James Gandolfini
Date of birth
18th September, 1961
Date of death
19th June, 2013
Occupation
Actor
Sex
Male
Height
1.85
James Gandolfini Jr. (born 18.9.1961) (Died: June 19, 2013) James Gandolfini is an American actor, best known for his role as the Mafia boss Tony Soprano in the hit TV series The Sopranos.
Childhood: James Gandolfini was born in Westwood, New Jersey, to Joan Gandolfini and James Gandolfini Sr. His mother was a school nutritionist and his father was a building maintenance officer at a high school.
Gandolfini's parents were Italian and devoutly Catholic. James spent part of his childhood in Italy and the family often conversed in Italian.
James Gandolfini attended Park Ridge High School in New Jersey. He often played basketball as well as acting in school plays and earned himself the title of 'Class Flirt'. When he graduated from high school, he studied for a BA in Communications at Rutgers University.
Before pursuing a career in acting, Gandolfini worked as a bartender as well as a nightclub manager. Whilst living in New York City, he went with a friend to acting classes and he landed a job promoting Rutgers football in a TV commercial with Greg Schiano.
Acting Career: One of James Gandolfini's earliest acting roles was in a 1992 production of On The Waterfront on Broadway. He acted in the play for six months and the following year, landed a role in the cult classic, True Romance, starring Christian Slater Patricia Arquette and Dennis Hopper.
In 1994, Gandolfini played Ben Pinkwater in Terminal Velocity, opposite Charlie Sheen and Nastassja Kinski. This was followed by a role as a conscientious mob enforcer in The Juror.
James Gandolfini then appeared as an ex-stuntman from the South, in Get Shorty, the film adaptation that starred Gene Hackman, John Travolta, Danny DeVito and Rene Russo.
The Sopranos debuted on HBO in 1999. In the mafia-based drama, James Gandolfini played the role of mafia boss Tony Soprano. Gandolfini has won three Emmy awards for his performance in the show and it has been reported that his salary eventually rose to around $1 million per episode. Other actors in the series include Lorraine Braco, Edie Falco and Michael Imperioli.
James Gandolfini again worked with HBO in 2007 when he co-produced a documentary entitled Alive Day: Home From Iraq, focusing on US veterans of the Iraq war. He interviewed 10 former soldiers about issues such as their re-integration into society.
In the 2009 remake of The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, James Gandolfini played the mayor of New York. Later that year, Gandolfini returned to stage work, appearing in God of Carnage on Broadway with Hope Davis, Jeff Daniels and Marcia Gay Harden.
James Gandolfini has also had roles in a number of other significant movies, such as 8MM with Nicolas Cage, Crimson Tide with Denzel Washington and Gene Hackman and All The King's Men, with Sean Penn, Jude Law, Kate Winslet and Anthony Hopkins.
Private Life: Gandolfini is a fan of motorbikes and owns a Harley Davidson bike, as well as a Vespa scooter. In 2006, whilst on his scooter, he was hit by a taxi cab and forced to undergo surgery on his knee. The incident caused the crew of The Sopranos to postpone the filming of the last few episodes.
James Gandolfini was previously married to Marcy Wudarski, with whom he has one child. They divorced in 2002 and Gandolfini subsequently married Deborah Lin in Honolulu, Hawaii, in 2008.
'The Sopranos' Director David Chase Sheds Light On Series' Ending
By Ed Biggs in Movies / TV / Theatre on 16 April 2015
David Chase spoke about 'The Sopranos'' famously cryptic ending in a new interview.
It’s arguably the most famous ending to a popular TV series ever, but nobody seems to have clue as to what the final sequence of ‘The Sopranos’ actually meant. However, we might have just been given a big piece of the puzzle by the show’s director David Chase.
In a new interview with Directors Guild of America Quarterly, Chase gave an overview of the very last few minutes of the final season, which notoriously finishes with a cut to black after a series of seemingly disconnected shots of the show’s characters converging on a café, to the soundtrack of ‘Don’t Stop Believin’’.
Continue reading: 'The Sopranos' Director David Chase Sheds Light On Series' Ending
The Drop Review
By Rich Cline
Excellent
A slow-burning intensity sets this crime thriller apart from the crowd, directed by Belgian filmmaker Michael Roskam with a sharp focus on flawed characters who continually surprise each other. It's also a strikingly involving screenplay by Dennis Lehane, an author known for flashier thrillers like Mystic River and Shutter Island (this is his first film script, based on his short story Animal Rescue). All of this pays off with terrific performances from an excellent cast and situations that genuinely shake up the audience, even if it remains moody and subdued right to the end.
It's set in Brooklyn, where bars take turns acting as the mafia drop point for the day's takings. And after Cousin Marv's Bar is robbed on a non-drop day, Chechen gangster Chovka (Michael Aronov) is furious. Even though he has assumed ownership of the bar from Marv (James Gandolfini), Chovka orders him to get the $5,000 back, implying that Marv knows the thieves. So Marv turns to his mild-mannered barman Bob (Tom Hardy) for help. Bob knows how to keep his head down, and as he works on finding the cash, he discovers an abused puppy abandoned in a trash can outside the home of Nadia (Noomi Rapace), who helps him nurse the dog back to health. But the puppy - and Nadia - were both cast aside by the thuggish Eric (Matthias Schoenaerts), who doesn't want to let anything go.
Viewers expecting an action-packed crime thriller might be disappointed by the muted tone of this film, but it's the kind of story that worms its way under the skin, creating complex characters who are constantly revealing new details about themselves as the situation inexorably escalates around them. Hardy is simply superb, layering all kinds of emotions into Bob's actions as he struggles to maintain his composure while everyone around him does something inexplicable. As a result, the film's final act is a sequence of heart-stopping moments that make the most of the witty, nervy and darkly gritty scenes that went before.
Continue reading: The Drop Review
'The Drop' Starring Tom Hardy Is A European Invasion
By Rich Cline in Movies / TV / Theatre on 14 November 2014
Tom Hardy's latest movie, and American crime thriller, has a distinctly European tone and art-house style.
For such a deeply American story, written by that chronicler of blue-collar New England life Dennis Lehane, the new crime thriller 'The Drop' boasts a strikingly foreign pedigree. Which probably explains why it has surprised many American critics with its distinctly European arthouse tone. In Time Magazine, Richard Corliss writes, "You have to sit through the slow parts to savour the cool parts."
In a Vox article earlier this week, a journalist quoted David Chase as saying Tony Soprano did not die at the end of the show - as has been assumed by many fans. Though Chase initially reacted angrily to the question, he apparently gave a straight-up answer anyhow. However, after the story went viral, Chase's representatives later released a statement saying he was misconstrued and that he did not give a definite answer.
Continue reading: Was 'The Sopranos' Ending Based On 'The Last Supper'?
David Chase Backtracks, Maybe Tony Soprano DID Die In That Diner
By Michael West in Movies / TV / Theatre on 28 August 2014
David Chase has played down a quote in which he appeared to say that Tony Soprano did not die at the end of The Sopranos - but does it matter?
David Chase, the creator of The Sopranos, has responded to the story that set the internet alight on Wednesday in which he was quoted as saying Tony Sopranos - played by James Gandolfini - had lived at the end of the HBO drama. The fate of Tony is still regarded as one of the biggest mysteries in TV drama though Chase appeared to hint at what really happened during a discussion with a Vox journalist.
Taboo will follow Hardy as an adventurer who, whilst developing his own shipping company, is faced with the competition in the form of the East India Company. Set in 1813, Taboo will see Hardy's character, James Delaney, deal with a whole form of commercial sabotage from the trading company, as the BBC reports.
Continue reading: Tom Hardy To Work With Ridley Scott On BBC Period Drama 'Taboo'
The Drop Trailer
Bob Saginowski works behind the bar at Cousin Marv's in Brooklyn - an establishment often referred to by local criminals as a 'drop bar'. It's where all the money in the town, acquired by illicit means, is dropped off and kept safe from rival gangs and authorities. However, Cousin Marv's turns out to be less safe than they thought when two masked armed robbers break in while Bob and Marv are cashing up and demand all the money. Despite Marv's warnings about who they are really stealing from, the thieves leave with their loot and Marv and Bob find themselves in a sticky situation when one mean crime boss wants it back. Getting involved in circumstances like this is the last thing these guys want and Marv starts to wish he was as well-respected as he used to be. After a vicious killing occurs, the stakes get higher. Will the duo manage to win back the mob's money? And what's the significance of a lost pitbull puppy?
Continue: The Drop Trailer
James Gandolfini New York, United States 2012 New York Film Critics Circle Awards at Crimson - Outside Arrivals Monday 7th January 2013