Sopranos"?a New Jersey mob boss and family man whose constant existential questioning includes regular psychiatric appointments. The show debuted in 1999 and was broadcast until 2007. For his depiction of Soprano, Gandolfini won three Emmys for "Best Actor in a Drama" and Entertainment Weekly listed him as the 42nd Greatest TV Icon of All Time.

In 2007, Gandolfini produced a documentary with HBO focused on injured Iraq War veterans and their devotion to America, while surveying the physical and emotional costs of war. Gandolfini interviewed ten surviving soldiers, who revealed their thoughts about the challenges they face reintegrating into society and family life. They also reflected on their memories of the day when they narrowly escaped death and what life may have been like in other circumstances.

That same year, Gandolfini returned to HBO as the executive producer of the Emmy-nominated documentary special, Alive Day Memories: Home From Iraq, his first project after The Sopranos and the first production for his company Attaboy Films, which was opened in 2006 with producing partner Alexandra Ryan. He returned to the stage in 2009, appearing in Broadway's God of Carnage with Marcia Gay Harden, Hope Davis, and Jeff Daniels. He played the Mayor of New York in the 2009 remake of The Taking of Pelham 123.

In 2010, Gandolfini produced another documentary with HBO, which analyzed the effects of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) throughout American history, from 1861 to 2010. It featured interviews with American military officials on their views of PTSD and how they are trying to help soldiers affected by it. Letters from soldiers of the American Civil War and World War I who were affected by PTSD are examined, along with interviews with soldiers affected by PTSD and their families.

He was executive producer of the HBO film about Ernest Hemingway and his relationship with Martha Gellhorn, titled Hemingway & Gellhorn (2012), starring Clive Owen and Nicole Kidman. Gandolfini reunited with The Sopranos creator David Chase for Not Fade Away (2012), a music-driven production set in 1960s New Jersey, and the latter's feature film debut.

Personal life

Gandolfini maintained ties with his Park Ridge, New Jersey hometown by supporting its The Octoberwoman Foundation for Breast Cancer Research. He appeared at its annual October banquet and often brought other Sopranos cast members to help draw larger crowds. He resided in New York City and owned a lot on the Lake Manitoba Narrows. In 2009, he purchased a home in the hills of Tewksbury Township, New Jersey, U.S.

Gandolfini and his first wife, Marcy Wudarski, divorced in December 2002. They have a son named Michael (born 2000).

On August 30, 2008, after two years of dating, Gandolfini married former model Deborah Lin, who was 40 years old at the time, in her hometown of Honolulu, Hawaii. Their daughter, Liliana Ruth Gandolfini, was born in Los Angeles, California on October 10, 2012.

Death

Gandolfini died on June 19, 2013, during a brief vacation in Rome, Italy. He was expected to travel to Sicily on June 22 to receive an award at the Taormina Film Fest. Following a day of sightseeing in Rome in sweltering heat, Gandolfini's 13-year-old son Michael discovered him unconscious around 10pm local time on the bathroom floor at the Boscolo Exedra Hotel in Rome's Piazza della Repubblica. Michael called hotel reception, who in turn called emergency paramedics. Gandolfini reportedly arrived at the hospital at 10:40pm and was pronounced dead at 11pm. An autopsy confirmed Gandolfini had died of a heart attack.

While word of his death spread, politicians such as John McCain and Chris Christie took to the Internet to respond. Christie ordered all New Jersey State buildings to fly flags at half staff on June 24 to honor Gandolfini when his remains were returned to the United States. The people of Gandolfini's hometown, Park Ridge, New Jersey, started a Facebook page to discuss plans to honor him, including naming a street after him and renaming the Little Theater at Park Ridge High School, where he did his first performances, after him.

The day after Gandolfini's death, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, which has long featured Sopranos co-star Steven Van Zandt on guitar, gave a performance of their 1975 classic Born to Run and dedicated it to Gandolfini.

Gandolfini's body was returned to the U.S. on June 23, 2013. Family spokesman Michael Kobold thanked both Italian and American authorities for expediting the repatriation process, which normally takes seven days. Broadway dimmed theater marquee lights on the night of Wednesday, June 26 in Gandolfini's honor.

His funeral service was held on June 27, 2013 at the Episcopal Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in Morningside Heights, New York City.

TV Guide published a special tribute to Gandolfini in their July 1, 2013 issue, devoting the entire back cover of that issue to his image. Columnist Matt Roush cited Gandolfini's work as Tony Soprano as an influence on subsequent cable TV protagonists, saying, "Without Tony, there's no Vic Mackey of The Shield, no Al Swearengen of Deadwood, no Don Draper of Mad Men (whose creator, Matthew Weiner, honed his craft as a writer on The Sopranos)." Similar testimonials were included by his costars and colleagues, including Edie Falco, who expressed shock and devastation at his passing, Sopranos creator David Chase, who praised him as a "genius", Bryan Cranston, who stated that his Breaking Bad character Walter White would not have existed without Tony Soprano, and Gandolfini's Killing Them Softly costar Brad Pitt, who expressed admiration of Gandolfini as a "ferocious actor, a gentle soul and a genuinely funny man".

According to Gandolfini's will dated December 19, 2012 and filed July 2, 2013 in Manhattan Surrogate's Court, the actor left a huge portion of his estimated $70 million estate to his son Michael, with his daughter Liliana, widow, sisters, and nieces sharing in the inheritance.

Filmography

Film

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1987	Shock! Shock! Shock!	Orderly
1992	'	Tony Baldessari
1993	Italian Movie	Angelo
1993	Money for Nothing	Billy Coyle
1993	True Romance	Virgil
1993	Mr. Wonderful	Mike
1994	Angie	Vinnie
1994	Terminal Velocity	Ben Pinkwater
1995	'	Will Caberra
1995	Crimson Tide	Lt. Bobby Dougherty
1995	Get Shorty	Bear
1996	'	Eddie
1997	Night Falls on Manhattan	Joey Allegretto
1997	She's So Lovely	Kiefer
1997	Perdita Durango	Willie "Woody" Dumas
1997	12 Angry Men	Juror #6
1997	Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil	Diner cook	Uncredited
1998	Fallen	Lou
1998	'	Kenny Kane
1998	'	Al Love
1999	'	Vincent	Short film, included in Stories of Lost Souls
1999	8mm	Eddie Poole
2001	'	Winston Baldry	L.A. Outfest Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
2001	The Man Who Wasn't There	Big Dave Brewster
2001	'	Colonel Winter
2004	Surviving Christmas	Tom Valco
2006	Romance & Cigarettes	Nick Murder
2006	Lonely Hearts	Det. Charles Hilderbrandt
2006	All the King's Men	Tiny Duffy
2006	Club Soda	The man	Short film, included in Stories USA
2008	American Breakdown	Himself	Archive footage
2009	In the Loop	Lt. Gen. George Miller	Chlotrudis Award for Best Cast
2009	'	Mayor of New York
2009	Where the Wild Things Are	Carol	Voice
2010	Welcome to the Rileys	Doug Riley
2010	Mint Julep	Mr. G
2011	Down the Shore	Bailey
2011	Violet & Daisy	Michael
2011	Cinema Verite	Craig Gilbert
2012	Killing Them Softly	Mickey
2012	Zero Dark Thirty	CIA Director Leon Panetta	Nominated " Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Ensemble
2012	Not Fade Away	Pat
2013	The Incredible Burt Wonderstone	Doug Munny
2013	Enough Said	Albert
2013	Nicky Deuce	Bobby Eggs
2014	Animal Rescue		In post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1997	Gun	Walter Difideli	Episode: "Columbus Day"
1999"2007	'	Tony Soprano	86 episodes AFI Award for Actor of the Year - Male - TV Series (2001) Golden Globe Award for Best Actor " Television Series Drama (1999) Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series (2000, 2001, 2003) Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series (1999, 2002, 2007) Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series (1999, 2007) TCA Award for Individual Achievement in Drama (1999, 2000, 2001) Nominated " Golden Globe Award for Best Actor " Television Series Drama (2000, 2001, 2002) Nominated " Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series (1999, 2004, 2007) Nominated " Golden Nymph Award for Outstanding Actor " Drama Series (2008) Nominated " Satellite Award for Best Actor " Television Series Drama (1999, 2000, 2001) Nominated " Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series (2000, 2001, 2004, 2006) Nominated " Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series (2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2006) Nominated " TCA Award for Individual Achievement in Drama (2003, 2004, 2006) Nominated " Viewers for Quality Television Award for Best Actor (2000)
2008	Alive Day Memories: Home from Iraq		Producer Nominated " Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Nonfiction Special
2010	Wartorn: 1861"2010		Producer PRISM Award for Best Documentary Program " Mental Health
2012	Hemingway & Gellhorn		Producer Nominated " Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Miniseries