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Trivia
Birth name: James Gandolfini
Place of birth: 18 September 1961
Place of birth: Westwood, New Jersey, USA
Nickname: Jim
Height: 6' 0½" (1.84 m)
Spouse: Marcy Wudarski, (March 1999 - 18 December 2002) (divorced) 1 child.
His sister Johanna is a prominent official with the New Jersey Family
Court system.
Graduated from Park Ridge High School, Park Ridge, New Jersey (1979).
Attended Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey.
He plays the trumpet and saxophone.
Although he often plays thuggish or brute characters, he is actually
somewhat of a pacifist off-stage; he had reservations about continuing
his production contract as Tony in "The Sopranos" (1999) due
to the show's violent content and stereotype of Italian-Americans.
TV mobster James Gandolfini turned to the right side of the law when he
saw a woman being mugged in his native New York recently. Gandolfini
plays Mob wiseguy Tony Soprano in hit TV show The Sopranos. So
passers-by were shocked to see the tough-guy step in and rescue a woman
when she was knocked down and had her bag snatched whilst walking down a
dimly lit street. [November 2001]
Named one of E!'s "top 20 entertainers of 2001."
Originally cast in the Carl Hanratty role in Catch Me If You Can (2002)
but had to drop out due to the Sorpranos.
Financed the construction of a restaurant called Vines in Oneonta, New
York for his childhood pal Clive Griffiths, who needed the money to
launch it. Griffiths has since paid him back, and then some.
Used to bartend in Manhattan during years as struggling actor.
Lost more than 40 pounds for his role in The Mexican (2001), but had to
gain it all back before shooting for the HBO series "Sopranos,
The" (1999) because executives didn't believe the audience would
like a "skinny" Tony.
Well trained in Krav Maga, (an Israeli style of Martial Arts) which he
practiced for 2 1/2 years.
In Crimson Tide, James refers to Robert Mitchum and Cary Grant, two
actors he also references in The Sopranos.
Became engaged to Lora Somoza [January 2004]
Says he is nothing like Tony Soprano in real life, describing his own
personality as being more like a "260-pound Woody Allen."
Has co-starred with John Travolta in four movies: Get Shorty (1995),
She's So Lovely (1997), A Civil Action (1998), and Lonely Hearts (2006).
Was voted "best-looking" in high school
Is friends with former New York Mayor Rudy Guiliani.
Once worked as a bouncer.
For his role as Eddie Poole in 8mm, Gandolfini met a variety of real
porn directors and producers to get a feel for there line of work and to
get a taste of their personalities, and is said to have loosely based
his character on several of them.
In "Crimson Tide" he played an officer on the U.S.S. Alabama.
In "True Romance", he beats up a woman named Alabama, played
by Patricia Arquette.
Italian-American
Became engaged to Lora Somoza in January 2004. Broke up, amicably, in
February 2005.
Has often said Robert
De Niro played a considerable role in his decision to become an
actor; grew up watching "Mean streets" over and over again.
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