- published: 23 Sep 2013
- views: 18255
Genaro Anthony "Tony" Sirico, Jr. (born 1942) is an American character actor who is most famous for his role as Paulie Gualtieri in the television series The Sopranos.
Sirico was born in Midwood, Brooklyn. Sirico has played gangsters in a number of films, including Goodfellas, Mob Queen, Gangsters, Love and Money, Fingers, The One Man Jury, Defiance, The Last Fight, Innocent Blood, Bullets Over Broadway, The Pick-up Artist, Mighty Aphrodite, Gotti, Cop Land, Turn of Faith, and Mickey Blue Eyes. He also played policemen in the films Dead Presidents and Deconstructing Harry. Recently, he told the host of a Las Vegas radio show he would be playing the role of an ill-tempered high school football coach in an upcoming comedy for kids called Sports Heaven. He is currently set to star in the upcoming drama Zarra's Law, written and produced by Joseph Scarpinito for Scarpe Diem Productions.
Before turning to acting, Sirico was reportedly a fast-rising mob associate of the Colombo crime family, serving under Carmine "Junior" Persico, and had been arrested 28 times. There is a Sopranos reference to this fact when Paulie says, "I lived through the seventies by the skin of my nuts when the Colombos were goin' at it." In 1967, he was sent to prison for robbing a Brooklyn after-hours club, but was released after serving thirteen months. In 1971, he pled guilty to felony weapons possession and was sentenced to an "indeterminate" prison term of up to four years, of which Sirico ended up serving 20 months. In an interview in Cigar Aficionado magazine, Sirico said that during his imprisonment, he was visited by an acting troupe composed of ex-cons, which inspired him to give acting a try. According to a court transcript, at the time of his sentencing, he also had pending charges for drug possession. Sirico appeared in a 1989 documentary about life, The Big Bang by James Toback, in which he discussed his earlier life.
Tony Danza (born Antonio Salvatore Iadanza, April 21, 1951) is an American actor best known for starring on the TV series Taxi and Who's the Boss?, for which he was nominated for an Emmy Award and four Golden Globe Awards. In 1998, Danza won the People's Choice Award for Favorite Male Performer in a New Television Series for his work on the 1997 sitcom The Tony Danza Show.
Danza was born in Brooklyn, New York, to parents Anne Cammisa Iadanza (1925–1993) and Matty Iadanza (1920–1983), both of whom died from cancer. Matty Iadanza worked as a garbage man in Brooklyn. Danza's family was of Italian ancestry. He has a younger brother, Matty Jr. (born 1954), a Los Angeles restaurant owner. When Danza was 14, he and his family relocated to Malverne, New York on Long Island. Danza attended Malverne High School, graduating in 1968. In the first episode of his show "Teach: Tony Danza", Danza describes himself as a "bad student" in high school. Danza earned a bachelor's degree in history in 1972 from the University of Dubuque, which he attended on a wrestling scholarship. It was during his first year of college that he got the Robert Crumb Keep on Truckin' tattoo on his upper right arm. In a 1985 interview in Us Weekly magazine, Danza remarked, "I was playing pool with a guy who had all these tattoos, and I wanted to be friends." Danza sports a "Keep Punching" boxing gloves tattoo on his right shoulder. In college, Danza met and married his first wife. Danza was a professional boxer with a 9-3 record, with all of his fights, wins and losses, ending by knockout.
David Michael Letterman (born April 12, 1947) is an American television host and comedian. He hosts the late night television talk show, Late Show with David Letterman, broadcast on CBS. Letterman has been a fixture on late night television since the 1982 debut of Late Night with David Letterman on NBC. Letterman recently surpassed friend and mentor Johnny Carson for having the longest late-night hosting career in the United States of America.
Letterman is also a television and film producer. His company Worldwide Pants produces his show as well as its network follow-up The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. Worldwide Pants has also produced several prime-time comedies, the most successful of which was Everybody Loves Raymond, currently in syndication.
In 1996, David Letterman was ranked #45 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time.
Letterman was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. His father, Harry Joseph Letterman (April 1915 – February 1973), was a florist of British descent; his mother Dorothy Letterman (née Hofert, now Dorothy Mengering), a Presbyterian church secretary of German descent, is an occasional figure on the show, usually at holidays and birthdays.