Michael Imperioli
Michael Imperioli (Italian: [impeˈrjɔːli]; born March 26, 1966) is an American actor, writer and director, best known for his role as Christopher Moltisanti in the HBO crime drama The Sopranos (1999–2007), which earned him the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 2004. He gained recognition in the early part of his career for his role as Spider in Martin Scorsese's 1990 film Goodfellas. Imperioli's other television work includes roles as Nick Falco in the drama series Law & Order, Ray Carling in the U.S. version of Life on Mars, and Louis Fitch in the ABC police drama Detroit 1-8-7. He has also had supporting roles in films such as Shark Tale (2004) and The Lovely Bones (2009).
Michael Imperioli | |
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![]() Imperioli in 2007 | |
Born | Mount Vernon, New York, U.S. | March 26, 1966
Occupation | Actor, writer, director |
Years active | 1985–present |
Spouse(s) | Victoria Chlebowski (m. 1995) |
Children | 3 |
Imperioli wrote and directed his first feature film, The Hungry Ghosts, in 2008. In 2015, he starred Mad Dogs, a dark-comic thriller television series released on Amazon's Prime Video streaming platform.
Early life
Imperioli was born in Mount Vernon, New York, on March 26, 1966. His grandparents were Italians from Lazio and Calabria. He is the son of Dan Imperioli, a bus driver and amateur actor,[1] and Claire Imperioli, an amateur actress.
Career
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Imperioli has been nominated for two Golden Globe Awards as well as for five Emmy Awards for his work as Christopher Moltisanti on The Sopranos; he won one Emmy for the show's fifth season in 2004.[2]
In addition to his role on The Sopranos, Imperioli has appeared in a number of films, including Goodfellas, Jungle Fever, Bad Boys, Malcolm X, The Basketball Diaries, Clockers, Dead Presidents, Girl 6, My Baby's Daddy, Lean on Me, I Shot Andy Warhol, Last Man Standing, Shark Tale, High Roller: The Stu Ungar Story, and Summer of Sam, which he also co-wrote and co-produced. He also wrote five episodes for The Sopranos.[3]
He served as artistic director of Studio Dante,[4] an Off-Broadway theater he formed with his wife. He is also the lead singer/guitarist for a rock band named La Dolce Vita.[5] He makes a brief appearance in the video for the 1983 hit 'Shiny Shiny' by British performance group Haysi Fantayzee.[6] Imperioli is an active member of The Jazz Foundation of America and co-hosted their May 2009 annual benefit concert, "A Great Night in Harlem", at the Apollo Theater, which celebrated the foundation's 20th anniversary.[7] He was a guest on episode MB2E08 ("San Giuseppe") of Mario Batali's Food Network television show Molto Mario. In 2010, Imperioli signed on to play the lead in the ABC TV show Detroit 1-8-7.[8] Working with the writer Gabriele Tinti, he wrote the text Pride for Tinti's book New York Shots, and participated in a reading of The Way of the Cross at the Queens Museum of Art in 2011.
He won the "Tournament of Stars" competition on the cooking show Chopped in 2014, sending $50,000 to his designated charity the Pureland Project, an organization which builds and maintains schools in rural Tibet. In 2016, he guest starred as the angel Uriel on the Fox show Lucifer.[9]
On March 13, 2019, Imperioli was cast in the lead role of Rick Sellitto in NBC drama series Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector.[10] Imperioli began hosting a podcast alongside Steve Schirripa called Talking Sopranos, which began on April 6, 2020, where the two provide inside info as they follow The Sopranos series episode by episode.[11][12] In July, 2020, he hosted a show on NTS Radio called 632 ELYSIAN FIELDS, which was inspired by A Streetcar Named Desire.[13] By September 2020, the podcast had reached over five million downloads.[14] On September 17, 2020, Imperioli and Schirripa signed a deal with HarperCollins book imprint William Morrow and Company to write an oral history of the show.[14] In September 2020, Imperioli provided narration for The Whistleblower, a podcast about the 2007 NBA betting scandal.[15]
Personal life
Imperioli has been married to Victoria Chlebowski since 1995, lives in Santa Barbara, California, and has three children. He and his family are avid practitioners of Tae Kwon Do.[16] In 2008, Imperioli became a Buddhist.[17]
Filmography
Film
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1989 | Alexa | Acid Head | |
Lean on Me | George | ||
1990 | Goodfellas | Spider | |
Jacob's Ladder | Doctor | Uncredited | |
1991 | Jungle Fever | James Tucci | |
1992 | Fathers & Sons | Johnny | |
Malcolm X | Reporter at Fire Bombing | ||
1993 | The Night We Never Met | Dry Cleaning Costumer #1 | |
Joey Breaker | Larry Metz | ||
Household Saints | Leonard Villanova | ||
1994 | Scenes from the New World | Billy | |
Touch Base | Bennie | ||
Hand Gun | Benny | ||
Men Lie | N/A | ||
Amateur | Doorman at Club | ||
Post Cards from America | The Hustler | ||
1995 | The Addiction | Missionary | |
Trouble | Ellis | Short film | |
Bad Boys | Jojo | ||
The Basketball Diaries | Bobby | ||
Clockers | Detective 'Jo-Jo' | ||
Flirt | Michael | ||
Dead Presidents | D'ambrosio | ||
1996 | Girls Town | Anthony | |
Blixa Bargeld Stole My Cowboy Boots | Johnny | ||
Sweet Nothing | Angelo | ||
Girl 6 | Scary Caller #30 | ||
I Shot Andy Warhol | Ondine | ||
Trees Lounge | George | ||
Last Man Standing | Giorgio Carmonte | ||
1997 | A River Made to Drown In | Allen Hayden | |
The Deli | Matty | ||
Office Killer | Daniel Birch | ||
Under the Bridge | N/A | ||
1999 | Too Tired to Die | Fabrizio | |
On the Run | Albert DeSantis | ||
Summer of Sam | Midnight | Also writer and executive producer | |
2000 | Auto Motives | Stud | |
2002 | Love in the Time of Money | Will | |
2003 | High Roller: The Stu Ungar Story | Stu Ungar | |
2004 | My Baby's Daddy | Dominic | |
Shark Tale | Frankie | Voice role | |
2007 | The Inner Life of Martin Frost | Jim Fortunato | |
The Lovebirds | Vincent | ||
Oprah Winfrey Presents: Mitch Albom's For One More Day | Charley "Chick" Benetto | ||
2008 | Stóra Planið | Alexander | |
2009 | Hungry Ghosts | N/A | Director and writer Nominated—International Film Festival Rotterdam - Tiger Award |
The Lovely Bones | Detective Len Fenerman | ||
2010 | Love & Distrust | Stud | |
2011 | Stuck Between Stations | David | |
2013 | The Call | Alan Denado | |
Oldboy | Chucky | ||
2014 | Foreclosure | Bill Landopolous | |
The Scribbler | Moss | ||
Cantinflas | Michael Todd[18][19] | ||
2015 | The Wannabe | Alphonse | |
2018 | Cabaret Maxime | Bennie Gazza | |
2019 | The Last Full Measure | Jay Ford | |
Primal | Paul Freed | ||
2020 | One Night in Miami | Angelo Dundee |
Television
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1994 | NYPD Blue | Duane Rollins | Episode: "Dead and Gone" |
1996 | Law & Order | Johnny Stivers | Episode: "Atonement" Credited as Michael Imperiola |
1997 | New York Undercover | Miles Gordon | Episode: "The Last Hurrah" |
Firehouse | Lt. O'Connell | Television movie | |
1998 | Witness to the Mob | Louie Milito | Television movie |
1999–2007 | The Sopranos | Christopher Moltisanti | 80 episodes; also wrote 5 episodes Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (2004) Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series (1999, 2007) Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film (2002, 2004) Nominated—Golden Nymph Award for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series (2008) Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (2001, 2003, 2006-2007) Nominated—PRISM Award for Best Performance in a Drama Series (2003) Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series (2000-2002, 2004, 2006) |
2002 | Disappearing Acts | Vinney | Television movie |
2004 | The Five People You Meet in Heaven | Captain | Television movie |
2005–2006 | Law & Order | Nick Falco | 5 episodes |
2006 | The Simpsons | Dante, Jr. (voice) | Episode: "The Mook, the Chef, the Wife and Her Homer" |
2008–2009 | Life on Mars | Detective Ray Carling | 17 episodes |
2010 | Mercy | Harold Pindus | Episode: "We're All Adults" |
The Secret Life of the American Teenager | Dr. Wattabi | Episode: "The Sound of Silence" | |
2010–2011 | Detroit 1-8-7 | Detective Louis "Lou" Fitch | 18 episodes |
2012 | Girls | Powell Goldman | Episode: "Leave Me Alone" |
The Godfather Legacy | Narrator | Voice Television documentary | |
40 | Unknown | Pilot | |
2013 | The Office | Sensei Billy | Episode: "Livin' the Dream" |
2014 | Californication | Rick Rath | 11 episodes |
Rake | Alberto Rinaldi | Episode: "Bigamist" | |
Chopped | Himself | 2 episodes | |
2015–2016 | Mad Dogs | Lex | 10 episodes |
2015 | Saint Francis | Francis Quinlan | Pilot |
2015–2018 | Hawaii Five-0 | Odell Martin | 4 episodes |
2016–2017 | Lucifer | Uriel | 2 episodes |
2016 | Blue Bloods | Deputy Attorney General Robert Lewis | 2 episodes |
2017 | Dice | Himself | Episode: "Fingerless" |
2018 | Alex, Inc. | Eddie | 10 episodes |
Escape at Dannemora | Andrew Cuomo | Episode: "Part 7" | |
2019 | Watchmen | Video Testimonial Man | Uncredited Episode: "Little Fear of Lightning" |
2019–2020 | Project Blue Book | Edward Rizzuto | 3 episodes |
2020 | Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector | Rick Sellitto | 10 episodes |
References
- "Michael Imperioli Biography (1966?-)". Filmreference.com. Retrieved March 1, 2014.
- Weinraub, Bernard (September 20, 2004). "HBO Is Big Winner at Emmy Awards". The New York Times. Retrieved June 20, 2013.
- Collins, Simon (May 26, 2019). "Sopranos star Michael Imperioli breaks code of silence on the mafia hit that rewrote TV's rules". The West Australian. Retrieved May 26, 2019.
- Buckley, Cara; Thomas J. Lueck (September 5, 2007). "Pipe Bomb Shatters the Night Outside a Theater Owned by a 'Sopranos' Actor". The New York Times. Retrieved February 18, 2011.
- "Michael Imperioli's band 'La Dolce Vita' performing at Don Hills New York City 2007". erikremec.com. Retrieved June 14, 2012.
- "Haysi Fantayzee - Shiny Shiny (Official Video)". Youtube. Retrieved February 19, 2019.
- Jazz, All About. "All About Jazz". Archived from the original on January 17, 2013.
- "Michael Imperioli Nabs Lead in ABC Drama Pilot". TVGuide.com. Retrieved March 1, 2014.
- Prudom, Laura (August 8, 2016). "'Lucifer' Adds Michael Imperioli as Angel Uriel for Season 2, 'Gotham' Hopes to Tackle Harley Quinn". Variety. Retrieved August 8, 2016.
- Petski, Denise (March 13, 2019). "Michael Imperioli To Star In 'Lincoln', NBC Pilot Based On 'The Bone Collector' Books". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved November 9, 2019.
- "'Talking Sopranos' Podcast Launching In April With Series Stars Michael Imperioli & Steve Schirripa". deadline.com. February 28, 2020.
- "Talking Sopranos". Apple Inc. April 6, 2020. Retrieved April 11, 2020.
- Radio, N. T. S. "Michael Imperioli 8th July 2020". NTS Radio. Retrieved July 8, 2020.
- "'Talking Sopranos' Duo Michael Imperioli And Steve Schirripa Score Book Deal With William Morrow". deadline.com. September 17, 2020.
- Ho, Rodney; Journal-Constitution, The Atlanta. "'Whistleblower' podcast digs into NBA referee scandal: fixing games, conspiracy and the Mafia". ajc. Retrieved October 26, 2020.
- DOBNIK, VERENA (January 28, 2007). "Imperioli: Tae Kwon Do Changed His Life" – via washingtonpost.com.
- "Michael Imperioli talks the mob, menopause, and his film 'The M Word'". ew.com. April 30, 2014.
- "Cantinflas". September 18, 2014 – via IMDb.
- México, El Universal, Compañia Periodística Nacional. "Explotará en Californication".
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Michael Imperioli. |
- Michael Imperioli at IMDb
- Bio and photo of Michael Imperioli — Crain's New York Business 40 under 40 — 2005