James Gandolfini
| James Gandolfini | |
|---|---|
James Gandolfini in 2006.
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| Born |
James Joseph Gandolfini, Jr. September 18, 1961 Westwood, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Died | June 19, 2013 (aged 51) Rome, Italy |
| Cause of death | Heart attack |
| Alma mater | Rutgers University |
| Occupation | Actor, producer |
| Years active | 1981–2013 |
| Spouse(s) |
Marcy Wudarski (m. 1999; div. 2002) Deborah Lin (m. 2004; his death 2013) |
| Children | 2 |
James Joseph Gandolfini, Jr. (September 18, 1961 – June 19, 2013) was an American actor and producer. He was best known for his role as Tony Soprano, an Italian-American crime boss, in the HBO crime drama The Sopranos. He garnered enormous praise for his performance, winning three Emmy Awards, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, and one Golden Globe Award.
His other notable roles included mob henchman Virgil in True Romance (1993), enforcer and stuntman Bear in Get Shorty (1995) and impulsive "Wild Thing" Carol in Where the Wild Things Are (2009). For his performance as Albert in Enough Said (2013), Gandolfini posthumously received much critical praise and several accolades, including a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination and the Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor.
After finishing The Sopranos, Gandolfini produced the documentary Alive Day Memories: Home from Iraq (2007), in which he interviewed injured Iraq War veterans. His second documentary, Wartorn: 1861–2010 (2010), analyzed the impact of posttraumatic stress disorder on soldiers and families throughout several wars in American history from 1861 to 2010.
Gandolfini was born in Westwood, New Jersey. His mother, Santa (née Penna), was a high school lunch lady of Italian ancestry who was born in the United States and raised in Naples. His father, James Joseph Gandolfini, Sr., was a native of Borgo Val di Taro who worked as a bricklayer and cement mason and later the head janitor 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 Italian American identity and visited Italy regularly. He had two sisters.
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