James Gandolfini Biography | James Gandolfini Bio
James Gandolfini was an American actor. He is very well known for acting like Tony Soprano in The Sopranos (an Italian-American crime boss in HBO’s television series). His role in The Sopranos is highly regarded as amongst the greatest performances in T.V. history. His remarkable talent enabled him to win several awards- three Emmy Awards, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, and one Golden Globe Award.
Other roles that made him famous include True Romance of 1993 (as mob henchman Virgil), as Lt. Bobby Dougherty in Crimson Tide of 1995, and as Mayor of New York in The Taking of Pelham 123 of 2009. He appeared in Enough Said, in 2013, as Albert and he received fame and a number of accolades- for the Best Supporting Actor, he received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination and the Boston Society of Film Critics Award.
In 2007, James Gandolfini saw the need to produce Alive Day Memories: Home from Iraq, a documentary. In the documentary, he called injured Iraq War veterans for interviews and in 2010, Wartorn which entailed the examination of the impact of posttraumatic stress disorder on soldiers and families throughout a couple of wars in American history since 1861 to 2010.
James Gandolfini Age
Gandolfini’s sunrise was on 18 September 1961 while his sunset was on June 19th, 2013.
James Gandolfini Family
James Gandolfini (born James Joseph Gandolfini Jr.) was born and raised in Westwood, New Jersey. His parents were Santa (mother) and James Joseph Gandolfini, Sr. (father). Santa was a high school lunch lady and of Italian descent. She was born in the U.S and raised in Naples while his Gandolfini Sr., was a native of Borgo Val di Taro and worked as a mason and thereafter the head custodian at Paramus Catholic High School.
James Jr. also had siblings- two sisters. The family was devout to Roman Catholics. It was due to the influence of his parents who both spoke Italian, that he became adapted to Italian-American.
Education
Gandolfini Jr. attended Park Ridge High School, Park Ridge, New Jersey and graduated in 1979. He was involved in the school’s curriculum activities like Basketball playing and performed school plays. He was also given the tittle “Class Flirt” in his senior yearbook.
From high school, he went to Rutgers University in 1982 where he earned a BA in Communications and due to his body size, he worked as a bouncer at an on-campus pub.
His very close friend, Roger Bart, introduced him to acting and James accompanied him to Meisner technique acting class, where he took a 2 years study, under Kathryn Gately at The Gately Poole Conservatory.
James Gandolfini Wife
Speaking of his married life, James had a wife named Marcy Wudarski. The couple was married in March 1999 but James filed a divorce in the year 2002 and their relationship became terminated by 18th of December that year, leaving behind his son Micheal (born in 2000)
Gandolfini Jr. married a former model and actress Deborah Lin in her hometown of Honolulu, Hawaii, on August 30, 2008, after two years of dating. The couple had a daughter by the name Liliana Ruth Gandolfini (born October 2012).
James Gandolfini Children | James Gandolfini Kids
James Gandolfini had a daughter named Liliana Ruth Gandolfini who was born in October 2012. Ruth was left to be with her mother after the divorce.
James Gandolfini Career
Gandolfini appeared in A Streetcar Named Desire (1992) a Broadway production, as Steve Hubbell and On the Waterfront as Charley Malloy. He appeared also in Virgil, a brutal mob enforcer, in the romantic thriller True Romance of 1993. In this, he stated that his major inspiration was his old friend who was a hitman. In 1994 he shot as Ben Pinkwater in Terminal Velocity where he was a seemingly mild-mannered insurance man who turns out to be a violent Russian mobster. The following year, 1995, he was viewed in the box office hit Crimson Tide and still in the same year, he appeared in ‘Get Shorty’, as a bearded ex-stuntman with a Southern accent. 1996, he played a mob enforcer with a conscience, in The Juror
The show that mind-blew us was that of Tony Soprano, The Sopranos, a New Jersey mob boss and family man whose constant existential questioning includes regular psychiatric appointments. The show was introduced in 1999 and was broadcasted until in the year 2007. The spectacular show won Gandolfini three Emmy Awards for the “Best Actor in a Drama” and Entertainment Weekly listed him as the 42nd Greatest TV Icon of All Time. Moreover, to the awards that he won, Gandolfini received numerous nominations and two SAG Awards for being a member of the series’ ensemble. By the time 2007 was coming to an end, Gandolfini was making one million dollars per episode. Isn’t that great?
James Gandolfini Net Worth
James Gandolfini had a net worth of $70 million.
James Gandolfini Last Photo | James Gandolfini Last Pictures
James Gandolfini Measurements
- Height: 6ft/185cm
- Weight: 182lb/83kg
James Gandolfini Dead | James Gandolfini Death
Gandolfini’s death was sudden. He died at the age of 51 in Rome on June 19, 2013. According to Wikipedia, James was expected to travel to Sicily in a few days to receive an award at the Taormina Film Fest. It’s said that he and his family had spent their day sightseeing in sweltering heat, and his 13-year-old son Michael discovered him to be unconscious at around 10 p.m. on the bathroom floor at the Boscolo Exedra Hotel. Michael called reception, who in turn called emergency paramedics. He was rushed to the hospital and on his arrival at 10:40 p.m, Gandolfini was pronounced dead 20 minutes later. An autopsy confirmed that he had died of a heart attack.
The breaking news spread and politicians such as John McCain and Chris Christie responded by taking it to the Internet. Christie ordered all New Jersey State buildings to fly flags at half staff on June 24 to honor Gandolfini when his body was returned to the U.S.
The following day after the death of Gandolfini, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, which featured a long Sopranos co-star Steven Van Zandt on guitar, dedicated a performance of their classic album Born to Run by doing a rendition for Gandolfini.
James Gandolfini Funeral
Gandolfini’s funeral service was held on June 27, 2013, at the Episcopal Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, New York.
James Gandolfini was cremated and his ashes were given to his family.
James Gandolfini Drugs
Though some sources like daily mail, talk of James Gandolfini battled with drugs, plus Marcy’s claims that he was so out of control on cocaine and alcohol on the set of his first major film, The Mexican in 2001, co-starring Julia Roberts and Brad Pitt, and that the filming had to be stopped, A doctor who runs the ER where James Gandolfini was taken before he was pronounced dead, Professor Claudio Modini, says there are no suspicious factors, such as alcohol. The statement appears premature — especially with respect to any drugs that might have been in the actor’s body system. The doctor, says it looks like a heart attack, adding it was “probably a natural cause of death, myocardial infarction.”
James Gandolfini Films | James Gandolfini Last Movie | James Gandolfini Movies
James Gandolfini Quotes
- Good writing will bring you to places you don’t even expect sometimes.
- I don’t think I will do a Mafia character again. I want to get away from the violence a little bit, because it is starting to bother me personally.
- It is a dark, dark world. If you’re going to be in a dark world, I can’t think of any better one to be in. I still think I’m very lucky to be in it.
- I’m an actor… I do a job and I go home. Why are you interested in me? You don’t ask a truck driver about his job.
- I’m not a big, three-hour-play, Ibsen-revival kind of man.
- I’ve been very lucky, considering what I look like and what I do.
Read more at brainyquote.com
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