show name	The Sopranos
genre	Drama
creator	David Chase
writer	David Chase (30 episodes)Terence Winter (25 episodes)Robin Green (22 episodes)Mitchell Burgess (22 episodes)Matthew Weiner (12 episodes)Frank Renzulli (9 episodes)and others
director	Tim Van Patten (20 episodes)John Patterson (13 episodes)Allen Coulter (12 episodes)Alan Taylor (9 episodes)and others
starring	see Cast and characters section
opentheme	"Woke Up This Morning" (Chosen One Mix) byAlabama 3
endtheme	Various
country	United States
language	English
num seasons	6
num episodes	86
list episodes	List of The Sopranos episodes
executive producer	David ChaseBrad GreyRobin Green (Seasons 2–5)Mitchell Burgess (Seasons 2–5)Ilene S. Landress (Seasons 4–6)Terence Winter (Seasons 5–6)Matthew Weiner (Season 6, Part 2)
location	New Jersey (primarily in Essex, Bergen, and Hudson counties)Silvercup Studios
editor	Sidney Wolinsky (32 episodes)William B. Stich (25 episodes)Conrad M. Gonzalez (22 episodes)Michael Ruscio (3 episodes)Lynne Whitlock (3 episodes)Tammis Chandler (2 episodes)Joanna Cappuccilli (1 episode)
cinematography	Phil Abraham (47 episodes)Alik Sakharov (38 episodes)William Coleman (1 episode)
camera	Single camera
runtime	50–55 minutes
network	HBO
picture format	Film shown as NTSC or PAL (depending of the country)480i/576i (SDTV)720p/1080i (HDTV)
audio format	StereoDolby Digital 5.1
first aired
last aired
status	Ended
website	http://www.hbo.com/sopranos/ }}

''The Sopranos'' is an American television drama series created by David Chase that revolves around the New Jersey-based Italian-American mobster Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) and the difficulties he faces as he tries to balance the often conflicting requirements of his home life and the criminal organization he heads. The series also features Tony's family members and Mafia associates in prominent roles and storylines, most notably his wife Carmela (Edie Falco) and cousin and protégé Christopher Moltisanti (Michael Imperioli). The many conflicts in his life lead to an on-off professional relationship with psychiatrist Dr. Jennifer Melfi (Lorraine Bracco).

The series premiered on the premium cable network HBO in the United States on January 10, 1999 and ended its original run of six seasons and 86 episodes on June 10, 2007. The show has also been broadcast on A&E; in the United States and internationally. ''The Sopranos'' was produced by HBO, Chase Films and Brad Grey Television. It was primarily filmed at Silvercup Studios, New York City and on location in New Jersey. The executive producers throughout the show's run were Chase, Brad Grey, Robin Green, Mitchell Burgess, Ilene S. Landress, Terence Winter, and Matthew Weiner. Chase also served as showrunner and head writer.

A major commercial and critical success, ''The Sopranos'' is the most financially successful series in the history of cable television and is acknowledged as one of the greatest television series of all time and a seminal work of fiction. The series is noted for its high level of quality in every aspect of production and is particularly recognized for its writing, its cinematic style, and the performances of its lead actors. The show is credited with bringing a greater level of artistry to the television medium and paving the way for many successful drama series that followed. It also won a multitude of awards, including twenty-one Emmys and five Golden Globes.

A staple of 2000s American popular culture, ''The Sopranos'' has been the subject of much parody, controversy, and analysis, and has spawned books, a video game, high-charting soundtrack albums, and a large amount of assorted merchandise. Several members of the show's cast and crew that were previously largely unknown to the public have had successful careers after ''The Sopranos''.

Production

Conception

Before creating ''The Sopranos'', David Chase had worked as a television producer for over 20 years. He had been employed as a staff writer/producer for several television series (including ''Kolchak: The Night Stalker'', ''Switch'', ''The Rockford Files'', ''I'll Fly Away'', and ''Northern Exposure'') and had co-created one short-lived original series, ''Almost Grown'', in 1988. He made his television directorial debut in 1986 with the "Enough Rope for Two" episode of ''The New Alfred Hitchcock Presents''. He also directed episodes of ''Almost Grown'' and ''I'll Fly Away'' in 1988 and 1992, respectively. In 1996, he wrote and directed the television movie ''The Rockford Files: Punishment and Crime''. He served as showrunner for ''I'll Fly Away'' and ''Northern Exposure'' in the 1990s. Chase won his first Emmy Award in 1978 for his work on ''The Rockford Files'' (shared with fellow producers) and his second for writing the 1980 television movie ''Off the Minnesota Strip''. By 1996, he was a coveted showrunner.

The story of ''The Sopranos'' was initially conceived as a feature film about "a mobster in therapy having problems with his mother." After some input from his manager, Lloyd Braun, Chase decided to adapt it into a television series. In 1995, Chase signed a development deal with production company Brillstein-Grey and wrote the original pilot script. Drawing heavily from his personal life and his experiences growing up in New Jersey, Chase has stated that he tried to "apply [his own] family dynamic to mobsters." For instance, the tumultuous relationship between series protagonist Tony Soprano and his mother, Livia, is partially based on Chase's relationship with his own mother. Chase was also in therapy at the time and modeled the character of Dr. Jennifer Melfi after his own psychiatrist. Chase had been fascinated by organized crime and the Mafia from an early age, having been raised on classic gangster films like ''The Public Enemy'' and the crime series ''The Untouchables'' as well as witnessing such people growing up. The series is partly inspired by the real life DeCavalcante Family, who rose to prominence as the main New Jersey organized crime family while Chase was growing up. Chase has mentioned American playwrights Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams as influences on his and the show's writing and Italian director Federico Fellini as an important influence on the show's cinematic style. The series was named after high school friends of his. Like the majority of the characters on the show, Chase is Italian-American. His original family name is DeCesare.

Chase and producer Brad Grey, then of Brillstein-Grey, pitched ''The Sopranos'' to several networks; Fox showed interest but passed on it after Chase presented them the pilot script. Chase and Grey eventually pitched the show to Chris Albrecht, at the time president of HBO Original Programming, who recognized the originality and potential of the show, and decided to finance the shooting of a pilot episode.

The pilot episode—originally referred to as "Pilot" but renamed to "The Sopranos" on the DVD release—was shot in 1997; Chase directed it himself. After the pilot was finished and shown to the HBO executives, the show was put on hold for several months. During this time, Chase considered asking HBO for additional funding to shoot 45 more minutes of footage and release ''The Sopranos'' as a feature film. In December 1997, HBO decided to produce the series and ordered 12 more episodes for a 13-episode season. The show premiered on HBO on January 10, 1999 with the pilot episode. ''The Sopranos'' was the second hour-long television drama series produced by HBO, the first being the prison drama ''Oz''.

Casting

Like the characters they portray on the show, many of the actors on ''The Sopranos'' are Italian-American. Many cast members had appeared together in films and television series before joining the cast of ''The Sopranos''. The series shares a total of 27 actors with the 1990 Martin Scorsese gangster film, ''Goodfellas'', including main cast members Lorraine Bracco, Michael Imperioli, and Tony Sirico. Eight ''Sopranos'' actors also appeared in the 1999 comedy ''Mickey Blue Eyes''.

The main cast was put together through a process of auditions and readings. Actors often didn't know whether Chase liked their performances or not. Michael Imperioli, who beat out several actors for the part of Christopher Moltisanti, recalls "He's got a poker face, so I thought he wasn't into me, and he kept giving me notes and having me try it again, which often is a sign that you're not doing it right. I thought, I'm not getting this. So he said, 'Thank you,' and I left. I didn't expect to hear back. And then they called." Chase also said he wanted Imperioli because he had been in ''Goodfellas.'' James Gandolfini was invited to audition for the part of Tony Soprano after casting director Susan Fitzgerald saw a short clip of his performance in the 1993 film ''True Romance''. Lorraine Bracco, who had played the role of mob wife Karen Hill in ''Goodfellas'', was originally asked to play the role of Carmela Soprano. She took the role of Dr. Jennifer Melfi instead because she wanted to try something different and felt the part of the highly educated Dr. Melfi would be more of a challenge for her. Tony Sirico, who has a criminal background, signed on to play Paulie Walnuts as long as his character was not to be a "rat". Chase invited musician "Little Steven" Van Zandt (known as the guitarist of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band) to audition for a part in his series after seeing him live at the 1997 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ceremony and being impressed with his appearance and presence. Van Zandt, who had never acted before, eventually agreed to star on the show as mob consigliere Silvio Dante and his real-life spouse Maureen was cast as his on-screen wife, Gabriella.

With the exception of Oscar nominee Bracco (''Goodfellas''), Dominic Chianese (''The Godfather Part II'', along with stage work) and Emmy-winner Nancy Marchand (''Lou Grant''), the cast of the debut season of the series consisted of largely unknown actors. After the breakthrough success of the show, many cast members were noted for their acting ability and received mainstream attention for their performances. Subsequent seasons saw some well-known actors (Joe Pantoliano, Robert Loggia, Steve Buscemi, Frank Vincent) join the starring cast along with well-known actors in recurring roles such as Peter Bogdanovich, John Heard, Robert Patrick, Peter Riegert, Annabella Sciorra, and David Strathairn. Several well-known actors appeared in just one or two episodes, such as Charles S. Dutton, Ken Leung, Ben Kingsley, Lauren Bacall, Daniel Baldwin, Tim Kang, Elias Koteas, Annette Bening, Sydney Pollack and Burt Young.

Crew

Series creator and executive producer David Chase served as showrunner and head writer for the production of all six seasons of the show. He was deeply involved with the general production of every episode and is noted for being a very controlling, demanding and specific producer. In addition to writing or co-writing 2–7 episodes per season, Chase would oversee all the editing, consult with episode directors, give actors character motivation, approve casting choices and set designs and do extensive but uncredited re-writes of episodes written by other writers. Brad Grey served as executive producer alongside Chase, but had no creative input on the show. Many members of the creative team behind ''The Sopranos'' were handpicked by Chase, some being old friends and colleagues of his; others were selected after interviews conducted by producers of the show.

Many of the show's writers worked in television prior to joining the writing staff of ''The Sopranos''. Writing team and married couple Robin Green and Mitchell Burgess, who worked on the series as writers and producers from the first to the fifth season, had previously worked with Chase on ''Northern Exposure''. Terence Winter, who joined the writing staff during the production of the second season and served as executive producer from season five onwards, practiced law for two years before deciding to pursue a career as a screenwriter. He eventually caught the attention of Chase through writer Frank Renzulli. Matthew Weiner, who served as staff writer and producer for the show's fifth and sixth seasons, wrote a spec script for the series ''Mad Men'' in 2000. The script was passed on to Chase who, after reading it, was so impressed that he immediately offered Weiner a job as a writer for ''The Sopranos''. Cast members Michael Imperioli and Toni Kalem, who portray Christopher Moltisanti and Angie Bonpensiero, respectively, also wrote episodes for the show. Imperioli wrote five episodes of seasons two through five and Kalem wrote one episode of season five. Other writers the show employed throughout its run include Frank Renzulli, Todd A. Kessler (known as the co-creator of ''Damages''), writing team Diane Frolov and Andrew Schneider (creators of ''Easy Money'') and Lawrence Konner, who co-created ''Almost Grown'' with Chase in 1988. In total, 20 writers or writing teams (22 persons) are credited with writing episodes of ''The Sopranos''. Of these, two (Tim Van Patten and Maria Laurino) receive a single story credit and eight are credited with writing a sole episode. The most prolific writers of series were Chase (30 credited episodes, including story credits), Winter (25 episodes), Green and Burgess (22 episodes), Weiner (12 episodes) and Renzulli (9 episodes).

Before directing ''The Sopranos'', many of the directors had worked on other television series and in independent films. The most frequent directors of the series were Tim Van Patten (20 episodes), John Patterson (13 episodes), Allen Coulter (12 episodes), and Alan Taylor (9 episodes), all of whom have a background in television. Recurring cast members Steve Buscemi and Peter Bogdanovich also directed episodes of the series intermittently. Chase directed two episodes himself, the pilot episode and the series finale. Both episodes were photographed by the show's original director of photography Alik Sakharov; he later alternated episodes with Phil Abraham. The show's photography and directing is noted for its feature film-quality. This look was achieved by Chase collaborating with Sakharov: "David wanted a look that would have its own two feet. [...] From the pilot, we would sit down with the whole script and break the scenes down into shots. That's what you do with feature films."

Music

''The Sopranos'' is noted for its eclectic music selections and has received considerable critical attention for its effective use of previously recorded songs. Chase personally selected all of the show's music with producer Martin Bruestle and music editor Kathryn Dayak, sometimes also consulting Steven Van Zandt. The music was usually selected once the production and editing of an episode was completed, but on occasion sequences were filmed to match preselected pieces of music.

The show's opening theme is "Woke Up This Morning" (Chosen One Mix), written by, remixed and performed by British band Alabama 3. A different song plays over the closing credits of each episode, with few exceptions. Many songs are repeated multiple times through an episode, such as "Living on a Thin Line" by The Kinks in the season three episode "University" and "Glad Tidings" by Van Morrison in the season five finale "All Due Respect". Other songs are heard several times throughout the series. A notable example is "Con te partirò", performed by Italian singer Andrea Bocelli, which plays several times in relation to the character of Carmela Soprano. While the show utilizes a wealth of previously recorded music, it is also notable for its lack of originally composed incidental music, compared to other television programs.

Two soundtrack albums containing music from the series have been released. The first, titled ''The Sopranos: Music from the HBO Original Series'', was released in 1999. It contains selections from the show's first two seasons and reached #54 on the U.S. Billboard 200. A second soundtrack compilation, titled ''The Sopranos: Peppers & Eggs: Music from the HBO Original Series'', was released in 2001. This double-disc album contains songs and selected dialogue from the show's first three seasons. It reached #38 on the U.S. Billboard 200.

Sets and locations

The majority of the exterior scenes taking place in New Jersey were filmed on location, with the majority of the interior shots—including most indoor shots of the Soprano residence, the back room of the strip club Bada Bing!, and Dr. Melfi's psychiatrist's office—filmed at Silvercup Studios in New York City.

The pork store, a frequent hangout for the mobsters on the show, was in the pilot episode known as Centanni's Meat Market, an actual butchery in Elizabeth, New Jersey. After the series was picked up by HBO, the producers leased a building with a store front in Kearny, New Jersey. For the remainder of the production period, this building served as the shooting location for scenes outside and inside the pork store, now renamed Satriale's. After the series ended, the building was demolished.

Bada Bing!, a strip club owned and operated by the character Silvio Dante on the show, is an actual strip club on Route 17 in Lodi, New Jersey. Exteriors and interiors (except for the back room) were shot on location. The club is called Satin Dolls and was an existing business before the show started. The club continued to operate during the eight years the show was filmed there. As such, a business arrangement was worked out with the owner. Locations manager Mark Kamine recalls that the owner was "very gracious" as long as the shooting did not "conflict with his business time." Scenes set at the restaurant Vesuvio, owned and operated in the series by character Artie Bucco, were in the first episode filmed at a restaurant called Manolo's located in Elizabeth. After the destruction of Vesuvio within the context of the series, Artie opened a new restaurant called Nuovo Vesuvio; exterior scenes set there were filmed at an Italian restaurant called Punta Dura located in Long Island City. All the exterior and some interior shots of the Soprano residence were filmed on location at a private residence in North Caldwell, New Jersey.

Title sequence

A recognizable part of ''The Sopranos'' is the program's opening title sequence. Tony Soprano is seen emerging from the Lincoln Tunnel and entering the New Jersey Turnpike. Numerous landmarks in and around Newark and Elizabeth, New Jersey are shown. The sequence ends with Tony pulling into the driveway of his suburban home. Chase has said that the goal of the title sequence was to show that this particular Mafia show was about New Jersey, as opposed to New York, where most such dramas have been set.

In the first three seasons, between Tony leaving the tunnel and entering the Turnpike, an image of the World Trade Center towers can be seen in his side rear-view mirror. After the September 11, 2001 attacks, this shot was removed, beginning with the show's fourth season.

In a 2010 issue of ''TV Guide'', the show’s opening title sequence ranked #10 on a list of TV's top 10 credits sequences, as selected by readers.

Cast and characters

''The Sopranos'' features a large cast of characters throughout its six-season run. Some only appear in certain seasons, while others appear for the entire series. All characters were created by David Chase, unless otherwise noted.

Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) is the protagonist of the series. Tony is a capo of the New Jersey-based DiMeo crime family at the beginning of the series and the acting boss as of season two. He is also the patriarch of the Soprano household. Throughout the series, Tony struggles to balance his family life and his career in the Mafia. Because of his proneness to clinically unexplained panic attacks, Tony seeks treatment from psychiatrist Dr. Jennifer Melfi (Lorraine Bracco) in the show's first episode. Jennifer is an attractive, divorced Italian-American with a son in college. She treats Tony to the best of her ability despite the fact that they frequently clash over various issues. Jennifer is usually thoughtful, rational and humane, which contrasts with Tony's personality. Tony and Jennifer also harbor sexual feelings for each other, although Jennifer never openly shows or tries to act on it.

Adding to Tony's complicated life is his strained relationship with his wife Carmela Soprano (Edie Falco) and their two children, Meadow (Jamie-Lynn Sigler) and Anthony Junior (Robert Iler).

The starring cast includes members of Tony's extended family including his mother Livia (Nancy Marchand), sister Janice (Aida Turturro), uncle Corrado "Junior" Soprano (Dominic Chianese), nominal boss of the crime family following the death of then acting boss Jackie Aprile, Sr, later depicted as semi-retired, and later still, as completely out of the business due to health issues, cousin Tony Blundetto (Steve Buscemi) and Christopher Moltisanti, often referred to as Tony's nephew but actually a cousin by marriage (Michael Imperioli). Both Livia and Janice are shrewd manipulators with emotional problems of their own. Tony's Uncle Junior is involved in his criminal organization and their family bond ties with their criminal ambitions. Both his cousin Tony and nephew Christopher are also involved with his "other" family and their actions are a further source of conflict. Christopher struggles with drug addiction and alcoholism, and a desire to gain respect, while Tony Blundetto hopes to "go straight" but has a violent streak.

Tony's close circle within the DiMeo crime family includes Silvio Dante (Steven Van Zandt), Paul "Paulie Walnuts" Gualtieri (Tony Sirico) and Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero (Vincent Pastore). Silvio is Tony's consigliere and best friend. Paulie and Big Pussy are longtime soldiers and close allies who have worked with Tony and his father; Paulie soon becomes capo and eventually is further promoted to underboss. Also in Tony's criminal organization are Patsy Parisi (Dan Grimaldi) and Furio Giunta (Federico Castelluccio). Patsy is a quiet soldier with a head for figures. Furio is imported muscle from Italy who acts as Tony's feared enforcer.

Other significant characters in the DiMeo family include Bobby "Bacala" Baccalieri (Steven R. Schirripa), Richie Aprile (David Proval), Ralph Cifaretto (Joe Pantoliano), Eugene Pontecorvo (Robert Funaro) and Vito Spatafore (Joseph R. Gannascoli). Bobby is a subordinate of Junior's whom Tony initially bullies but later accepts into his inner circle. Cifaretto is a clever, ambitious top-earner but his arrogance and tendency to be obnoxious, disrespectful and very violent make Tony resentful. Richie Aprile is released from prison in season two and quickly makes waves in the organization. Pontecorvo is a young soldier who becomes a made man alongside Christopher. Spatafore works his way up through the ranks to become top earner of the Aprile Crew but has a secret in his personal life.

Friends of the Soprano family include Herman "Hesh" Rabkin (Jerry Adler), Adriana La Cerva (Drea de Matteo), Rosalie Aprile (Sharon Angela) Angie Bonpensiero (Toni Kalem), along with Artie (John Ventimiglia) and Charmaine Bucco (Kathrine Narducci). Hesh is an adviser and friend to Tony, and served in this role under Tony's father. Adriana is Christopher's longtime girlfriend; the two have a tempestuous relationship. Rosalie is the widow of the previous DiMeo boss and a close friend of Carmela. Angie is Salvatore Bonpensiero's wife who later goes into business for herself. Artie and Charmaine are school friends of the Sopranos and owners of the popular restaurant Vesuvio. Charmaine wishes to have no association with Tony and his crew due to his criminal activities, and often has to insist because Artie—a law-abiding and hard-working man—is drawn to Tony's way of life.

John "Johnny Sack" Sacramoni (Vince Curatola), Phil Leotardo (Frank Vincent) and "Little" Carmine Lupertazzi, Jr. (Ray Abruzzo) are all significant characters from the New York-based Lupertazzi crime family, which shares a good amount of its business with the Soprano organization. Although the Lupertazzis' and DiMeos' interests are often at odds, Tony maintains a cordial, business-like relationship with Johnny Sack, preferring to make deals that benefit both families. His second-in-command and eventual successor, Phil Leotardo, is less friendly and is harder for Tony to do business with. Little Carmine is the son of the family's first boss and vies for power with the others.

Plot synopsis and episode list

Season 1

The series begins with Tony Soprano collapsing after suffering a panic attack. This prompts him to begin therapy with Dr. Jennifer Melfi. Gradually, the storyline reveals details of Tony's upbringing, with his father's influence looming large on his development as a gangster, but more so that Tony's mother, Livia, was vengeful and possibly personality-disordered. His complicated relationship with his wife Carmela is also explored, as well as her feelings regarding her husband's ''cosa nostra'' ties. Meadow and Anthony Jr., Tony's children gain increasing knowledge of their father's mob dealings. Later, federal indictments are brought as a result of someone in his organization talking to the FBI and his own Uncle plots Tony's death.

After ordering the execution of Brendan Filone and the mock execution of Chris Moltisanti, Tony's Uncle Junior is installed as boss of the family (following the death of previous boss Jackie Aprile, Sr. from cancer), even though Tony actually controls most things from behind the scenes. Furious at Junior's plan to have him killed, Tony responds to the attempt on his life with a violent reprisal and confronts his mother for her role in plotting his downfall. She has a psychologically triggered pseudo-stroke and Junior is arrested by the FBI on non-related charges.

Season 2

At the beginning of the second season, Jackie's brother Richie Aprile is released from prison and proves to be uncontrollable in the business arena; he also starts a relationship with Tony's sister Janice, who has arrived from Seattle. Tony's friend "Big Pussy" returns to New Jersey after a conspicuous absence.

Christopher Moltisanti becomes engaged to his longtime girlfriend Adriana La Cerva. Matthew Bevilaqua and Sean Gismonte, two low-level associates dissatisfied with their perceived lack of success in the Soprano crew, try to make a name for themselves by attempting to kill Christopher. Their plan backfires; Christopher survives the attack (though he is critically wounded), and kills Sean in self-defense, while Tony and Big Pussy murder Matthew soon afterward.

Junior is placed under house arrest as he awaits trial. Richie, frustrated with Tony's authority over him, entreats Junior to have Tony killed. Junior feigns interest, then informs Tony of Richie's intentions, leaving Tony with another problem to address. However, the situation is defused unexpectedly when Janice kills Richie in a violent argument; Tony and his men conceal all evidence of the murder, and Janice returns to Seattle.

Tony, realizing Big Pussy is an FBI informant, murders him on-board a boat (with assistance from Silvio Dante and Paulie Gualtieri), then wraps his corpse in chains and throws it overboard.

Season 3

The third season marks the return of the ambitious Ralph Cifaretto following the "disappearance" of Aprile Crew capo Richie Aprile after spending an extended period of leisure time in Miami, Florida. He pursues a relationship with Rosalie Aprile, the widow of the deceased mobster Jackie Aprile, Sr., former capo of the Aprile Crew which bears his name. With Richie assumed to have joined the Witness Protection Program, Ralph unofficially usurps control over the Aprile Crew, proving to be an exceptionally dexterous earner for the crew. While Ralph's competitive merit would seemingly have him next in line to ascend to capo, his insubordination inclines Tony not to promote him and instead gives the promotion to the less qualified – however docile – Gigi Cestone, causing much resentment and tension between him and Ralph.

Livia dies of a stroke.

Jackie Aprile, Jr. becomes involved with Meadow and then descends into an increasingly reckless life of drugs and crime. Tony initially attempts to act as a mentor to Jackie but becomes increasingly impatient with his escalating misbehavior, particularly as Jackie's relationship with Meadow begins to become serious. Inspired by a story from Ralph about how Tony, Jackie's father, and Silvio Dante got made, Jackie and his friends Dino Zerilli and Carlo Renzi make a similar move and attempt to rob Eugene Pontecorvo's Saturday night card game, so they can gain recognition from the family, possibly getting them respected and made as well. The plan takes a turn for the worse when Jackie panics due to the heckling of the card dealer "Sunshine" and shoots him to death. Dino and Carlo are killed during the robbery, but Jackie manages to escape. Tony decides to give Ralph the decision regarding Jackie Jr.'s punishment. Despite his role as a surrogate father, Ralph ultimately decides to have Jackie Jr. killed.

Ralph ultimately crosses the line when, in a cocaine-induced rage, he gets into a confrontation with one of his girlfriends, Tracee, and beats her to death. She was a 'hooer', and may have been pregnant with his child at the time. This infuriates Tony to the point where he violates traditional Mafia code by striking him repeatedly in front of the entire family. Bad blood temporarily surfaces between the two but is shortly resolved after Gigi Cestone dies of an aneurysm on the toilet, thereby forcing Tony to reluctantly promote Ralph to capo.

Tony begins an affair with Gloria Trillo, who is also a patient of Dr. Melfi. Their relationship is brief and tumultuous. Meanwhile, Dr. Melfi is raped. Junior is diagnosed with stomach cancer; following chemotherapy, it goes into remission. A.J. continues to get in trouble at school, despite success on the football team. This culminates in his expulsion.

Season 4

In the fourth season, Tony and Christopher stake out the retirement party of Detective Lieutenant Barry Haydu, the man who murdered Christopher's father. Tony gives Christopher Haydu's address. When Christopher asks why he had been allowed to live all these years, Tony says that he had been valuable, but that he has lived out his worth. Christopher waits inside Haydu's home and ambushes him as he returns from his party. Haydu vehemently denies murdering Christopher's father, but struggles to get away, yelling "I'm sorry!" when Christopher goes to shoot him.

New York underboss Johnny Sack becomes enraged after learning Ralph Cifaretto made an inappropriate joke about his wife's weight. He seeks permission from boss Carmine Lupertazzi to have Ralph clipped, but is denied. Johnny orders the hit anyway. Tony receives the okay from Carmine to hit Johnny Sack for insubordination. Junior Soprano tips Tony to use an old outfit in Providence for the work. After catching his wife eating sweets secretly, instead of following the diet plan, Johnny Sack gives in, and bloodshed is averted.

Tony and Ralph invest in a race horse named Pie-O-My, who wins several races and makes them both a great deal of money. However, when Ralph's 12-year old son Justin is severely injured when an arrow plunges into his chest, Tony comes to believe Ralph burned Pie-O-My in a stable fire to collect $200,000 in insurance money. Tony confronts Ralph the following morning and Ralph denies setting the fire. The two engage in a violent brawl, culminating in Tony strangling Ralph to death. Tony and Christopher dispose of the body; they bury his head and hands at Mikey Palmice's father's farm and throw his body into a quarry.

While he is leaving court, Uncle Junior is hit in the head with a boom mic and falls down several steps. Tony advises him to take advantage of the opportunity, act mentally incompetent, and employ it as a ruse for not continuing the trial. Later, Eugene Pontecorvo intimidates a juror, resulting in a deadlocked jury, forcing the judge to declare a mistrial.

Following the death of Bobby Baccalieri's wife, Janice pursues a romantic relationship with him. Christopher's addiction to heroin deepens, prompting his associates and family to organize an intervention, after which he enters a drug rehabilitation center. Adriana befriends a woman who is an undercover FBI agent. When the friendship ends, the woman reveals herself as an FBI agent and tells Adriana the only way to stay out of prison is to become a informant. Adriana agrees and starts sharing information with the FBI.

Carmela, whose relationship with Tony is tense due to financial worries and Tony's infidelities, develops a mutual infatuation with Furio Giunta. Furio, incapable of breaking his own moral codes and that of the Sicilian mafia, clandestinely returns home to Italy. After Tony's former mistress calls their home, Carmela throws Tony out. Tony is approached by Johnny Sack with a proposal to murder Carmine, which Tony turns down.

Season 5

In the fifth season, a string of brand new characters are introduced to the show, including Tony's cousin Tony Blundetto, who along with other mafiosos are released from prison simultaneously. Among the others released are former DiMeo Crime Family capo Michele "Feech" La Manna, Lupertazzi family capo Phil Leotardo, and semi-retired Lupertazzi consigliere Angelo Garepe. Tony offers Tony B. a job, but he respectfully declines, as he is determined to lead a straight life. He initially begins to take courses to earn a degree in massage therapy and aspires to open up his own massage parlor. After Carmine Lupertazzi dies of a stroke, his death leaves a vacancy for boss of the Lupertazzi Family, which will soon be fought over by underboss Johnny Sack and Carmine's son Carmine Lupertazzi, Jr.. After Feech proves to be an insubordinate presence, Tony arranges for him to be sent back to prison by setting him up with stolen property, violating his parole.

The war between Johnny Sack and Carmine, Jr. begins when Johnny has Phil kill lady shylock Lorraine Calluzzo. Tony B.'s attempt to stay straight comes to a head when he gets into a brawl with his employer Sungyon Kim. Tony informs Tony B. that "it's hard working with strangers." Angelo, who was a good friend to Tony B. in prison, and Lupertazzi capo Rusty Millio offer Tony B. the job of taking out Joey Peeps in retaliation for Lorraine's death. Tony B. initially declines but, desperate to earn, accepts the job. He catches Joey outside a bordello, shoots him, and quickly flees the scene. Johnny believes Tony B. is involved, and retaliates by having Phil and his brother Billy Leotardo kill Angelo. Tony B. finds the Leotardo brothers and opens fire, killing Billy and wounding Phil.

Still separated from Carmela, Tony is living at his parents' house. Carmela, now the sole authority figure in the home, becomes frustrated as her rules lead A.J. to resent her; eventually she allows him to live with his father. She has a brief relationship with Robert Wegler, A.J.'s guidance counselor; he breaks it off abruptly when he suspects that she is manipulating him to improve A.J.'s grades. Tony and Carmela reconcile; Tony promises to be more loyal and agrees to pay for a piece of real estate Carmela wishes to develop.

Tony gets Meadow's boyfriend Finn De Trolio a summer job at a construction site, which is run by Aprile Crew capo Vito Spatafore. Finn comes in early one morning and catches Vito performing oral sex on a security guard. Vito tries to buddy up to Finn so that he does not say anything to anybody else. He even asks Finn to a Yankees game, which Finn does not attend. Finn soon quits the job out of fear.

After covering up a murder that occurred at The Crazy Horse, Adriana is arrested and pressured by the F.B.I. to wear a wire to avoid being charged as an accomplice. She refuses to wear a wire and informs the F.B.I. that she may be able to persuade her fiancé Christopher to co-operate and become an informant against Tony. She confesses to Christopher that she has been informing and that the F.B.I. would give them new identities if they would testify. Christopher is grief-stricken and nearly kills her. He leaves the apartment, saying he needs time to think. Tony has Silvio pick up Adriana under the pretense of taking her to see Christopher, but instead drives her out to the woods and executes her. Adriana’s betrayal and subsequent execution is too much for Christopher to handle and he briefly returns to drug abuse to deal with the pain.

Phil Leotardo and his henchmen beat Benny Fazio while trying to acquire the whereabouts of Tony B.; Phil also threatens to have Christopher taken out if Tony B.'s whereabouts are not disclosed soon. To avoid any more of his guys getting hurt and to pacify New York, Tony tracks Tony B. to their Uncle Pat's farm and shoots him. Phil, however, is furious that he did not get the opportunity to do it himself. Tony and Johnny meet at Johnny's house in a reconciliatory manner, but Johnny is arrested by Federal agents, while Tony escapes.

Season 6

At the beginning of the sixth season, Tony is shot by the now senile and confused Uncle Junior. Rendered comatose, Tony dreams he is a salesman on a business trip, where he mistakenly exchanges his briefcase and identification with a man named Kevin Finnerty. Tony's recovery from the shooting changes his outlook, and he tries to mend his ways. However, he is faced with more problems in his business life.

Once out of the hospital, Johnny Sack's daughter gets married and the Soprano family attends. Once there Tony is shown very exhausted and through security must take off his shoes. In the process he collapses to the ground, but is not hurt. Before the wedding Johnny Sack is approved to leave prison for six hours to see his daughter get married and that he has to pay for the metal detectors and the presence of the U.S. marshals at the event. As his daughter is about to drive away the SUV that was escorting Johnny to the wedding blocks the car from leaving and an altercation begins in the driveway. In a moment of weakness and despair Johnny Sack cries as he is put back into handcuffs and driven back to prison, greatly diminishing the respect his crew and Tony's crew have for him.

Vito Spatafore is outed as a homosexual after running into a friend at a New York night club. The rumor spreads quickly, and once word gets to Meadow that everyone else knows, she tells Tony and Carmela about the incident between Finn and Vito with the security guard. Finn then has to sit in front of Tony's entire crew and tell them what happened with the guard, solidifying their thoughts on Vito's sexuality. Tony is urged to deal with the problem by Phil Leotardo, now acting boss of New York with Johnny Sack in prison. Once Vito is outed, he runs away from the city and hides out in a New Hampshire town where he claims to be writing a book and meets with the locals. Vito also starts a romantic relationship with a male cook at a local diner. Eventually, Vito returns to New Jersey and asks Tony to allow him to return to work, albeit in Atlantic City. He continues to maintain that he is not a homosexual. Tony mulls over the decision to let him work, as well as whether to let him live. When Tony fails to act, Phil intervenes and kills Spatafore. When one of the members of the New York family, Fat Dom Gamiello, pays a visit to the Jersey office and won't stop making jokes about Vito and his death, the two members of Tony's crime family who are present kill Fat Dom out of anger at the disrespect he has shown. Once more, it appears that the families are on the verge of all-out war.

Also during the first half of the season Chris and Carmine head to Los Angeles to try to pick up Ben Kingsley for a movie they are trying to make called "Cleaver." Basically a mix of "The Godfather" and "Saw." But Ben passes on the picture. While in Los Angeles Chris goes back to using cocaine for a short period of time.

Tony considers killing several of his associates for relatively minor infractions. Christopher is unable to leave the mob, deflecting his problems by relapsing into drug addiction and kills his friend from Narcotics Anonymous, J.T. Dolan. He is then seriously injured in a car accident that he causes while driving under the influence of narcotics. Tony, the sole passenger, is not badly hurt, and suffocates Christopher to death. A.J. is dumped by his fiancée and slips into depression, culminating in a failed suicide attempt in the backyard pool. Dr. Melfi is convinced by friends that Tony is making no progress and may even be using talking therapy for his own sociopathic benefit. She drops him as a patient.

Johnny Sack dies from lung cancer while imprisoned, and Leotardo then consolidates his position in the Lupertazzi family by having his rivals for the leadership killed. Phil then officially takes over, igniting a resumption of the past feud with Tony and refusing to compromise with Tony on a garbage deal. When Tony assaults a Lupertazzi soldier for harassing Meadow while she is on a date, Phil decides it's time to decapitate the Soprano crew. He orders the executions of Bobby Baccalieri, who is shot to death; Silvio, who ends up comatose; and Tony, who goes into hiding. A deal is brokered whereby the rest of the Lupertazzi family agrees to ignore the order to kill Tony, giving Tony an opportunity to go after Phil. An FBI agent informs Tony of Phil's location, allowing Tony to have him killed. Tony suspects that Carlo, a capo from New Jersey, has become an informant in an attempt to help out his son, who has recently been caught for dealing ecstasy. Tony meets with his lawyer, who informs him that subpoenas are being given to New Jersey and New York crews alike. Sometime after Phil's death and a meeting with everyone, Tony, Carmela, and AJ meet for a casual dinner, while the Journey song "Don't Stop Believin'" plays in the background. At this time, several individuals become apparent that seem out of place for the venue. Three individuals enter and are specifically focused upon during entry. Meadow is shown coming to the dinner late and crossing the street as the rest of the family starts to eat an appetizer. An individual that had been previously shown at the counter specifically taking notice of Tony, is shown entering the restroom, the door of which is directly facing, (and approximately 90 degrees to), the table at which Tony and his family are sitting. As Meadow walks up to the door, the screen goes to Tony. The diner door opens with a bell ringing, Tony looks up and the show smash cuts to black and after a few seconds the credits roll in silence, leaving him and his family's fate a mystery.

Reception and impact

Ratings

''The Sopranos'' was a major ratings success and is the most commercially successful cable series in the history of television. Despite being aired on premium cable network HBO, which is available in significantly fewer American homes than regular networks, the show frequently attracted equal or more audiences than most popular network shows of the time. Nielsen ratings for the show's first four seasons are not entirely accurate, however, as prior to January 2004 Nielsen reported aggregate numbers for cable networks, meaning people watching other HBO channels than the main one, on which ''The Sopranos'' aired, would be included in the ratings estimates.

Season	Originally aired	Nielsen ratings (in millions)	Time
!Season premiere	!Season finale	!Season average
List of The Sopranos episodes#Season 1: 1999>1	January 10, 1999 – April 4, 1999	3.45	5.22	3.46	9:00 PM
List of The Sopranos episodes#Season 2: 2000>2	January 16, 2000 – April 9, 2000	7.64	8.97	6.62	9:00 PM
List of The Sopranos episodes#Season 3: 2001>3	March 4, 2001 – May 20, 2001	11.26	9.46	8.87	9:00 PM
List of The Sopranos episodes#Season 4: 2002>4	September 15, 2002 – December 8, 2002	13.43	12.48	10.99	9:00 PM
List of The Sopranos episodes#Season 5: 2004>5	March 7, 2004 – June 6, 2004	12.14	10.98	9.80	9:00 PM
List of The Sopranos episodes#Part 1>6 (Part 1)	March 12, 2006 – June 4, 2006	9.47	8.90	8.60	9:00 PM
List of The Sopranos episodes#Part 2>6 (Part 2)	April 8, 2007 – June 10, 2007	7.66	11.90	8.23	9:00 PM

Critical response

''The Sopranos'' has been acknowledged by critics as one of the greatest and most groundbreaking television series of all time. The writing, acting, and directing have often been singled out for praise. The show has also received considerable attention from critics and journalists for its mature and artistic content, technical merit, music selections, cinematography, and willingness to deal with difficult and controversial subjects.

''The Sopranos'' has been called "perhaps the greatest pop-culture masterpiece of its day" by ''Vanity Fair'' contributor Peter Biskind. ''The New Yorker'' editor David Remnick called the show "the richest achievement in the history of television." ''TV Guide'' ranked ''The Sopranos'' fifth on their list of the "Top 50 TV Shows of All Time." In 2007, Channel 4 (UK) named ''The Sopranos'' the greatest television series of all time.

The first season of the series received overwhelmingly positive reviews. Following its initial airing in 1999, ''The New York Times'' stated, "[''The Sopranos''] just may be the greatest work of American popular culture of the last quarter century." In 2007, Roger Holland of PopMatters wrote, "the debut season of ''The Sopranos'' remains the crowning achievement of American television."

In November and December 2009, a large number of television critics named ''The Sopranos'' the best series of the decade and all time in articles summarizing the decade in television. In numbered lists over the best television programs, ''The Sopranos'' frequently ranked first or second (with ''The Wire'' almost always ranked first in the latter case).

Certain episodes have frequently been singled out by critics as the show's best. These include "College" and "I Dream of Jeannie Cusamano" of the first season; "Funhouse" of the second; "Employee of the Month", "Pine Barrens" and "Amour Fou" of the third; "Whoever Did This" and "Whitecaps" of the fourth; "Irregular Around the Margins" and "Long Term Parking" of the fifth and "Members Only", "Join the Club", "Kennedy and Heidi", "The Second Coming" and "The Blue Comet" of the sixth season.

Awards

''The Sopranos'' won and was nominated for a large number of awards over the course of its original broadcast. It was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series in every year it was eligible; after being nominated for and losing the award in 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2003 (losing the first time to ''The Practice'', then the latter three to ''The West Wing''), ''The Sopranos'' won the award in 2004, and again in 2007. Its 2004 win made ''The Sopranos'' the first series on a cable network to win the award, while its 2007 win made the show the first drama series since ''Upstairs, Downstairs'' in 1977 to win the award after it had finished airing. The show earned 21 nominations for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series and won the award six times, with creator David Chase receiving three awards.

''The Sopranos'' won at least one Emmy Award for acting in every eligible year except 2006 and 2007. James Gandolfini and Edie Falco were each nominated six times for Outstanding Lead Actor and Actress, respectively, both winning a total of three awards. Joe Pantoliano won an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in 2003, and Michael Imperioli and Drea de Matteo also won Emmys in 2004 for their supporting roles on the show. Other actors who have received Emmy nominations for the series include Lorraine Bracco (in the Lead Actress and Supporting Actress categories), Dominic Chianese, Nancy Marchand, Aida Turturro, Steve Buscemi (who was also nominated for directing the episode "Pine Barrens"), Tim Daly, John Heard and Annabella Sciorra.

In 2000 and 2001, ''The Sopranos'' earned two consecutive George Foster Peabody Awards. Only two other series have won the award in consecutive years: ''Northern Exposure'' and ''The West Wing''. The show also received numerous nominations at the Golden Globe Awards (winning the award for Best Drama Series in 2000) and the major guild awards (Directors, Producers, Writers, and Actors).

Influence on television industry

''The Sopranos'' had a significant impact on the shape of the American television industry. It has been characterized by critics as one of the most influential artistic works of the 2000s and is credited with allowing other drama series with similarly mature content to achieve mainstream recognition. It has also often been cited as one of the television series that helped turn serial television into a legitimate art form on the same level as feature films, literature and theater. ''TIME'' editor James Poniewozik wrote in 2007, "This mafia saga showed just how complex and involving TV storytelling could be, inspiring an explosion of ambitious dramas on cable and off." Also in 2007, Maureen Ryan of PopMatters described ''The Sopranos'' as "the most influential television drama ever" and wrote "No one-hour drama series has had a bigger impact on how stories are told on the small screen, or more influence on what kind of fare we’ve been offered by an ever-growing array of television networks." Hal Boedeker, also writing for PopMatters in 2007, stated that the series was "widely influential for revealing that cable would accommodate complex series about dark characters. ''The Sopranos'' ushered in ''Six Feet Under'', ''The Shield'', ''Rescue Me'' and ''Big Love''."

The series helped establish HBO as producers of critically acclaimed and commercially successful original television series. Michael Flaherty of ''The Hollywood Reporter'' has stated that ''The Sopranos'' "helped launch [HBO's] reputation as a destination for talent looking for cutting-edge original series work."

Controversy

The show has been frequently criticized for allegedly perpetuating negative stereotypes about Italian Americans. In 2000, Essex County officials denied producers permission to film on county-owned property, arguing that the show depicts Italian Americans in a "less than favorable light." Despite the controversy, Fairleigh Dickinson University's PublicMind found, in an August 2001 national survey, that 65% of Americans disagreed with the notion that the show was "portraying Italian Americans in a negative way." The PublicMind's "New Jersey and The Sopranos: Perfect Together?" survey was referenced in a 2002 episode entitled "Christopher" that addressed the topic of Italian American identity in the context of Newark's annual Columbus Day parade. Later that year, ''Sopranos'' cast members were barred by parade organizers from participating in the real-life event. At the end of the series the PublicMind again asked the American public about their opinions on the series. Similar to the 2001 results, 61% of Americans disagreed with the idea that the Sopranos portrayed Italian Americans in a negative light. The PublicMind also found, in their 2001 poll, that viewers of The Sopranos were more likely to see New Jersey in a more negative light than people who did not watch the show.

Chase has defended his show, saying that it is not meant to stereotype all Italian Americans, only to depict a small criminal subculture.

Chase's decision to end the last episode abruptly with just a black screen was also controversial. While Chase has insisted that it wasn't his intention to stir controversy, the ambiguity over the ending and question whether Tony was murdered in the final scene has continued for years after the finale's original broadcast and has spawned numerous websites devoted to finding out his true intention.

DVD releases

Season

Release dates

Episodes

Special features

Discs

DVD region code>Region 1

DVD region code>Region 2

DVD region code>Region 4

! 1

December 12, 2000November 24, 2009 (Blu-ray)

November 24, 2003

November 24, 2003

13

* A 77-minute interview with series creator David Chase, conducted by film historian and director Peter Bogdanovich.

* "Family Life" featurette.

* "Meet Tony Soprano" featurette.

The Sopranos (episode)>The Sopranos".

! 2

November 6, 2001

November 24, 2003

November 24, 2003

13

* "The Real Deal" featurette.

* "A Sit Down With Tony Soprano" featurette.

Commendatori", "From Where to Eternity", "The Knight in White Satin Armor", and "Funhouse (The Sopranos)>Funhouse".

! 3

August 27, 2002

November 24, 2003

November 24, 2003

13

* "A Day On The Set Of The Sopranos" featurette.

The Telltale Moozadell", "Pine Barrens (The Sopranos)>Pine Barrens", and "Amour Fou".

! 4

October 28, 2003

November 3, 2003

November 3, 2003

13

* Easter Eggs.

* Episodic previews and recaps.

* Cast and crew biographies.

The Weight (The Sopranos)>The Weight", "Everybody Hurts (The Sopranos)

! 5

June 7, 2005

June 20, 2005

August 17, 2005

13

* Five audio commentaries by cast and crew members for the episodes "[[All Happy Families...", "Sentimental Education (The Sopranos)

! 6(Part 1)

November 7, 2006

November 27, 2006

March 7, 2007

12

", "Luxury Lounge", "The Ride (The Sopranos)>The Ride", and "Kaisha".

! 6(Part 2)

October 23, 2007

November 19, 2007

January 31, 2008

9

Cleaver (The Sopranos)>Cleaver'': Behind the scenes of Christopher's horror film" featurette.

* "The Music of The Sopranos" – Creator David Chase, cast, and crew discuss the songs from the show.

* Four audio commentaries by cast members for the episodes "Soprano Home Movies", "Remember When (The Sopranos)

! Complete HBOSeasons 1–6Box set

N/A

November 19, 2007

86

* Collects the previously released box-sets.

28

! Complete series –Deluxe Edition

November 11, 2008

November 24, 2008

86

* Includes all special features from the previously released box-sets.

* Never before seen scenes from all six seasons.

* Exclusive interviews with David Chase conducted by actor [[Alec Baldwin.

* Supper with The Sopranos: Two sit-down dinners with the cast and crew of the show as they discuss the series finale.

* Lost scenes from all six seasons of ''The Sopranos.''

* Panel Center Seminar: Discussions featuring "whacked" characters.

* Extra Gravy: Spoofs and Parodies including ''The Simpsons'' and ''Saturday Night Live.''

30

References

External links

The Sopranos on HBO

Category:1999 American television series debuts Category:2007 American television series endings Category:1990s American television series Category:2000s American television series Category:Best Drama Series Golden Globe winners Category:Edgar Award winning works Category:English-language television series Category:HBO network shows Category:Mafia drama series Category:Peabody Award winning television programs Category:Serial drama television series Category:Television series by Warner Bros. Television Category:Television shows set in New Jersey Category:Television shows set in New York City Category:The Sopranos Category:Emmy Award winning programs

ar:السوبرانوز bg:СемейÑ?тво Сопрано cy:The Sopranos da:The Sopranos de:Die Sopranos et:Sopranod el:Οι ΣοπÏ?άνος es:Los Soprano fa:سوپرانوز (مجموعه تلویزیونی) fr:Les Soprano ga:The Sopranos gd:Na Sopranos gl:The Sopranos ko:소프ë?¼ë…¸ì?¤ hr:Obitelj Soprano id:The Sopranos it:I Soprano he:הסופרנוס ka:სáƒ?áƒ?რáƒ?ნáƒ?ს კáƒ?áƒ?ნი lt:Sopranai: mafijos kronika hu:Maffiózók mk:Сопранови nl:The Sopranos ja:ザ・ソプラãƒ?ズ å“€æ„?ã?®ãƒ?フィア no:Sopranos oc:Los Soprano pl:Rodzina Soprano pt:The Sopranos ro:Clanul Soprano ru:Ð?лан Сопрано sq:The Sopranos sk:Sopranovci sl:Sopranovi sr:Породица Сопрано sh:The Sopranos fi:Sopranos sv:Sopranos tr:The Sopranos uk:Ð?лан Сопрано bat-smg:The Sopranos zh:黑é?“家æ—?

Name	Erik Weiner
birth date	June 07, 1977
birth place	San Francisco, California, U.S.
occupation	Actor WriterComedianProducer
website	http://www.erikweiner.com }}

Erik Weiner (born June 7, 1977) is an American actor, comedian, and writer best known for co-creating the play ''The Bomb-itty of Errors'' and his role as Agent Sebso on HBO's ''Boardwalk Empire''.

Biography

Erik was born and raised in San Francisco. He graduated from New York University. In 1999 he co-created and starred in The Bomb-itty of Errors, an adaptation of Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors, blending hip-hop and Shakespeare. The show has been performed in New York (Off-Broadway), London (West End), Chicago, Los Angeles, Amsterdam, Edinburgh, Dublin, Florida, Philadelphia, St. Louis, and continues to play around the world.

Erik was invited to be a fellow at the Sundance Institute's Screenwriting Lab in 2002.

In 2002 Erik co-created and starred in the MTV sketch comedy series, ''Scratch & Burn''. Erik made his feature film debut in the 20th Century Fox romantic comedy, ''Brown Sugar (2002 film)Brown Sugar''. The film stars Taye Diggs, Mos Def & Queen Latifah.

In 2005 Erik acted on HBO's ''Unscripted'', directed and executive produced by George Clooney.

Erik's music video "Shawshank In A Minute", directed by John Landis, won Jib-Jab's Great Sketch Experiment in 2006.

His musical comedy, NERDS, written with collaborator Jordan Allen-Dutton and music composed by Hal Goldberg, won Barrymore Awards for Outstanding New Play and Outstanding Original Music in 2007.

Erik received two Emmy Award nominations in 2007 and 2008 for writing on Robot Chicken.

Erik has produced such shows as ''America's Best Dance Crew'', ''Snoop Dogg's Fatherhood'', ''The Sing-Off'', and served as the Head Writer on the MTV Movie Awards in 2010 and 2011.

Erik recorded several songs and music videos that are online. ''One Line on the Sopranos'' is a tribute to the actual one line he had on The Sopranos, playing a store manager who said, "Leon, take your break at two." ''I Google Myself'' details the difficulties of dating online. Erik's brother, Mark Weiner, produced the music and sang back-up. Jordan Allen-Dutton wrote the songs with Erik. RickMill Productions produced the videos.

In 2010, Erik played Agent Sebso on HBO's ''Boardwalk Empire'', executive produced by Terence Winter and Martin Scorsese. Winter saw his video, "One Line on the Sopranos", and this led to Erik being cast on the series. In 2011, Erik won a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance By An Ensemble In A Drama Series for Boardwalk Empire.

Personal life

Weiner lives in Los Angeles with his fianceé, Kerry.

References

External links

Official website

Famous Last Nerds

The Geniuses

Category:American comedians Category:American film actors Category:American actors Category:American television writers Category:American stand-up comedians Category:American television actors Category:New York University alumni Category:Living people Category:1977 births

es:Erik Weiner

name	Peter Paul Gualtieri
first	"Pilot" ''(episode 1.01)''
last	"Made in America" ''(episode 6.21)''
nickname	Paulie Walnuts
alias	"Paul Walnuts", "Mr. Walters", "Ted Hughes", "Clarence", "Paoluccio"
occupation	Former Waste Management Executive of Barone Sanitation"Professional Investor" as listed on his tax forms
title	Soldier (? - season 1)Capo/de facto Underboss (Season 2-5) Underboss (Season 6) of the Soprano crime family
family	Nucci Gualtieri (adopted mother, biological aunt) Gerry Gualtieri (adopted brother, biological cousin) Rose Gualtieri (adopted sister, biological cousin)
spouse	none
children	none
religion	Roman Catholicism
relatives	Dottie Gualtieri (biological mother, "aunt") Marianucci "Nucci" Gualtieri (aunt) Paulie Germani ("nephew")
portrayer	Tony Sirico
creator	David Chase }}

Peter Paul "Paulie Walnuts" Gualtieri played by Tony Sirico, is a fictional character on the HBO TV series ''The Sopranos''. He is a caporegime (captain) and later underboss in the Soprano crime family.

Plot details

According to ''The Sopranos, A Family History'', Peter Paul Gualtieri, son of Gennaro Gualtieri (although Paulie's biological father was later revealed to be a World War II era soldier named "Russ"), has been a troubled street kid from the age of nine. He dropped out of school after the 9th grade and spent time in and out of juvenile correctional facilities during his early youth. When he was 17 he officially became an enforcer/bodyguard for "Johnny Boy" Soprano, Tony's father and captain in the DiMeo crime family. His mother, later discovered to be his aunt, worked at a Krispy Kreme doughnut shop during Paulie's childhood and early adulthood, but has since retired. Paulie's grandfather, who immigrated to the United States in 1910, is from Ariano Irpino, a municipality in the province of Avellino, in the Campania region of Italy. Paulie's grandfather and Tony's paternal grandparents were from the same province in Italy. Paulie spent four years in the US Army Signal Corps, where he was eventually drummed out through Section 8 (discharged because of psychiatric reasons). Although Paulie did not have a long military career, he still is proud of it, and few of the other Sopranos characters had military experience. Afterwards, he spent more time in and out of prison on various criminal charges. Eventually, he worked his way up through the DiMeo crime family, reaching the rank of Captain in 2000, shortly after Anthony "Tony" Soprano became Boss of New Jersey. In 2006, Paulie was promoted to Underboss, and Christopher Moltisanti was put in charge of Paulie's crew, which earlier was Tony's crew. Paulie got his nickname "Paulie Walnuts" due to hijacking a truck in the early 1990s which he believed to be filled with television-sets, but only contained walnuts. His surname is taken from real life DeCavalcante crime family mobster Frank Gualtieri, who served under Vincent Palermo.

Paulie is one of the most colorful characters on the show. Often talked about as a reputed psychopath with no heart-feelings, Paulie is highly paranoid and often refers to the supernatural things he experiences, like déjà vu, seeing the Virgin Mary, and especially his constant fear of death, either natural or probable. Paulie has displayed kindness and loyalty, and usually cracks jokes. However, despite his seniority, Paulie is one of the more eccentric of Tony's associates and is arguably one of the most ruthless, as expressed by his paranoia, mysophobia, competitiveness, miserly nature, impulsive violence and often childlike dependence on Tony's approval. In the season one finale, "I Dream of Jeannie Cusamano", Tony told his crew that he had been in therapy for almost a year, when Paulie revealed that he too had seen a therapist, from whom he 'learned some coping skills'. Nevertheless, Paulie is recognized throughout the series as one of the top earners and one of Tony's most trustworthy friends in his "inner circle" of Paulie, Silvio Dante, and Christopher Moltisanti.

Uniquely among his colleagues, Paulie remains single and has no children outside marriage. Unlike most of the other Mafiosi, he shuns the married life. A girlfriend of Paulie's, played by Judy Reyes, is briefly seen in episode 2.9 ("From Where to Eternity"). In a rare moment, Paulie shows compassion for her two children, putting them back to bed, sadly citing he shouldn't keep everyone up, (as he is suffering from nightmares after hearing Christopher talk about his trip to Hell after being shot). She recommends a psychic, but the session ends with Paulie calling the group a bunch of "fucking queers" after the psychic sees the spirit of Charles "Sonny" Pagano - the first guy Paulie ever whacked - together with other spirits, including Mikey Palmice, who supposedly tells the psychic to ask Paulie if the poison ivy, which he caught on his face while chasing (Palmice) to execute him, still itches.

Season 1

In Season One, Paulie was a central member of Tony's crew. He executed a Colombian drug dealer and stole a large quantity of drugs and cash from his hotel room. Other tasks he did were retrieving a car for a teacher of Tony's son, torturing a hotel co-owner so the crew can own 25% of the business, and extorting a soccer coach by giving him an unwanted free TV. When suspicions that Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero was an informant first surfaced, Paulie volunteered to investigate (and murder if necessary). His method of taking Pussy to a bath house and trying to get him to undress for a steambath lacked subtlety and drove Pussy into hiding. In Tony's brief and bloody war with the Corrado "Junior" Soprano crew, following Junior's attempt on Tony's life, Paulie was assigned the hit on Junior's consigliere Mikey Palmice, with assistance from Christopher Moltisanti.

Season 2

In Season Two, when Tony becomes the street boss of the family, while Junior only remains boss in name, Paulie is promoted to capo of his old crew. This meant that Pussy, Christopher, and Furio Giunta amongst others, reported to him. To help set up the crew's stolen car distribution operation in the country, Paulie traveled with Tony and Christopher to Italy. Paulie also helped run the "executive game"; a high stakes poker game. In the episode From Where to Eternity, while Christopher is in the hospital slowly recovering from the bullet wounds caused by Matthew Bevilaqua and Sean Gismonte's failed assassination attempt (which was engaged in to gain recognition in the DiMeo Crime Family, particularly with Richie Aprile), when Christopher becomes clinically dead for a few minutes after his heart stops while in his comatose state, he has what may have just been a morphine induced dream in which he visits purgatory and sees his deceased father "Dickie" Moltisanti along with his deceased, former best friend Brendan Filone and Mikey Palmice who had slain Brendan earlier on in Season One. Ironically, Brendan and Mikey are good friends in the afterlife and even gamble together with Roman soldiers against Irish gangsters whom they constantly lose to according to Christopher's description of what was going on in his ephemeral visit to the realm between Heaven and Hell. Christopher informs Tony and Paulie that Mikey had a message for them: Three o' clock is what Mikey told Christopher to tell them. It is never actually revealed what this esoteric message is supposed to mean, although Paulie thinks it could have been around the time Mikey was executed. Christopher's spiritual experience, which Tony remains skeptical of and deems just a dream, spooks Paulie intensely. Paulie subsequently begins to have disturbing nightmares of being dragged to Hell. Paulie, at the recommendation of his cumare (mistress), goes to see a medium but to confirm for sure the guy is real, Paulie gives a pseudo-name when he calls and makes his appointment. Much to Paulie's chagrin, the authenticity of the medium is confirmed when he begins communicating with Charles "Sonny" Pagano who was the first person Paulie ever whacked back in the 1960s and also Mikey Palmice. It becomes abundantly clear that Mikey's spirit is present when the medium informs Paulie that "he" wants to know if the poison ivy still itches (Paulie had inadvertently ran into a batch of poison ivy whilst he and Christopher chased Mikey through the woods on the day they murdered him). Paulie abruptly flips out, grabs the medium, and asks who he's been talking to, as he feels he somehow got some very clandestine information on Paulie through an actually still living person. Paulie continues to remain spooked and paranoid, as he also feels he's being haunted by Mikey Palmice accompanied by others he had murdered throughout his criminal life. However, a skeptical Tony informs him that it means nothing. Later in the season, when it was confirmed that Pussy was an FBI informant, Paulie accompanied Tony and Silvio Dante on their trip out on a boat to execute Pussy. Paulie, right before execution is carried out, tells Pussy "you were like a brother to me", at which point Tony adds, "to all of us." Paulie has clearly stated the hurtful impact Pussy's betrayal has had on him but seems to have put the experience behind him. Paulie will also be later haunted by the memory of his deceased friend.

Season 3

In Season Three, Christopher often chafed under Paulie's leadership, particularly after Chris became a made man in Paulie's crew. Paulie began to demand regular payments and subjected Chris to humiliating random strip searches for wires. One night, Paulie and Patsy Parisi show up unexpectedly at Christopher's apartment and search his apartment for wires; they also confiscate some stolen shoes Christopher got for Adriana to give to their comares. While meddling through a dresser drawer, Chris observes Paulie sniffing Adriana's panties, about which he later complains to Tony who informs Paulie he must apologize. Paulie grows angry at Christopher's tattle-telling and informs him, "If you ever go to the big man [Tony] again about stuff between you and me, we're gonna have a problem my friend." The tensions between Paulie and Chris culminated in the episode "Pine Barrens". when Tony assigns Paulie and Christopher the task of collecting a payment owed to Silvio by Russian mobster named Valery. They botched the simple assignment after they got into a fight with Valery at his apartment, which Paulie had instigated. Believing Valery is dead after Paulie chokes him with a lamp, they took Valery out into the Pine Barrens to dispose of him. Valery, who was later revealed to be a former commando in the Soviet military, was still alive, and knocked both Paulie and Christopher to the ground with a shovel. He escaped and led Paulie and Christopher on a brief chase in the woods. Paulie shoots Valery in the head, however, Chris and Paulie they can not find Valery, and the two are dumbfounded as to what happened to him. Afterwards, Paulie and Chris decide to get in the car and look for him, but they lose their way. The two try continuously to communicate with Tony on the cell phone to get him to come pick them up but as they are deep in the woods, the signal is weak, and every conversation becomes incomplete by static and disconnection. Paulie and Chris feud throughout the night. They become hungry, extremely cold, tired, and frustrated with each other. Later, a heated exchange even promts Christopher to pull his gun and threaten to kill him. The next morning, they are rescued by Tony and Bobby Baccalieri, but Tony is very disappointed at Paulie's failure to complete such an easy task.

In the season finale "Army of One", Paulie grew upset after Tony ruled against him in a sit down with Ralph Cifaretto. Paulie, who had provided Ralphie with the security codes he needed to execute a $100,000 robbery, demanded 50% of the take. Ralphie countered by offering only $5,000, claiming Paulie had not done any of the leg work. Ultimately, Tony ruled that Paulie was entitled to $12,000. Paulie, who had just put his mother in the expensive "Green Grove" retirement community, was especially angered by the ruling, as he had been depending on the $50,000 to cover his expenses. Paulie also grew jealous of Ralphie's earning ability, which outpaced Paulie's because of Ralphie's labor union ties, which helped bring in the highly lucrative Newark Esplanade project, and Ralphie's consequently rising stock in Tony's eyes.

Season 4

Between Seasons 3 and 4, Paulie was arrested in Youngstown, Ohio on a gun possession charge. Albeit no censure was rendered upon him, Paulie's separation from the family, incorporated with Ralphie's continued earning abilities, continued to erode his reputation and credibility in Tony's eyes. During his four months in jail, he communicated with John "Johnny Sack" Sacramoni, the Underboss of New York's Lupertazzi crime family, while under the false impression that he could earn a place with them. It was Paulie who told Johnny Sack that Ralph Cifaretto made a very insensitive joke regarding Ginny Sack's being overweight to the family which compels an infuriated Johnny to sanction a hit on Ralph that was called off at the last minute. A party was thrown at the Bada Bing when he was released, but his wavering loyalty only served to accelerate his marginalization under Tony. Paulie however, by the end of season four (in 12th episode of the season) , realized he had been duped by Johnny Sack and that Carmine Lupertazzi had never even heard of him, much less offered him a place in his New York family. Following this ascertainment, Paulie once again devoted himself fully to Tony and the Soprano family, reclaiming his status as a top earner and his place within Tony's inner circle.

Paulie has always been devoted to his mother, Marianucci "Nucci" Gualtieri, (it's disclosed in the Season Six episode The Fleshy Part of the Thigh that she is actually his aunt, however) whom he has watched over constantly. She was delighted when he first placed her at "Green Grove" (in stark contrast to Livia Soprano's reaction), and Paulie also interceded in her social problems with the other residents, going so far as to attack their relatives to ensure civility for his mother. He later learned that one of the women Nucci had trouble with, Minn Matrone, kept all her cash in her home. Paulie broke into Minn's home to try to steal this money, but she caught him in the act. When he failed to talk his way out of it, he suffocated her with a pillow. He gave the money to Tony to rejuvenate Tony's confidence in Paulie.

Season 5

In Season Five, Christopher and Paulie's bad blood resurfaces when Christopher reiterates the story of the Pine Barrens incident to Vito Spatafore, Patsy Parisi, and Benny Fazio. The story starts out friendly, but after Chris embarrasses him in front of the guys, Paulie calls Chris "Tony's little favorite". This leads to Chris and Paulie almost starting a fight and later, Paulie tells the rest of the guys that it's over between the two of them. This is one of many fights in the weird relationship that Paulie and Christopher have. At comare night, Christopher refuses to pay for the dinner, forcing Paulie to pay. At Satriale's the following morning, Paulie demanded the money back, else Christopher would begin paying points. At another dinner in Atlantic City, Paulie tells everyone to choose whatever they want in order to inflate Christopher's bill. Tapped out, Chris left a small tip and argued with Paulie in the parking lot until the waiter came out to confront them. Chris responded violently and threw a brick at him. The waiter collapsed and went into convulsions. Panicked, Paulie shot the waiter and grabbed the $1200 tab before running away. Paulie later called Christopher and they agreed to "bury the hatchet", and split the $1200 bill.

Paulie also got into a dispute with Michele "Feech" La Manna over their rival landscaping companies. Paulie and Feech both resorted to violence, assaulting the others gardeners. Paulie's competition with and antagonism of Feech served to highlight Feech's insubordinate tendencies, which caused Tony to "set up" Feech for a return to prison, making it easier for everyone.

Season 6

Part I

Between seasons 5 and 6, Christopher Moltisanti was made Capo of Paulie's crew, with Paulie being elevated to underboss of the family. Paulie's reputation for withholding money from his payments "up the ladder" were observed in the episode "Mayham". While Tony was in a coma, Paulie took part in a heist with associate Cary De Bartolo that led to an immense score of $1,000,000 in Colombian drug money, which was to be divided up fairly in terms of percentage amongst Tony, Paulie, and Vito. The heist resulted from a tip by Vito Spatafore. Although they had agreed to split the acquisition, Paulie later tried to withhold some of Vito's share due to an injury he had received during the heist; Silvio had to mediate as acting boss, informing them that under the circumstances Tony's share would be given to Carmela. Vito and Paulie were strongly reluctant to give Tony's share to Carmela, as they speculated Tony could potentially die at any moment but in the end accepted their obligation. When Vito's homosexuality was later revealed, Paulie was outspoken in his condemnation of homosexuality and desire to see Vito killed. When Vito returned after months in hiding, Tony considered letting his proposal of setting up business in Atlantic City with Silvio in front of Paulie; Paulie remained quiet, but left the room in apparent protest. Tony largely decided to have Vito killed because Paulie's attitude mirrored the lack of respect his underlings would feel for him letting Vito live free, although Phil Leotardo made it a moot point when he had members of his family beat Vito to death.

In the episode "The Fleshy Part of the Thigh", it was disclosed to Paulie that his dying Aunt Dotty, a nun, was actually his mother. She had become pregnant with him by a soldier identified only as "Russ" during World War II. Nucci, the woman Paulie had thought of as his mother, was really his aunt who took him in to hide the scandal. This flabbergasting ascertainment sent Paulie into an emotional tailspin, in the grips of which he severed his ties to his Nucci and did not attend Dotty's funeral. The episode ended with Paulie extorting $4,000 per month (the sum of Nucci's retirement home costs) from the son of the late owner of the Barone Sanitation company, unbeknown to Tony. Earlier, Paulie had witnessed Helen Barone meet with Tony to intercede on her son's behalf, and Tony promised that he would not be harmed; hearing this conversation led Paulie to break down emotionally. This means that Little Paulie Germani is not his nephew, but his first cousin once removed, although he still referred to Little Paulie as his nephew.

In "The Ride" Paulie was responsible for organizing the annual festivities at the Feast of St. Elzear. Paulie had taken over running the festival from Johnny Boy Soprano upon his death, and continued to try to run it for profit. In 2006, it proved a burden—the replacement priest, Father José, tried to renegotiate the payment the church would receive from the proceeds of the feast. Paulie refused to pay, and Father José retaliated by refusing to allow St. Elzear's gold hat to be used in the festival. The hat's absence was noticed and complained about by elder residents. Ride maintenance was another area where Paulie decided to save money, which resulted in a malfunction while Bobby Baccalieri's family was on a ride. Janice received minor neck injuries. Subsequently, this resulted in temporary bad blood between Paulie and Bobby which Tony ordered to be resolved.

During the festival, Paulie was tested for prostate cancer because of an elevated PSA. With his uncertain parentage, there was no way of knowing if he was genetically predisposed to the disease or not. During a restless night awaiting his biopsy results, Paulie awoke at 3 a.m. and went to the Bada Bing club. There he had a striking vision of the Virgin Mary hovering above the stage. Paulie later visited Nucci at Green Grove, and they had a silent reconciliation. In the episode "Moe N' Joe", Paulie told Tony that he has been diagnosed with prostate cancer. The disease was apparently caught in an early stage, and Paulie underwent a course of radiation therapy. Paulie suggested that his luck at having been diagnosed early was a reward for good deeds in his life, and Tony agreed with him. He stated in the episode "Stage 5", that he beat the cancer, after learning of Johnny Sack's death from lung cancer.

Part II

In the episode, "Remember When", Paulie and Tony went to Miami to lie low when the FBI investigated the old murder case of Willie Overall, who was Tony's first murder victim. On the trip and in Miami, Paulie begins to reminisce about the old days at which point he brings up Pussy Bonpensiero and Ralph Cifaretto and how they all four went out to dinner the night Tony whacked Willie Overall. Tony begins to grow somewhat suspicious of Paulie's idiosyncracies and inclination to divulge information to other people, and Tony questioned him several times about the joke Ralph Cifaretto made about Ginny Sacrimoni's weight. Eventually, the Overall's murder was blamed on the deceased Jackie Aprile, Sr., so Tony took Paulie on a fishing trip to celebrate. Paulie had serious misgivings about going to sea with Tony due to the boat trip that was used to lure informant Pussy Bonpensiero to his death. On the boat, Paulie continues to deny informing Johnny Sack of Ralph's joke about his wife. While Tony seriously considered murdering Paulie, he ultimately decided to spare his life. Seemingly out of "gratitude", Paulie sent Carmela a $2,000 espresso machine to replace her broken one. The overly expensive gift gave the impression of Paulie to Carmela that "there is something seriously wrong with that man", but Tony defends him, saying it was people like Paulie who allowed Tony and Carmela to live the way they did.

In the episode "Walk like a Man", Paulie's nephew, Little Paulie, was beaten by Christopher over a dispute and thrown out a second-story window, suffering six broken vertebrae. A furious Paulie tore up Christopher's lawn with his car, leaving Chris's wife shaken. Later in the episode, they seemed to have made up, and drank together at the Bada Bing. However, Paulie made off-color remarks about Christopher's daughter, which caused an inebriated Chris to storm out and later kill his A.A. sponsor J.T. Dolan. In the episode, "Kennedy and Heidi", Paulie was left surprisingly grief-stricken when Christopher was killed, reflecting that their argument over money and respect was trivial and that he should have been nicer to him, in life. Paulie was later "upstaged" when his aunt/adopted mother Nucci's wake was under-attended because his friends were at Christopher Moltisanti's wake instead. In the final episode "Made in America", Tony asked Paulie to step in and take over the old Aprile/Cifaretto/Spatafore/Gervasi crew. At first, Paulie was hesitant because all the bad luck that had befallen previous capos of that crew but immediately changes his mind after clever persuasion.

Gualtieri crew

When given control of the Soprano crew Paulie oversaw all of Tony’s old business dealing, which included amongst others, the Paving Union, extorting drug dealers, the pump and dump scams, charging HMOs for fake MRI expenditures, fencing stolen cars, a phone card scam, gambling, loan sharking and the crew’s front businesses: Barone Sanitation and Massarone Construction. Throughout the shows run other aspects of the crew's criminal activities developed or were revealed. These include control of the Joint Fitters Union, credit card hijacking (run by Benny Fazio), betting shop, cigarette smuggling (both run by Christopher), and protection racketing (run by Patsy). Legit businesses include Pussy’s old auto body shop (now run by his wife Angie), silent partner in a lawn care business, and the Feast of St. Elisario. Paulie soon became Tony's biggest earner. However, by season four Paulie's business hit a low point, especially in comparison to the Cifaretto and Barese crew. By season 5 Paulie's crew regained its position as one of the best earners in the family. When Paulie was promoted to Underboss between seasons 5 and 6, Christopher took over as Capo of his old crew.

Murders committed by Paulie

The following is a list of murders committed by or referenced to on the show by Paulie. With nine murders, he holds the record of having killed the most people in the show.

Victim
	Year	Reason	Episode
Charles "Sonny" Pagano		Paulie "made his bones" (performed his first contract/ordered killing) by murdering Pagano.	From Where to Eternity*
		Shot in the forehead by Paulie for operating a drug business within DiMeo Family territory.	A Hit Is a Hit
		Executed in the woods by Paulie and Christopher for conspiring with Junior to kill Tony & for killing Brendan Filone.	I Dream of Jeannie Cusamano
Big Pussy Bonpensiero		Killed on Tony's boat by Paulie, Silvio, and Tony for being an FBI informant.
		Possibly killed for attacking Paulie and Christopher. Apparently shot in the head. Though officially, according to HBO, his fate is ultimately unknown
		Suffocated with a pillow in her apartment, after she caught him searching her bedroom for cash.
Raoul the Waiter		Shot by Paulie after suffering blunt force trauma from a brick thrown at his head by Christopher after a brief argument with them.	Two Tonys
Colombian #1
Colombian #2		Shot in the chest by Cary De Bartolo and then stabbed by Paulie during armed robbery.

*First mentioned. Happened before events of first ''The Sopranos'' episode.

Family tree

In Commendatori, when Paulie still believed that Nucci is his mother, he mentions having two brothers. Only Gerry is mentioned by name in the series. One of them is a doctor.

In the series finale, Tony mentions a niece of Paulie's who has MS. Because it now is known that Paulie has no siblings, he is referring to one of his cousin's/"siblings" children.

Vehicles

Like many other gangsters, Paulie is partial to Cadillacs - favoring beige colored Cadillacs. During seasons 1 and 2 he drove a green 1996 Cadillac Seville SLS. He drives a beige 1998 Cadillac DeVille in season 3 (which was stolen in "Pine Barrens" ) He drives a beige 2001 Cadillac Eldorado until the end of season 5 and a beige Cadillac CTS in season 6. One of his Cadillacs has the Love Theme from The Godfather as the melody for the car horn ("Nobody Knows Anything").

Appearances in other media

Since his appearance on ''The Sopranos'', Tony Sirico has appeared in several TV commercials. Although it is never explicitly stated that he is "Paulie Walnuts," his performances in all of them have been consistent with that character.

Denny's commercials:

The first one is where he is in a fast food restaurant trying to pay with Monopoly-like money for a breakfast meal. When the cashier says he can't accept the money because it is not real, Sirico responds, "That's not a real breakfast!" The commercial ends when Sirico throws down a wad of Monopoly money and says to the cashier "Go buy yourself something nice."

The second one is where he plays a police detective with a victim behind a one-way mirror in a police line-up. The victim points to a suspect and says, "That's the one who sold me the fake breakfast." Sirico responds, "Calm down, chief. He can't harm you no more."

*The third one shows Sirico tying a rope to the bumper of his Cadillac DeVille connecting the car to a billboard advertising breakfast. When someone asks him what he is doing he responds, "Is that the Grand Slam?" The next shot shows him driving away and pulling the billboard down.

In addition, Sirico has appeared in a Netflix commercial in 2003.

He appears in a commercial for Aftonbladet, advertising the tabloid being shipped with a free Sopranos DVD weekly in the 2009 period.

References

External links

http://www.hbo.com/sopranos/cast/character/paulie_walnuts.shtml

http://www.hbo.com/sopranos/fbifiles/paulie_walnuts.shtml

Category:The Sopranos characters Category:Fictional American people of Italian descent Category:Fictional mobsters Category:Fictional boxers Category:Fictional military personnel Category:Fictional mass murderers

es:Paulie Gualtieri fr:Paulie Gualtieri hr:Paulie Gualtieri it:Paulie Gualtieri pl:Paulie Walnuts pt:Paulie Gualtieri ro:Paulie Gualtieri sv:Lista över rollfigurer i Sopranos#Peter Paul "Paulie Walnuts" Gualtieri

{{infobox character | name	Furio Giunta
real name	Furio Giunta |
portrayer	Federico Castelluccio
creator	David Chase
alias	Mr. Williams
gender	Male
first	"Commendatori" ''(episode 2.04)''
last	"Eloise" ''(episode 4.12)''
occupation	Former master cheese maker at Nuovo Vesuvio Restaurant
title	Enforcer/Soldier in the Gualtieri crew of the DiMeo Crime Family, soldier in the Zucca Crime Family in Naples
spouse	none
children	none }}

Furio Giunta, played by Federico Castelluccio, is a fictional character on the HBO TV series ''The Sopranos''. He was an Italian mobster working for Tony Soprano.

Biography

Furio was one of two members of the DiMeo crime family born in Italy (the other being Michele "Feech" LaManna). Tony bargained with the Neapolitan Camorra mob boss Annalisa Zucca for Furio to come to New Jersey to work for him as part of an international car theft operation. This impulse to integrate Furio into his association emerged once he saw Furio beat a young boy for playing with firecrackers and consequently imitating the sound of gun shots. Tony Soprano saw that Furio had absolutely no inhibitions and a merciless wrath embedded by a sincere loyalty to his boss (Furio shields his boss with his own body when the firecrackers are first heard). In order to get Furio a visa, Tony got him a job as a mozzarella maker in the Nuovo Vesuvio Restaurant, enticing Artie Bucco with the idea that Tony will pay Furio's salary and he does not have to be on Vesuvio's payroll. Furio did not particularly excel at honest work, mainly because Artie imposed tougher standards on his kitchen workers than restaurants in Italy, such as hair nets and no smoking on duty. Upon his arrival in New Jersey, Furio became one of Tony's most feared enforcers, intimidating and beating up multiple people who owed Tony money as well as acting as Tony's driver and bodyguard, to the initial resentment of long time senior Soprano associate Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero.

Furio was an extremely loyal and dedicated soldier for his boss Tony, but he does not appear to have been a violent individual outside of that context. On the contrary, his personality was rather passive and sometimes even childlike, and he generally behaved in a very calm and polite manner. He spoke respectfully at all times and was not known to lose his temper, nor did he ever become entangled in rivalries within the Soprano crew. He also displayed a great deal of sentimentality and nostalgia when talking of his native land of Naples and his former employment working in the olive garden of a rich man. Before his employment with the Neopolitan mafia, The Camorra, he presumably worked as a master cheese maker. Furio was also known for his long hair, which he usually wore in a ponytail, and his penchant for elaborate, flashy silk shirts.

Season 2

Furio's first assignment was to extract payment from a massage parlor owner whose wife had convinced him to withhold payment. In an earlier visit Chris had acted in an intimidating manner and shoved a paintbrush dipped in paint into his nostril. Furio was a little less restrained - he fearlessly smashed up the place, and showed no hesitation in hitting the guests or the owner's wife. He then broke the owner's arm with a bat and shot him in the knee cap - all of which made a positive impression on Tony. He was also one of the few people to know that Richie Aprile was killed, as Tony tasked him and Christopher for assistance with dismembering his body at Satriale's. Furio made collections from low-level associates Matthew Bevilaqua and Sean Gismonte and was not above taking a cut of his own. Furio's grabbiness with Matt and Sean would cause problems later, as they are convinced they are being used by Tony, and then attempt shooting Christopher.

Season 3

Furio's role in the overall plot of season 3 is minor. Most notably, in Amour Fou, Furio is shot in the leg by Jackie Aprile, Jr. while he and his friends Dino Zerilli and Carlo Renzi were robbing Ralph Cifaretto's card game in an attempt to gain some recognition amongst the crime family and possibly get made. Because of his injury, Furio walks with a cane for the next episode (the finale of season 3), but is fine several months later when season 4 begins. In that episode, Furio accompanies Vito Spatafore when Vito hunts Jackie down and executes him.

Season 4

In the season 4 episode "Everybody Hurts", a sly Frenchman named Jean-Pierre Colbert cons Artie Bucco into temporarily lending him $50,000 dollars for a business investment back in France. Artie borrows the money from Tony Soprano but when Artie goes to Jean Pierre's apartment to collect the money, he claims he doesn't have it and doesn't know when he's going to "get it." Artie and Jean-Pierre scuffle briefly, but Artie leaves bruised and bloodied. Furio is later tasked with reclaiming Tony's assumed debt from Jean-Pierre Colbert, which he does.

Furio eventually began to fall in love with Tony's wife, Carmela, who also saw him as a dashing, sensitive man — Tony's polar opposite — but the two never truly became romantically entwined. Carmela tried to deflect her attraction by arranging dates for Furio. For a time, however, there was significant sexual tension between them. Carmela found excuses to visit Furio including assisting him in buying and decorating a house, and planning a house-warming party, but made sure she was never alone with him. At the house-warming they shared a sexually charged dance, Furio later claims he forgot his sunglasses at the Soprano house, just as a ploy to talk with Carmela.

When Furio's father died, he returned to Italy for the funeral. He sought the advice of his uncle, another Mafia member, telling him that Italy no longer felt like home and that he was in love with his boss's wife, feeling that they could truly communicate. His uncle made it clear he had to move on or kill his boss. Upon his return Furio withdrew from Carmela, presenting gifts to her children but not her. In the season 4 penultimate episode "Eloise", Furio witnesses Tony's infidelity first hand on a night out at a casino when Tony was dancing and being excessively flirtatious with a stripper. This enrages Furio to no end, as he thinks Carmela deserves better. A helicopter had been arranged to take them home and while Tony was urinating on the tarmac, Furio suddenly grabs him by his jacket and contemplates pushing Tony into the back rotor blades of the helicopter. "What the fuck you doin'?!" exclaimed Tony in a very inebriated voice. Furio comes to his sense and realizes his fate would ultimately be sealed if he were to murder his boss. Furio then pulls him away and plays it off by telling Tony "You were standing too close..." Fortunately, Tony was so intoxicated he only seemed slightly fazed and didn't seem to recall the incident the following day. Faced with the possibility of being killed by a vengeful Tony — and with ongoing thoughts of killing Tony himself — Furio packed up, moved back to Italy and disappeared. Carmela later went by Furio's house and stared in awe at the fact it was empty and for sale. Carmela was devastated, and eventually revealed her feelings for him in an argument with Tony, to which Tony replies "If certain men see him, he's a dead man". (This is one of the only times in the show that Tony explicitly concedes to Carmela that murder is part of his business). In Season 5, it is said that Tony has men looking for him in Italy. However, it is never stated whether Furio was found, as this is the last time anyone spoke of him on the show. Furio's fate ultimately remains unknown.

External links

HBO Profile: Furio Giunta

Category:The Sopranos characters Category:Fictional Italian people Category:Fictional mobsters Category:Fictional immigrants to the United States Category:Fictional characters introduced in 2000 fr:Furio Giunta hr:Furio Giunta it:Furio Giunta pl:Furio Giunta ro:Furio Giunta

real name	Anthony John Soprano
portrayer
creator	David Chase
gender	Male
first	"The Sopranos"
last	"Made in America"
date of death	(2007)
occupation	Crime boss, various business enterprises
title
alias	"Tony Uncle Johnny", "Ronald 'Big Ron' F. Spears", "Don Antonio", "Kevin Finnerty", "Mr. Petraglia", "Bada Bing" (FBI code name), "Skip", "T", "Ton" "Leadbelly"
family	Livia Soprano (mother), Johnny Boy Soprano (father), Ercoli Soprano (uncle), Junior Soprano (uncle), Quintina Blundetto (aunt), Janice Soprano (sister), Barbara Giglione (sister), Tony Blundetto (cousin)
spouse	Carmela Soprano (wife)
children	Anthony Soprano, Jr. (son), Meadow Soprano (daughter)
relatives	Hugh De Angelis (father-in-law), Mary De Angelis (mother-in-law), Christopher Moltisanti (cousin in-law), Bobby Baccalieri (brother-in-law), Bobby Baccalieri III (step-nephew), Sophia Baccalieri (step-niece), Domenica Baccalieri (niece)
religion	Roman Catholicism }}

Anthony John "Tony" Soprano, Sr. is an Italian-American fictional character and the protagonist on the HBO television drama series ''The Sopranos'', on which he is portrayed by James Gandolfini. The character was conceived by ''The Sopranos'' creator and show runner David Chase, who was also largely responsible for the character's story arc throughout the show's six seasons. Bobby Boriello portrayed Tony Soprano as a child in one episode and Danny Petrillo played the character as a teenager in three episodes. The character is loosely based on real-life New Jersey mobster Vincent "Vinny Ocean" Palermo (born 1944), who is a former caporegime (capo) and de facto street boss of the DeCavalcante crime family of New Jersey. The DeCavalante Family is widely considered to be the model for the Soprano family; some incidents that the DeCavalcantes were involved in have been incorporated into ''Sopranos'' scripts.

In the series, Tony begins as a capo in the DiMeo crime family during the first season. Between the first and second seasons, he is promoted to acting boss, a title he retains until the sixth season (his uncle Corrado "Junior" Soprano is the official boss up until early on in season 6, but has little or no actual power). Throughout the series, Tony struggles to balance the conflicting requirements of his "two families": his actual family—wife Carmela, daughter Meadow, son Anthony "A.J." Soprano, Jr., and mother Livia — and the criminal organization he heads. He also struggles with depression and is prone to panic attacks. Because of this, he seeks treatment from Dr. Jennifer Melfi in the show's first episode, and remains in therapy on and off up until the penultimate episode of the series.

Plot details

Early life

Tony was born on August 24, 1960, to Livia and "Johnny Boy" Soprano. He grew up living with his mother, father, and two sisters, Janice and Barbara, in the Ironbound neighborhood—known to locals as "Down Neck"—in Newark, New Jersey. His father was involved in crime, and Tony recalls some of his activities in flashbacks on the show. Tony's grandfather, Corrado Soprano Sr., was a master stonemason who emigrated from Avellino, Italy in 1910. He helped to build a church in Tony's old neighborhood in Newark. Tony takes his children there so he can tell them about their heritage and the value of hard work.

Bobby Boriello played Tony in the episode "Down Neck", in which Tony recalls childhood events relating to his realization that his father was involved in organized crime. He recalls how his father, "Johnny Boy" Soprano, used his older sister, Janice, as a cover for attending meetings with criminal associates at a children's amusement park. At the time, Tony thought Janice was his father's favorite child. In therapy, when asked to remember happy childhood memories about his mother, Tony struggles to come up with any, eventually recalling that he witnessed his father falling down the stairs, causing the whole family to laugh, even his mother; he later describes his mother as a cruel, joyless woman who wore his father down "to a little nub". Tony has a distant relationship with Janice, because she is always asking him for money and once tried to sell Livia's house by herself. Tony had to dispose of the body of Janice's re-acquainted boyfriend Richie Aprile, after Janice killed him.

Tony went to high school (school letters "WOHS", suggesting West Orange High School, were seen in the episode "The Test Dream") with Artie Bucco and Davey Scatino, and remains friends with them into adult life. He played baseball and football, and according to Sal Bonpensiero, he nearly made All-County. He met his future bride, Carmela DeAngelis, in high school. Tony was close to his cousin Tony Blundetto, and neighborhood kids called them Tony Uncle-Al and Tony Uncle-Johnny (after their fathers) to tell them apart.

In their teenage years, the two Tonys spent summers at their Uncle Pat Blundetto's farm—Pat was a soldier in the DiMeo organization. Blundetto was arrested for his part in a hijacking when the two Tonys were young men. Tony was supposed to join Blundetto on the job but failed to appear because of a panic attack; at the time, he told people he had been attacked and injured. Tony attended Seton Hall University for a semester and a half before dropping out to pursue a life of crime.

Tony was part of an unofficial crew of young criminals consisting of Silvio Dante, Ralph Cifaretto, and Jackie Aprile, Sr. Tony gained notoriety in the DiMeo crime family by robbing a card game run by Michele "Feech" La Manna along with Silvio and Jackie. From then on, he was on a fast track to becoming a made man. He committed his first murder in 1982 at the age of 22, killing a small-time bookie named Willie Overall. In season one Tony states that he knew Mafia boss John Gotti in the 1980s, but he may have been kidding.

His father shepherded Tony through his ascendancy until his death in 1986 from emphysema. When he died, Johnny Boy had risen to the level of captain of his own crew—as had his brother, Junior. Junior took over the paternal role and continued to advise and assist Tony. Tony remembers having to buy expensive dinners for Richie Aprile as a newly made man. Soldiers from Johnny Boy's crew, Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero and Paulie "Walnuts" Gualtieri, passed their loyalty on to Tony after Johnny Boy died. Tony then became acting capo of his father's old crew in 1986, making him the youngest capo in the family, at age 26. He was elevated to permanent capo in the late 1980s. His old friend, Silvio Dante, joined him as a soldier in his crew.

By 1995, Tony was a well-respected caporegime in the organization when the boss of the family, Ercole "Eckley" DiMeo, was sent to prison. Tony's longtime friend and fellow captain Jackie Aprile, Sr. took on the role of acting boss in December 1995. With DiMeo in prison, Aprile became the official "Street Boss" of the family.

Under Jackie's rule, the DiMeo Family was peaceful and prosperous until 1998, when Jackie was diagnosed with intestinal cancer; afterward, the family slowly descended into turmoil. With Jackie in and out of the hospital, and as such not able to fully run the family, Tony began to take on many of his duties, much to his Uncle Junior's chagrin.

For a time in early 1999, Jackie seemed cured and was back on the street as boss and the family's woes were eased. By late spring, however, he was back in the hospital and had begun chemotherapy treatments. With Tony's role in the family's operation increasing and disagreements, including Tony thwarting Junior's plot to kill "Little Pussy" Malanga in Artie Bucco's restaurant, tensions between Tony and Uncle Junior rose and reached an all-time high as Jackie's condition turned for the worse.

With Jackie's death in mid-1999, a crisis emerged as to who would run the family, and the soldiers and other captains began to prepare for all-out war within the family. Tony brought a quick end to the conflict by making Junior the official boss of the family. Junior would unknowingly act as the lightning rod for the feds, while Tony would run the family from behind the scenes as a de facto boss starting in 2000.

Narrated killings committed by Tony Soprano

Tony has personally committed eight murders in the show. Furthermore, as a Boss, he is responsible for the deaths of others killed on his orders. The eight known murders, all explicitly presented onscreen, were:

Willie Overall, shot and killed by Tony to "make his bones", or become a made man (1982).

Fabian "Febby" Petrulio, strangled by Tony for ratting out members of Paulie and Pussy's crew and joining the witness protection program (1999).

Chucky Signore, shot and killed by Tony for conspiring to kill him with Junior (1999).

Matthew Bevilaqua, killed by Tony and Big Pussy for attempting to kill Christopher Moltisanti (his cousin in-law) (2000).

Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero, executed by Tony, Silvio, and Paulie on a yacht, after they discovered that he was an FBI informant (2000).

Ralph Cifaretto, choked/bludgeoned to death in a fight over Ralph's supposedly killing of their prize-winning race horse "Pie-O-My" for insurance money. (2002).

Tony Blundetto, shot and killed by Tony with a shotgun for the unauthorized killings of Joe Peeps and Billy Leotardo, in order to spare him from being the subject of torture from Phil Leotardo in revenge for his brother's death (2004).

Christopher Moltisanti, suffocated by Tony after a major car accident (2007).

It is made clear that some of these murders leave Tony perplexed as to how to cope with the situation; most notably, after murdering Christopher Moltisanti, he feels a rush of relief for finally being rid of an associate whom he feels he can no longer trust. He has to "show the sad face" while the rest of the family grieves, but Tony reassures himself that Moltisanti's murder was necessary, despite the hurt caused to the family.

The murder of "Big Pussy" in "Funhouse" weighs heavily on Tony. He is at first tempted to spare his old friend, but in the end knows what his priorities are. In the years to follow, Tony—along with Silvio and Paulie—have haunting dreams of the murder of their friend.

Tony kills Ralph Cifaretto after their horse, Pie-O-My, dies amid suspicious circumstances in "Whoever Did This". Tony tries to confront Ralph about the situation but, after some heated words, Tony loses control and violently murders Ralph. Though no solid proof was found that the fire killing Pie-O-My was arson, Tony is convinced Ralph did it.

The murder of Matthew Bevilaqua was vengeance, an act that had to be carried out since the fact that Christopher was shot was a direct affront to him as Boss. Tony takes satisfaction in it, as it is revenge for an attempt on the life of one of his relatives.

The murder of his cousin, Tony Blundetto, is solely to save him from a far worse death if he were to fall into Phil's hands, and so that Tony does not lose his reputation as a Boss.

The murder of his nephew, Christopher Moltisanti, is done out of necessity; Moltisanti presents a threat to Tony's life and the New Jersey Mob. Christopher has been addicted to heroin, cocaine, and alcohol for many years and could not defeat his addiction in rehab. His addiction caused many problems for the family, especially for Tony. Additionally, Christopher's methods often violated the Mafia's code. When Tony was about to call 911 for help, he sees that a baby seat in the back seat of the SUV has been destroyed by a tree branch; he closes his phone and suffocates Christopher by holding his nose shut so he chokes to death on his own blood. Tony did not plan to murder Christopher but saw the opportunity after the car accident. After killing Christopher, Tony tries to discover whether other mobsters or family members had similar feelings; it seems that they do not. Tony is never suspected of this murder.

As a father

Tony has two children: Meadow Soprano and Anthony (A.J.) Soprano. He also treats Christopher Moltisanti, his wife's first cousin once removed, as a son in many ways.

Tony is often portrayed as a loving father—he attends his children's sporting events on a regular basis and does all he can to insure they have luxuries and opportunities. He hopes that both his children will escape the life of crime he has led. Tony takes great pride in Meadow's achievements. In Season 1, he is moved to tears by her performance at a choir recital. He often tells people about her aspiration to become a pediatrician.

He also sometimes alienates his children with his behavior. He has always tried to conceal his criminal life from them—something that Meadow saw through early on and A.J. also realized with guidance from his sister.

Tony's over-protectiveness of Meadow led to feuds between them on several occasions. For example, her first boyfriend at college was of part black heritage, and Tony's racism led him to try to drive him away. Meadow learned of her father's actions and did not speak to him for several months, eventually reconciling at Christmas in 2001.

Meadow's next boyfriend was Jackie Aprile, Jr., the son of Tony's old friend Jackie Aprile, Sr. Tony had promised Jackie Jr.'s father that he would try to keep his son on the straight path. Tony was initially pleased with the relationship, believing Jackie to be a hard-working pre-med student from a good family.

However, since his Uncle Richie's release from prison and subsequent death, Tony realized that Jackie had become more involved in the Mafia when he saw him at strip clubs and a casino. He eventually beat Jackie up to warn him about abusing his daughter's feelings and confiscated his gun. Jackie was killed by Vito for his involvement in a robbery at Christopher's and Furio's executive card game, and for shooting a made man, Furio. This drove Meadow to drinking and depression, although they'd broken up shortly before his death.

After Jackie's death, Tony accepts Meadow's college friends and gets along well with her fiancé, Finn, before the two separated under unrevealed circumstances.

When Meadow is out for dinner with her "mystery" boyfriend Patrick Parisi, New York mob member Coco walks up to the table and makes drunk remarks about her looks and how "Tony must love tucking you in at night". After taking advice from her mother, Meadow tells Tony, who hides his rage and says Coco is "harmless" and "an idiot". Tony then tracks down Coco and Butch DeConcini at John's Restaurant on East 12th Street in Manhattan. Tony viciously pistol-whips Coco several times with a snubnose revolver and warns Butch at gunpoint to shut up and remain seated at his table. After breaking off some of Coco's teeth with a curb stomp, Tony leaves the restaurant.

Tony's feelings toward his son are mixed; he worries about his future. From the beginning, Tony had doubts that his son could succeed him as Boss. His fears are confirmed as A.J. consistently demonstrates throughout the series that he lacks his father's cunning and dominating persona. Tony tells A.J. numerous times that he is proud that his son is gentle and kind. Tony was especially proud of A.J.'s prowess on the football field, even amid his failing grades in high school, but is frustrated with A.J.'s lack of focus after graduation.

After flunking out of Ramapo State, A.J. loafs around the house, parties, and for a time holds a job at Blockbuster, until his father, hoping to keep A.J. away from a life of crime, gets him a job working construction. There, A.J. meets Blanca, and in Tony's opinion, A.J. was doing well until he and Blanca broke up. Tony worries about A.J.'s depression, a 'rotten putrid gene' that Tony believes he passed down to his son.

Hoping to get A.J. back on track, Tony rekindles A.J.'s friendship with "the Jasons", sons of two of his associates, and A.J. seems to be doing better. With the help of a therapist and medication, A.J. is finally getting back to college, this time at Rutgers University, to take classes and party with girls as Tony believes every college kid should. This later turns sour after A.J. sees his new friends attack a Somalian student on a bike and he regresses into depression. A.J. tries to drown himself in a swimming pool, but decides he wants to live; he is unable to escape the pool, however. Tony hears his cries for help, and rescues him. After A.J. is released from a mental health ward, Tony and Carmela dissuade him from joining the Army, and convince him instead to become involved in a film bankrolled by Carmine Lupertazzi, Jr., with the possibility of opening his own club.

Interests and hobbies

Tony is an avid animal lover, and enjoys feeding the ducks which visit his pool. He has a sentimental attachment towards animals, as he had been traumatized by the loss of his childhood dog (as revealed in the episode "In Camelot"). In Christopher Moltisanti's intervention, when Tony hears Christopher accidentally suffocated Adrianna's dog, he went furious saying "I oughta suffocate you, you little prick!" He becomes involved in horse racing through his friend Hesh, who owns a stable, and invests in a racehorse named Pie-O-My. When his horse is killed in a fire – possibly set by Ralph Cifaretto – Tony is deeply upset and saddened. When informed by Carmela that a black bear has been foraging in his home's backyard while they were separated, during Season 5, he reacts with interest, rather than fear. During his stay in the hospital after his shooting, he can be seen reading a book about dinosaurs.

Tony is seen many times over the course of the show engaging in both freshwater and saltwater angling. His son Anthony Jr. frequently accompanies him on fishing outings. During the second season he presents his son with a Fenwick rod and a Penn International reel, both extremely high quality products. In the sixth season, while in Florida with Paulie, he rents a sport fishing boat. He is sometimes haunted by visions of Pussy Bonpensiero incarnated in the form of a fish – presumably a reference to the disposal of his body in the ocean. A Big Mouth Billy Bass novelty singing fish, brought into the Bada Bing by Georgie, recalled his nightmare and disturbed him greatly.

Tony enjoys sports, particularly baseball, football, basketball, golf, and horse racing. He played varsity baseball and football in high school, and is a fan of the New York Yankees and New York Jets. A large portion of his income is derived from illegal sports betting.

Tony is an amateur yachtsman and has owned two motor yachts over the course of the show – ''Stugots'' and ''Stugots II''. The name comes from the Southern Italian phrase ''stu cazz'' meaning "This dick," or in paraphrase "Fuck it."

Tony maintains an avid interest in history, particularly World War II. He is often shown watching programs on the History Channel about great leaders such as George Patton, Erwin Rommel, and Winston Churchill. He reads ''The Art of War'' by Sun Tzu, a work which is quoted by several other characters on the show, particularly Paulie Gualtieri.

Tony is often seen watching classic black and white films. Tony listens to classic rock and pop music, particularly of the 1960s and 70s. Over the course of the show he is seen to enjoy Jefferson Airplane, Eric Clapton, The Clash, Pink Floyd, Steely Dan, AC/DC, Rush, Eagles, The Lost Boys, Jethro Tull, Deep Purple and Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Van Morrison, Journey .

Like most of the mobsters in the series, Tony is shown to be partial to Cadillac and Lincoln vehicles. When discussing with Dr. Melfi a bizarre dream in which his penis fell off, he mentions that he went to the guy who used to "work on my Lincoln, when I drove Lincolns." For the first four seasons, Tony drives a burgundy 1999 Chevrolet Suburban LT 4x4, but in season 5, this has been replaced with a black Cadillac Escalade ESV. This black Escalade is totaled in an accident, and quickly replaced with a white Escalade ESV. Tony has this Escalade until the end of the series.

Extramarital affairs

Tony has a penchant for carrying on extramarital affairs. His wife Carmela seems to know about this and usually turns a blind eye, though sometimes the bottled-up tensions explode in domestic arguments – particularly at the end of Season 4, when Tony's affairs drive Carmela to separate from him. He typically has mistresses who he consistently sees for long periods of time, though he also has a number of brief one-night stands with strippers from the Bada Bing.

Tony has a strong preference for women of European, particularly Italian descent, with dark hair and eyes and exotic features. His mistresses have been, in chronological order, of Russian, Italian, Italian/Cuban, and Jewish descent. He favors dark features but also had a few brief flings with blond European women, including a Russian housekeeper and a stewardess from Icelandic Airways. He had one very short encounter with an Asian-American escort during "The Test Dream".

Mistresses:

Irina Peltsin – a young Russian woman who he sees consistently throughout the first two seasons. She is a severe alcoholic and frequently calls Tony's house when drunk, and when Janice hints that she knows that he is seeing her, he breaks off the relationship.

Gloria Trillo – an Italian-American Mercedes-Benz saleswoman with stylish tastes and exotic looks. Tony dates her throughout Season 3 after meeting her at Dr. Melfi's office. He eventually stops seeing her when she begins stalking him and calling his house. She commits suicide after the breakup.

Valentina La Paz – a beautiful art dealer of Italian and Cuban descent. Initially the mistress of Ralph Cifaretto, Tony dates her throughout Season 4. They share a love of horses, and she visits Pie-O-My at the stable with Tony. She accidentally sets her robe on fire in Season 5 while cooking eggs for Tony. Shortly thereafter he decides to get back together with Carmela, and he breaks up with Valentina while she is in the hospital recovering from second degree burns to her head, face, and arm. Their relationship ends on bad terms.

Julianna Skiff – a real estate developer of Jewish descent. She meets Tony in Season 6 when offering to buy a building that he owns, to be converted into a Jamba Juice. They later begin an affair, along with a business relationship, but never consummate their relationship sexually; Tony backs off and decides to be faithful to Carmela, who stuck with him after the shooting and seemed re-devoted to him. Julianna eventually dates Christopher Moltisanti and the two begin a very destructive, co-dependent drug habit; she is last seen attending Christopher's funeral service, where she mentions that they had split up.

Therapy

Tony has suffered from panic attacks, that sometimes cause him to lose consciousness, since his childhood. He has his first on-screen panic attack while cooking sausages at his son's birthday party—this occurs in a flashback in the pilot episode. Tony loses consciousness and causes a small explosion when he drops a bottle of lighter fluid onto the coals. Tony describes the experience of the panic attack as feeling like he had "ginger ale in his skull". This prompts him to seek help for the attacks. After extensive testing that includes an MRI scan and blood work no physical cause can be found, so Dr. Cusamano referred Tony to psychiatrist Dr. Jennifer Melfi.

Tony's therapy allows a discussion of his thoughts and feelings away from both aspects of his life—this forum for reaching into the character's thoughts has been described as a Greek chorus, and as a key for viewers to understand the character.

Tony was initially very resistant to the idea that there was a psychiatric cause for his symptoms. He resented being in therapy, and refused to accept the diagnosis of panic attacks given him by the neurologists who had investigated his illness. Tony begins to open up once Dr. Melfi explains the doctor-patient confidentiality rules. He tells her about the stress of his business life—he has a feeling that he has come in at the end of something, and describes a reverence for the glorified "old days" of the Mafia. Tony leaves out the violence associated with his criminal career. Tony tells Dr. Melfi a story about ducks landing in his pool. He describes his mother Livia, a cold, mean-spirited woman with whom he has an openly hostile relationship. By the end of the first session Tony has admitted that he feels depressed, but storms out when Dr. Melfi presses him further about the relationship between his symptoms and the ducks.

When the family visits Green Grove, a retirement community where Tony is trying to place his mother, Livia's derisive outburst prompts a second panic attack. Melfi prescribes Prozac as an anti-depressant, telling him that no one needs to suffer from depression with the wonders of modern pharmacology. Tony fails to attend their next scheduled session.

At their next session, Tony is still reluctant to face his own psychological weaknesses. Tony is quick to credit the medication for his improved mood, but Dr. Melfi tells him it cannot be that, as it takes six weeks to work—she credits their therapy sessions. Tony describes a dream where a bird steals his penis. Melfi extrapolates that Tony has projected his love for his family onto the family of ducks living in his pool. This brings him to tears, to his consternation. She tells him that their flight from the pool sparked his panic attack through the overwhelming fear of somehow losing his own family.

In the episode "46 Long", they continue discussing Tony's mother and her difficulties living alone. Tony admits that he feels guilty because his mother could not be allowed to live with his family. We learn that he has been left to care for his mother alone by his sisters. When Dr. Melfi asks him to remember good experiences from his childhood, he has difficulty. He blames Carmela for preventing his mother from living with them. Later they discuss Livia's car accident, and Melfi suggests depression may have contributed to the accident – Tony misunderstands her and becomes angry. Tony has a panic attack while visiting his mother's home after she moves to Green Grove. In a later session, Dr. Melfi pushes Tony to admit he has feelings of anger towards his mother, and he again storms out. During this episode Tony introduces the concept of him acting like the sad clown – happy on the outside but sad on the inside.

In "Denial, Anger, Acceptance", Tony discusses Jackie's cancer with Dr. Melfi. She tries to use it as an example of Tony's negative thinking contributing to his depression. Tony becomes angry and storms out. He feels she is trying to trick him and manipulate his thoughts using the pictures that decorate her office. After Jackie worsens and Tony is called a Frankenstein by a business associate, he returns to therapy to discuss these things with Dr. Melfi. She asks him if he feels like a monster.

In "Fortunate Son", Tony discusses a childhood memory of an early panic attack. He saw his father and uncle mutilate Mr. Satriale, the local butcher, and later fainted at a family dinner made with free meat from Satriale's shop. Dr. Melfi makes a connection between meat and Tony's panic attacks. She explores his mother's attitude to the fruits of his father's labor.

Later Dr. Melfi tries prescribing Lithium as a mood stabilizer. In the episode "Isabella", Tony sinks into a severe depressive episode and experiences hallucinations—he sees a beautiful Italian woman named Isabella in his neighbor's garden. Tony sees Isabella several times during the episode, and later learns that she never existed. Melfi theorizes that Isabella was an idealized maternal figure that Tony's subconscious produced because of he was deeply upset about his own mother's actions at the time.

In "I Dream of Jeannie Cusamano", Tony abruptly ends his therapy and persuades Dr. Melfi to go into hiding when he discovers that Uncle Junior has found out about their sessions.

The relationship between Tony and Dr. Melfi is up-and-down, with Tony reaching a level of comfort with Dr. Melfi that he has never experienced with anyone else before, not even his wife. This closeness leads Tony to have something of a "crush" on Dr. Melfi, something that is unattainable. However, the "prying" from Dr. Melfi is uncomfortable for Tony and he often turns sarcastic and antagonistic towards her, leading to an ongoing strain in their relationship. In the episode when Tony's sister, Janice, goes back to Seattle, it is revealed during a rushed conversation between Janice and Tony that their mother suffers from narcissistic personality disorder.

During the episode "The Second Coming", aired in part II of season six, Melfi's own therapist suggests to her that her work with Tony could be considered enabling toward Tony's sociopathic tendencies. Finally, in the penultimate episode of the series, "The Blue Comet", Melfi severs her relationship with Tony after reading research recommended by her own therapist that indicates sociopaths can use talk therapy to improve their skills in manipulating others, and use what is learned in therapy to become more capable criminals.

Shootings

In the first season, Tony is attacked by William Johnson "Petite" Clayborn and Rasheen Ray, two thugs sent by Donnie Paduana to execute Tony. Tony sustains an injury to his ear, which is partially shot off, and minor bruises and cuts from crashing his vehicle. One of the two assailants, Clayborn, is shot dead by Ray in an attempt to kill Tony, and Ray is left bruised, but runs off.

In the premiere of the sixth season, "Members Only", Junior Soprano, suffering from dementia, believes Tony to be "Little Pussy" Malanga, and shoots him in the abdomen. Tony dials 911 but loses consciousness before being able to tell the operator what happened.

The second episode of the sixth season, "Join the Club", Tony is in a medically-induced coma in the hospital. In the second and third episode the viewer sees Tony in a dream-like state, eventually arriving at what could be purgatory, where he is greeted by a man who takes the physical form of his late cousin Tony Blundetto. The shadowy figure in the doorway of the house has the profile of his mother, who is dead. The voice of a younger version of his daughter calls him back. At the end of the third episode, he awakes from his coma in a confused but stable state.

By the fourth episode, Tony is mobile and fully aware, and has regained his voice. Tony's attitude to life has changed by his near death experience. He has yet to discuss his experiences while unconscious with anyone close to him. However, in the Season 6 episode "Kaisha", he admits to Phil Leotardo (who had just suffered a heart attack), that while he was in a coma, he went to a place where he never wants to go again. While talking philosophy with John Schwinn, another patient at the hospital, he mentions that while in the coma he had the experience of being drawn towards somewhere he did not want to go and narrowly avoided it.

In the sixth episode of season 6, part 2, "Kennedy and Heidi", Tony sustains minor injuries in a car accident that seriously injures his nephew, Christopher Moltisanti. Tony suffocates Christopher after this accident. Tony was on bed rest for a few days and quickly recovered. Nonetheless, this gave his family quite a scare and a painful memory of his nearly fatal shooting the previous year.

===Dreams=== Tony sometimes has vivid dreams that are shown to the viewer. Episodes with dream sequences include "Pax Soprana", "Isabella", "Funhouse", "Everybody Hurts", "Calling All Cars", and "The Test Dream".

In the pilot, Tony tells Dr. Melfi about a dream he had wherein a screw in his belly button, when removed, causes his penis to fall off. He tries to find a car mechanic (who had worked on his Lincoln when Tony drove Lincolns) to put it back on, but a duck swoops down and snatches it from his hand.

In "Meadowlands", Tony has a dream that several people in his life are present in Dr. Melfi's office, which causes him to worry that people will find out he is seeing a psychiatrist. The dream ends with Tony confronting Melfi, only to find out he's speaking to his mother, Livia.

In "Pax Soprana", Tony has several dreams and fantasies about Dr. Melfi. He becomes convinced that he is in love with her, but she turns him down when he makes advances towards her.

In "Isabella", Tony, suffering from depression after Big Pussy disappears, acquaints himself with a dental student named Isabella who is staying in the Cusamano home while they are on vacation. He later discovers that he'd hallucinated Isabella due to taking too much lithium, and that Isabella represented the mother he never had.

In "Funhouse", an extended dream sequence exposes many of Tony's subconscious thoughts and feelings through symbolic and sometimes bizarre events: he attempts suicide to preempt a doctor's diagnosis of early death by dousing himself in gasoline and lighting himself on fire; he witnesses himself shooting Paulie "Walnuts" Gaultieri to death during a card game; he has an innuendo-laden conversation with his therapist Dr. Melfi while sporting a prominent erection; and a fish that speaks with the voice of Sal "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero confirms his suspicions that the longtime friend and soldier is a federal informant.

In "Everybody Hurts", Tony dreams of his ex-comaré Gloria Trillo shortly after learning of her suicide by hanging. He visits her apartment and finds her in a black dress with a black scarf around her neck. She is cooking dinner, and when she goes over to the oven the scarf drapes across Tony. Plaster falls down in front of Tony and when he looks up, he sees that the chandelier is almost pulled out of the ceiling. Gloria is suddenly back at the table and offers Tony a choice between seeing what she has under her dress or under her scarf. As she begins to peel away the scarf, Tony wakes up and makes his way to the bathroom for some medication.

In "Calling All Cars", Tony has two dreams featuring Ralph Cifaretto. In the first, he is being driven by Carmela in the back of his father's old car while Ralph sits in the passenger seat. There is a caterpillar crawling on the back of Ralph's head. Tony's fellow passenger in the back seat changes—Gloria Trillo and Svetlana Kirilenko are both seen. The caterpillar turns into a butterfly. Dr. Melfi later tells him that the dream signifies a change for Ralphie (recently killed by Tony) and Carmela being in control.

In the second dream, Tony follows Ralph to an old house, which Ralph enters. Tony is dressed in trousers, suspenders, and an undershirt. He knocks on the door and a female figure descends slowly in shadow; the door creaks ominously. Tony says he is there for the stonemason job but does not speak English well (Tony's grandfather was an immigrant stonemason). Just as Tony is about to enter the house, he wakes up.

In "The Test Dream", Tony comes to terms with having to kill his cousin Tony Blundetto. The episode reflects on his inner demons and fears, including his children's future, his relationship with his wife, his infidelities, deceased acquaintances—including some who have died by his hand or by his orders—his fate, and his relationship with his father. He is again shown in his father's old car, accompanied by a range of past associates.

In "Join the Club", a comatose Tony finds himself in an alternate universe where he is a law-abiding salesman on a business trip. Among other differences, his accent has changed and his hotel's bartender condescends him (in sharp contrast to the bartender at The Bing, who is a recurring punching bag for Tony). Tony has mistakenly taken another man's briefcase – Kevin Finnerty's – along with all of his identification and work. The episode follows his attempts to discern his identity, recover his briefcase, and get back to his family.

In "Kennedy and Heidi", a stressed Tony Soprano has a dream following the death of Christopher Moltisanti. In this dream, he tells his therapist that Christopher was a burden and that he is relieved that he was dead. After that he also tells her that he murdered Big Pussy and his cousin Tony Blundetto. Following the dream, he acts differently to his friends and family, trying to see if they also feel relieved now that Christopher is dead.

See also

The Sopranos

The Soprano family tree

Vincent Palermo

Michael Taccetta

Fat Tony

References

External links

HBO Character Profile: Tony Soprano

What happened to Tony Soprano in the end

Category:The Sopranos characters Category:Fictional American people of Italian descent Category:Fictional characters from New Jersey Category:Fictional businesspeople Category:Fictional mobsters Category:Fictional gamblers Category:Fictional characters introduced in 1999 Category:Fictional Republicans (United States) es:Tony Soprano fr:Tony Soprano hr:Tony Soprano it:Tony Soprano hu:Tony Soprano pl:Tony Soprano pt:Tony Soprano ro:Tony Soprano ru:Тони Сопрано fi:Tony Soprano sv:Lista över rollfigurer i Sopranos#Tony Soprano