Trivia: Born and raised in New Jersey, press-shy James Gandolfini forged a film career as a prolific character actor before finally emerging as a bona fide star in the critically-lauded HBO series The Sopranos. After earning his college degree in 1983, Gandolfini headed to New York to study at the Actors Studio. Supporting himself for almost ten years as a bartender and nightclub manager, Gandolfini's major break came in 1992 with a role in a Broadway version of A Streetcar Named Desire starring Alec Baldwin and Jessica Lange, and his film debut in Sidney Lumet's A Stranger Among Us. Following small parts in several 1993 films, including the Quentin Tarantino-scripted True Romance, Gandolfini played more substantial roles as one of the heavies in Terminal Velocity (1994), Geena Davis' neighborhood boyfriend in Angie (1994), one of the submarine crew in Crimson Tide (1995), and a stuntman-turned-Mob enforcer in Get Shorty (1995). Equally gifted at playing characters on either side of the law, Gandolfini appeared as the violent neighbor who assaults Robin Wright Penn in She's So Lovely (1997) and a cop in Lumet's legal drama Night Falls on Manhattan (1997).Gandolfini played supporting roles in several more films, including Fallen (1998) and A Civil Action (1998), before he was cast as the head of a dysfunctional Mafia family in The Sopranos. Anchored by Gandolfini's superbly-nuanced performance as Prozac-popping, mother-bedeviled capo Tony Soprano, The Sopranos was hailed as a TV masterpiece for its alternately funny, surreal and deadly-serious look at New Jersey Mob life. Though he was passed over for the Emmy, Gandolfini won the SAG and Golden Globe Awards for Lead Actor in a TV drama for The Sopranos' 1999 season. During the series break, Gandolfini appeared as a slimy pornographer in 8MM (1999).Gandolfini finally added the Emmy to his trophies in 2000 for the second season of The Sopranos. Despite the inevitable criticism about the series' sophomore slump, there was no question as to Gandolfini's continuing excellence as the New Jersey Mob paterfamilias. Gandolfini followed his Emmy triumph with a supporting role as a gay hit man in The Mexican (2001), easily stealing the film from co-stars Julia Roberts and Brad Pitt. Even as he was earning The Mexican's few good notices in theaters, Gandolfini was garnering still more plaudits for The Sopranos' controversial third season, as Tony's increasingly delinquent son elicited anguished soul-searching from Tony about his legacy. Though his third Emmy nomination spoke to his formidable TV presence as Tony, Gandolfini also further burnished his movie credits with a small part in Joel Coen and Ethan Coen's Cannes Film Festival award winner The Man Who Wasn't There (2001), and a major starring role as a corrupt Army colonel who goes head-to-head with Robert Redford's incarcerated general in The Last Castle (2001). Gandolfini continued to impress on The Sopranos for the show's run, which finally ended in 2007. He would also find success on screen, appearing in a wide and impressive variety of roles in films like All the King's Men, The Taking of Pelham 123, and Violet & Daisy. Tragically, Gandolfini died unexpectedly of a heart attack in 2013 at the age of 51.

Trivia: Born October 2, 1954, it's no surprise that Lorraine Bracco, with her thick Brooklyn accent, was raised in a working-class neighborhood in 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. In 2010 Bracco co-starred in the comedy Son of Morning, and directed the ensemble drama Love and Distrust (starring Robert Downey, Jr., James Franco, and Amy Adams) the same year. Bracco took on a recurring role as Angela Rizzoli in the television series Rizzoli & Isles (2010-2012), and continues to work in film and television.

Trivia: Known as part of "the Purchase Mafia" thanks to her status as one of the many illustrious alumni of the State University of New York at Purchase, Edie Falco is one of America's most well-respected television and film actresses. A native of Brooklyn, Falco, who is of Sicilian heritage, was born in 1963. She got her professional start acting in fellow-Purchase alum Hal Hartley's films, most notably Trust (1991), which cast her as the unrepentantly trampy older sister of a pregnant cheerleader (Adrienne Shelly). Falco spent the 1990s dividing her time and talent between TV and film, doing recurring work on such series as Homicide: Life on the Street and Law and Order, and appearing in a slew of diverse films that included Woody Allen's Bullets over Broadway (1994) and The Addiction (1995).In 1997, Falco began earning kudos for her performance as Officer Diane Whittlesey on the HBO prison drama Oz; she stayed with the show for two years, after which she garnered even greater acclaim for her work on another HBO series, The Sopranos. Cast as Carmela Soprano, wife of Mafioso Tony Soprano, Falco won Emmies and Golden Globes for her work on the show, sticking with it until its conclusion in 2007. Falco would also cearn accolades for her film work, in movies like Hurricane Streets, Judy Berlin, and Freedomland. The small screen would continue to offer Falco great opportunities to display her talent, however, with her title role on the medical drama Nurse Jackie.

Trivia: Before his starring role in The Sopranos made his name, character actor Michael Imperioli worked in numerous films during the 1990s with an impressive array of New York-based talent. Born in Mount Vernon, NY, Imperioli did not have to move far when he decided to study acting at New York City's Stella Adler Conservatory. Soon after his 1988 movie debut, Imperioli burnished his acting resumé with a small part as Spider, shot by Joe Pesci in Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas (1990). The following year, Imperioli earned his first role in a Spike Lee film, Jungle Fever (1991). Becoming a Lee regular, Imperioli also played small parts in Malcolm X (1992), Clockers (1995), and Girl 6 (1996), and garnered his first feature screenplay credit as co-writer and executive producer of Lee's Summer of Sam (1999). Imperioli added Italian-American authenticity to Nancy Savoca's quirky ethnic tale Household Saints (1993) and appeared with future Sopranos co-stars Dominic Chianese in The Night We Never Met (1993) and Edie Falco in Abel Ferrara's vampire allegory The Addiction (1995). Briefly "going Hollywood" with parts in the first Michael Bay extravaganza Bad Boys (1995), and Walter Hill's Last Man Standing (1996), Imperioli returned to his New York state of mind in the latter half of the 1990s. Working with The Addiction star Lili Taylor again, Imperioli was an arrogant Ondine to Taylor's disturbed Factory hanger-on Valerie Solanas in Mary Harron's I Shot Andy Warhol (1996). Audiences could finally attach a name to Imperioli's oft-seen face when he was cast as drug-addicted wannabe screenwriter/mobster Christopher Moltisanti in David Chase's Mafia series The Sopranos. A critical hit from its 1999 debut onward, The Sopranos' potent combination of black comedy, family drama, and violence allowed Imperioli to display the full range of his talents onscreen, particularly when Christopher dabbles in Method acting, and offscreen as one of the second season writers. Imperioli is married and has two children.

Trivia: New York native Jamie-Lynn Sigler started acting at the tender age of seven, appearing in regional theater productions and eventually working her way up through the professional ranks. In 1999, she added on-camera acting to her repertoire when she was cast as Meadow Soprano, daughter of mob boss Tony Soprano on the smash-hit HBO Mafia series The Sopranos, but she didn't take stage acting off her list of priorities. By 2001, the 20-year-old actress had nabbed the lead role in a touring production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella, opposite Eartha Kitt, and by 2002, she was starring as Belle in the Broadway production of Beauty and the Beast. The Sopranos became a cultural phenomenon and Sigler became a household name. She took the opportunity to try out other projects, like the 2004 TV movie Call Me: The Rise and Fall of Heidi Fleiss, in which she played the title role. She also got married to her agent, A.J. DiScala, in 2003 and changed her name to Jamie-Lynn DiScala, saying that she was a traditional girl and had always planned to take her husband's name. Unfortunately, their marriage came to an end in 2006, and the young actress went back to her maiden name. As The Sopranos approached its sixth and final season in 2007, Sigler had a number or projects waiting in the wings. She'd already signed on to appear in two comedies slated for release later that year: New York City Serenade, with Freddie Prinze Jr., and Homie Spumoni, with Whoopi Goldberg.

Trivia: After decades of honing his acting skills on stage and screen, and eventually carving out a niche for himself as a "gangster," Dominic Chianese came upon his most widely recognized role as Uncle Junior on the hit HBO mob series The Sopranos, beginning in 1999. Born in 1931, in Bronx, NY, Chianese attended Brooklyn College, and began appearing on-stage in 1952. He would appear on and off-Broadway in theater for over 45 years before his famous role on The Sopranos, adding film and television to his repertoire along the way.After his first film role in 1972, as a panhandler in a drama called Fuzz, he embarked on what would become the trademark of his career with his first gangster role, as Johnny Ola in Coppola's The Godfather Pt. II (1974), the classic, starring Al Pacino. Chianese also appeared in All the President's Men in 1976, and would work with Pacino again in the 1979 thriller ...And Justice for All.Throughout the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, Chianese had numerous roles of all kinds from major feature films to stage to made-for-TV movies. He was featured in Fort Apache, the Bronx in 1981, and had a small role in Pacino's Looking for Richard in 1996. In 1999, HBO debuted its mobster series The Sopranos, starring James Gandolfini, and Chianese's long-term experience acting in all kinds of mob-related roles finally paid off with his part as Corrado "Uncle Junior" Soprano. The series earned incredible success, and in 2001, Chianese was nominated for an Emmy Award for outstanding supporting actor in a drama series for his role on the program. In 2002, he was featured in Adrian Lyne's drama Unfaithful, starring Diane Lane, Richard Gere, and Olivier Martinez.

Trivia: Known to audiences around the world as A.J. Soprano, the wayward, emotionally troubled son of mobster Tony Soprano on the famous crime family's eponymously titled blockbuster HBO series, Robert Iler actually debuted on film a year prior to that program, with a small role in the romantic drama The Tic Code (1998), directed by Gary Winick. Iler re-teamed with Winick for a supporting role in the coming-of-age sex comedy Tadpole (2002), and appeared in the Ben Affleck superhero vehicle Daredevil (2003). In a bizarre instance of art mirroring life, Iler made headlines in July 2001 for assisting in the robbery of two teenage boys on a New York City street corner. He was sentenced in May 2002 to three years' probation for petty larceny.

Trivia: Earned the nickname "Miami Steve" because of the tropical brightly colored clothes he favored as a young man. Played guitar and sang backup vocals for Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band from 1975 to 1984; rejoined the band after a world tour in 1999. Has twice been honored by the United Nations for his human-rights activism. Formed the all-star musical group Artists United Against Apartheid to record the single "Sun City" in 1985. Brother Billy married actress Adrienne Barbeau in 1992. Was cast in The Sopranos after series creator David Chase saw Van Zandt induct '60s hitmakers the Rascals into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. Backup band for the 1999 album Born Again Savage included U2's Adam Clayton on bass and Jason Bonham on drums. Created the Rock and Roll Forever Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to history of rock and roll, in 2007.

Trivia: Has been candid about his early life of crime and two stints in jail. While serving a stretch in Sing Sing for armed robbery in the early '70s, he became hooked on acting during a visit by a traveling troupe called the Theater of the Forgotten, which led to his first movie role in 1974's Crazy Joe. A character actor with a lengthy résumé, he has frequently been cast by Woody Allen (who grew up in the same Brooklyn neighborhood) and James Toback. Member of the GAG (Gangsters Actors Guild), an informal fraternity of performers who have made careers out of playing hoodlums on TV and in films. Active in charities that help children, including St. Jude's and HeartShare.

Trivia: Heavyset, memorably colorful character actor Louis Lombardi attained recognition for his ability to tackle both aggressive and jovial roles with equal deftness. A Bronx native, Lombardi specialized in a down-to-earth, unaffected acting style he later termed "naturalistic." The thespian debuted on film at age 25 (around 1993) in the drama Amongst Friends. Though it received limited theatrical exposure, its run on the festival circuit and appearance at Sundance caught the eye of Oliver Stone, who felt impressed by Lombardi and cast him as Deputy Sparky in the ultraviolent media evisceration Natural Born Killers. 1994 represented Lombardi's breakthrough year -- one that witnessed him not merely working with Stone, but with such heavyweights as John Landis (in Beverly Hills Cop 3) and Tim Burton (in Ed Wood). By affording the actor the exposure he needed, that triple play left the door wide open for Lombardi to tackle new and successive projects on the big screen and television, including the features 3000 Miles to Graceland (2001), Animal (2001), and Wonderland (2003), and such series as CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Ugly Betty, and 24.

Trivia: A native of Boston, MA, actress Ari Graynor was born in 1983 and attended Trinity College in Hartford, CT. She broke through to acclaim with her supporting role as Caitlin Rucker, a sexually promiscuous, manic-depressive student at Meadow Soprano's college on the HBO mafia drama The Sopranos (during the third season, in 2001), and thereafter moved into features, with contributions to films from a broad cross-section of genres. These included the gritty drama Mystic River (2003), the bittersweet Jeff Daniels/Sigourney Weaver seriocomedy Imaginary Heroes (2004), and the Christopher Guest satire For Your Consideration (2006). In 2008, Graynor portrayed a flighty and befuddled young urbanite with a passion for turkey sandwiches in the teen-oriented romantic comedy Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. Alongside her film and television work, Graynor has remained fully active on-stage, landing her most prominent role as Alison in the 2005 Broadway outing Brooklyn Boy.

Trivia: Though the credits of bespectacled Hollywood character actor Dan Grimaldi extend back to 1980, with appearances in such low-rent drive-in pictures as Don't Go in the House (1980) and The Junkman (1982), he failed to gain substantial attention until the mid-'90s, when he found his niche with guest appearances on a number of blockbuster crime and cop series. These included Law & Order and NYPD Blue. Grimaldi is best known, however, for his portrayal of notorious hitman Patsy Parisi, a "soldier" for Junior who pulled a turncoat and joined the "family" of Paulie Gualtieri, on David Chase's cable-series phenomenon The Sopranos (1999-2007).

Trivia: Publicly joking that the majority of her character's cinematic fates may not bode well for her future career, young starlet Erica Leerhsen likely has little to worry about given her solid performances in such features as Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 (2000), Woody Allen's Anything Else (2003), and the popular television drama The Guardian. In fact, quite to the contrary, she seems to have crafted quite an impressive onscreen career. A Ossining, NY, native and the daughter of U.S. Weekly executive editor Charlie Leerhsen, young Erica attended Boston University's School of Fine Arts upon graduating high school. Following impressive performances in such stage productions as The Call of the Wild and The Tempest, Leerhsen earned her B.F.A. and graduated summa cum lauda in 1998, and subsequent performances for the Gloucester Stage Company and Surf Reality soon gave way to a film career. Her role as a witchy teen Satanist in Blair Witch 2 proved so intense that, at one point during production, Leerhsen passed out after chanting an actual summoning of the "God of the Underworld." She soon poured the same intensity into roles in the TV series The Guardian, as well as Hollywood Ending and Anything Else. In 2003, Leerhsen could be spotted in the horror remake The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Trivia: Known for an effective series of supporting roles that commenced in the early '90s, Hispanic-American character actor Gary Perez made frequent guest appearances on the prime-time series dramas NYPD Blue and Law & Order (where his generic countenance enabled him to play various characters from episode to episode). He also landed a series of bit parts and supporting roles in low-budget features at about the same time, including Leslie Harris' critically lauded indie hit Just Another Girl on the I.R.T. (1993), The Tavern (1999), and The Love Machine. In 2007, Gary Perez signed to appear opposite Wanda De Jesus and Manny Perez in Illegal Tender, a sensitively handled crime drama by Franc Reyes about a young man who teams up with his mother to take on a cadre of homicidal gangsters.

Trivia: Sang in his school choir and performed in high school musicals.In high school, was on the student council, ran track and played varsity football.Was a member of his high school's forensics club.Was accepted into the Goodman School of Drama, the drama school of DePaul University, but decided to attend Wayne State University because he won a theater scholarship. While attending Wayne State University, spent a semester at the British American Drama Academy.Appeared in commercials for brands like Flonase, Nyquil, Nissan Pathfinder, Campbell's Soup and Dairy Queen.Has worked in film, television and theater.Best known for playing Special Agent Dwight Harris on The Sopranos.

Trivia: The youngest of four children, Savas was born in Harlem, New York, and raised in Northern New Jersey. Received his big break at 15 when he was chosen from 15,000 actors for a two-episode role on HBO's The Sopranos. Cofounded the YouTube comedy channel Reckless Tortuga and has acted in numerous Web series, including The Online Gamer, Psycho Girlfriend and Office Douche Bag. Trained with actual Navy SEALs to play the character of PO3 Cossetti on the TNT drama The Last Ship. Added producer to his resume with the feature film Bad Roomies, a dark comedy partially funded by Kickstarter ($75,000 was raised), and starring himself and Patrick Renna.

Trivia: Popular Sopranos actress Drea de Matteo's unique blend of Italian-American sensuality and unpretentious rock & roll-girl chic has found her ascending the ranks to become one of Hollywood's hottest stars. Though de Matteo's role on The Sopranos was originally intended to be little more than a one-time appearance, her undeniable screen presence soon found her returning to the role of Jersey girl-turned-Mafioso moll Adriana La Cerva in the popular HBO crime drama. Oddly enough, it was stage legend Andrew Lloyd Webber who first sparked showbiz aspirations in the Queens native. When de Matteo was around ten years old, Rum Tum Tugger whisked her on-stage during a performance of Webber's enduring stage musical Cats; the jarring experience proved alternately petrifying and compelling for de Matteo, and the intoxicating glow of the spotlight immediately cast its spell on the young showbiz hopeful. With a mother who worked as a screenwriter, young de Matteo was no stranger to the business, and though she would become something of a wild child during her teens, she never lost sight of her starstruck dreams. When it came time to pursue higher education, she set her sights on N.Y.U.'s Tisch School of the Arts. Though de Matteo initially intended to become a director, her acting talents quickly caught the eyes of casting agents. In 1996, de Matteo made her feature debut in the romantic comedy The "M" Word, and though the film would go largely unseen, her next role provided just the breakthrough needed to boost her career. Though the actress never expected her part in The Sopranos to go beyond one episode, the casting agents were quick to make her a regular player on the Emmy-winning series. Subsequent roles in such independent films as Meet Prince Charming (1999) and Sleepwalk (2000) gained little more attention than The "M" Word had, but de Matteo was able to fulfill a lifelong dream of working with Bad Lieutenant director Abel Ferrara when she appeared in the director's 2001 crime drama 'R Xmas. If de Matteo's feature career had gone virtually unnoticed by mainstream filmgoers to this point, roles in such wide releases as Swordfish (2001) and Deuces Wild (2002) soon found her star rising. In 2003, she was finally given the opportunity to live out her rock-star dreams by strumming the bass in director Alex Steyermark's musical drama Prey for Rock & Roll. An association with actress Jenny McCarthy (whom de Matteo had previously acted alongside in 2001's The Perfect You) next led to an appearance opposite the former MTV girl and Playboy Playmate in the 2003 romantic comedy Dirty Love. In 2004, de Matteo went back in front of the camera for Steyermark in the true-crime drama West Memphis Three (which was inspired by the events covered in the documentary Paradise Lost). The following year, de Matteo could be seen in prominent roles in Ferrara's Go Go Tales and the action remake Assault on Precinct 13. Even with her frequent film roles, de Matteo remained primarily a television actress, playing Joey's sister in the short-lived Friends spin-off Joey, and later joining the casts of Sons of Anarchy and Desperate Housewives.In addition to her film and television career, de Matteo also owns Filth Mart, a popular New York City rock-chic clothing boutique.

Trivia: Aida Turturro, born September 25, 1962, in New York City, can be seen in numerous feature films in addition to her most well-known role as Janice on HBO's Sopranos series. Turturro has show business in her blood, attested by the careers of her cousins, Nicholas Turturro and John Turturro (actor-brothers), and is a long-term friend of Sopranos co-star James Gandolfini. She and Gandolfini have made collaborate film appearances in Fallen (1998) and Angie (1994) -- in the latter of which, Turturro supported the role of Geena Davis as her best friend. In 1992, Turturro and Gandolfini starred with Jessica Lange and Alec Baldwin on Broadway in A Streetcar Named Desire.Residing in New York for much of her life, Turturro attended the State University of New York at New Paltz as a theater student and graduated in 1984. Her first feature-film appearance came in 1989 as Grace in True Love, a film involving Italian family life. She has since made numerous film and network television appearances, including the features Jersey Girl and Denise Calls Up, and multiple episodes of both Law & Order and Mr. & Mrs. Smith.In 1998, she collaborated with cousin John Turturro in a supporting role under his direction in Illuminata. Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles (2001), a silly adventure film following up a pair of Dundee hits in the 1980s, featured Turturro in the role of Jean. In that same year, she appeared in Edward Burns' Sidewalks of New York, the title of which attracted gratuitous attention to its theatrical release shortly after the terrorist attacks on the U.S. on September 11, 2001.She enjoyed a long run on The Sopranos, and acted in her brother John's idiosyncratic musical Romance & Cigarettes, and had a major part in 2010's A Little Help.

Trivia: First on-screen role was as an extra in Martin Scorsese's Casino. Was working as the entertainment director at Las Vegas's Riviera Hotel and Casino when he was hired for The Sopranos in 2000. Original audition for The Sopranos was for the part of the FBI agent who worked with "Big Pussy" Bompensiero in the second season. He was turned down, but landed the role of Bobby "Bacala" Baccalieri (for which he wore a fat suit in his first two seasons). Authored several tongue-in-cheek books that celebrate Italian-American culture: A Goomba's Guide to Life and The Goomba's Book of Love, written with Charles Fleming; and The Goomba Diet: Living Large and Loving It. Has appeared multiple times on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno as a special correspondent. Is a Yankees and Knicks fan, and studies true-crime stories in his spare time.

Trivia: New York-based character actor John Ventimiglia has built his career playing thugs, guards, cops, and other tough guys in television and movies. He guest starred on crime dramas like Law & Order and NYPD Blue until 1999, when he joined the cast of The Sopranos as Artie Bucco, the proprietor of the Nuovo Vesuvio restaurant and close personal friend of Tony Soprano. The Artie Bucco character name was used by HBO to sell a whole line of products (pasta sauce, cookbooks, etc.) to promote the show. His film career has been more low-key, mostly made up of small roles in independent dramas. In 1995, he played the stable father Andrew in Rebecca Miller's directorial debut, Angela. The next year, he had brief parts in four popular independent films: I Shot Andy Warhol, Girls Town, Trees Lounge, and The Funeral. He then co-starred in the crime comedy On the Run, opposite fellow Sopranos cast member Michael Imperioli, and appeared in King of the World, the made-for-TV movie about Muhammad Ali. Turning to voice acting, he narrated both the documentary The Art of Amália and Rebecca Miller's Personal Velocity. In 2002, he joined up with several other New York actors and writers for DV Workshop, a feature film collection of 24 short films for the Internet.

Trivia: A Naples native who was raised in Patterson, NJ, and earned a full scholarship to New York City's School of Visual Arts thanks to early display of creativity, actor Federico Castelluccio first rose to fame as an award-winning illustrator when actor George Burns personally commissioned a portrait from him. So impressed was Burns by the portrait that the legendary comic went on to sing the praises of Castelluccio to executives at PBS and ABC -- an act that allowed the artist to support himself by painting throughout his college years. Back in the realm of acting, Castelluccio honed his talents in summer stock, off-off-Broadway, and various Shakespeare festivals in the mid-'80s, eventually signing on with such respectable repertoire groups as the Flock and Eclectic theater companies. While roles in Twelfth Night and A View from the Bridge, among other plays, found Castelluccio growing increasingly comfortable on-stage, subsequent roles in such independent films as Made and Fire found the emerging actor focusing increasingly on film. Perhaps best known to television viewers as Neapolitan enforcer Furio Giunta on the hit crime drama The Sopranos, Castelluccio traded his silencer for a sword in the medieval fantasy adventure Dragon Dynasty before venturing back into the world of contemporary crime with a supporting role in the hit indie film A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints. With high-profile feature roles in Aftermath, The Trouble with Cali, and Capers following in quick succession, fans could rest assured that they would be seeing plenty more of the prolific artist-turned-actor in the years to come.