Tony Soprano
Anthony John Soprano is a fictional character and the protagonist of the HBO crime drama television series The Sopranos, and portrayed by James Gandolfini. Soprano is a member of the Italian-American Mafia and, especially later in the series, acts as the boss of the fictional North Jersey DiMeo crime family (later called the Soprano family). Usually referred to as Tony, the character was conceived by Sopranos creator and showrunner David Chase, who was also largely responsible for the character's story arc throughout the show's six seasons. Gandolfini was ultimately cast in the role ahead of several other actors including Steven Van Zandt and Michael Rispoli. The character is loosely based on stories from and about an assortment of La Cosa Nostra figures and especially on real-life New Jersey mobsters Ruggerio "Richie the Boot" Boiardo, boss of the North Jersey Genovese crime family, and Vincent "Vinny Ocean" Palermo, a former caporegime and de facto boss of the DeCavalcante crime family.[1] Bobby Boriello and Mark Damiano II portrayed Tony Soprano as a child in one episode each and Danny Petrillo played the character as a teenager in three episodes. William Ludwig portrayed him as a child and James Gandolfini's son Michael Gandolfini portrayed a teenage version of the character in the 2021 prequel film The Many Saints of Newark.
"Anthony Soprano" redirects here. For his son, see A.J. Soprano.Tony Soprano
"The Sopranos" (1999)
The Many Saints of Newark (2021)
- James Gandolfini
- Michael Gandolfini (The Many Saints of Newark)
- Bobby Borriello (as a child)
- Mark Damiano II (as a child)
- Danny Petrillo (as a teenager)
- William Ludwig (The Many Saints of Newark, as a child)
Anthony John Soprano
Ronald "Big Ron" F. Spears
Don Antonio
Kevin Finnerty
Mr. Petraglia
Der Bingle (FBI codename)
T
Tone
Leadbelly
Tony Uncle Johnny
Skip
Mr. Fat Mouth
Tony-oni
Male
Caporegime (season 1)
de facto Boss (seasons 2–5)
Boss (season 6)
- Crime Boss
- Waste Management Consultant for Barone Sanitation
Irina Peltsin (seasons 1-2)
Gloria Trillo (season 3)
Svetlana (season 4)
Valentina la Paz (seasons 4-5)
Julianna Skiff (season 6)
- Meadow Soprano (daughter)
- Anthony Soprano Jr. (son)
- John Soprano (father)
- Livia Soprano (mother)
- Janice Soprano (sister)
- Barbara Giglione (sister)
- Corrado Soprano Jr. (uncle)
- Tony Blundetto (cousin)
- Hugh DeAngelis (father-in-law)
- Mary DeAngelis (mother-in-law)
- Christopher Moltisanti (cousin-in-law)
Casting[edit]
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, ultimately receiving the role ahead of several other actors due to his large stature and acting abilities.[4][5]
Anthony LaPaglia was interested in the role but due to his Broadway production and the decision not to go with Fox, he was not considered further.[5] Series creator David Chase invited Steven Van Zandt, who was a guitarist in Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, to audition for the role of Tony Soprano.[5] Van Zandt, who had never acted before, felt that the role should go to an experienced actor, so Chase wrote him into a part that did not exist—as Silvio Dante.[6][5][7][8][9] Michael Rispoli, who played Jackie Aprile, the ailing boss of the DiMeo family in the first four episodes of the series, was also very close to being cast as Tony Soprano.[5]
In the pilot, Tony was named Tommy—an homage to the character played by James Cagney in The Public Enemy, Tom Powers, but the clearance on naming the character Tom was never given.[10] The name "Tony Soprano" came from a family friend that Chase had named Toby Soprano.[11]
As methods to focus anger into his performances, Gandolfini said he would deliberately hit himself on the head, stay up all night to evoke the desired reaction, drink several cups of coffee, or walk around with a rock in his shoe.[12]
Fictional character biography[edit]
Early life[edit]
Tony Soprano was born in 1959 (1955 in The Many Saints of Newark) to Livia and Johnny Soprano.[13] His father was a caporegime in the DiMeo crime family. Tony grew up living with his parents and two sisters, Janice and Barbara, in the old First Ward neighborhood of Newark, New Jersey. Tony's paternal grandfather, Corrado Soprano, was from Avellino, Italy, and immigrated to the United States in 1911. He was a master stonemason who helped to build a church in Tony's old neighborhood.[14]
In adulthood, Tony recalls how Johnny used Janice as a cover for attending meetings with criminal associates at a children's amusement park, leading him to assume she 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; he later describes his mother as a cruel, joyless woman who wore his father down "to a little nub" and who seemed to delight in threatening her children.
Tony has a troubled relationship with Janice, due to her flighty and impulsive nature, which leads to her constantly relying on him for financial and emotional support. Their bond is further complicated in adulthood when she murders her boyfriend, Richie Aprile, one of Tony's subordinates, for striking her during a domestic dispute, leading to her calling on Tony for assistance in disposing of his body.
In high school, Tony met his future wife, Carmela DeAngelis, and became friends with Artie Bucco and Davey Scatino. He was also close to his maternal cousin Tony Blundetto. Their mutual relatives called them Tony-Uncle-Al and Tony-Uncle-Johnny (after their fathers) to tell them apart, although Tony Soprano and his friends would take to calling Blundetto "Tony B". The two Tonys spent summers at the farm of their uncle Pat Blundetto, a former DiMeo soldier allowed to retire from the Mafia due to chronic illness.
When they were in their early twenties, Tony Blundetto was arrested for his part in a hijacking; Tony Soprano was supposed to join him on the job but failed to appear because of a panic attack after an argument with his mother, which resulted in his blacking out and suffering a head injury. For years after, Tony Soprano claimed that he had sustained the injury during a mugging, a story he maintained to allay his guilt. As a young adult, he 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 childhood friends Silvio Dante, Ralph Cifaretto and Giacomo "Jackie" Aprile, Sr. He and Jackie gained notoriety in the DiMeo family by robbing a card game run by Feech La Manna. Ralph was left out of the plan due to debilitating pain from a venereal disease, leading to a lifelong animosity between the two. Under the tutelage of his father's friend Paulie "Walnuts" Gualtieri, Tony committed his first murder in 1982, killing a small-time bookie named Willie Overall. Following the murder, Paulie became Tony's mentor in the Mafia, with Paulie eventually settling into a role as Tony's own capo.
Johnny shepherded Tony through his ascendancy until his death in 1986 from emphysema. When he died, Johnny had risen to the level of capo of his crew, as had his older brother, Junior. Junior took over as Tony's mentor, with parental figures Paulie and Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero passing their loyalty to Tony upon his father's death, while Silvio joined the crew. Tony became acting capo of his father's old crew, a position which eventually became permanent.
In 1995, Jackie became acting boss after Ercole "Eckley" DiMeo was sent to prison. The family was prosperous under Jackie's rule until 1998 when he was diagnosed with intestinal cancer. With Jackie's death in mid-1998,[15] a succession crisis between Tony and Junior reached a point where a war within the family appeared imminent. However, Tony brought a quick end to the conflict by endorsing Junior as the official boss of the family. Unbeknownst to Junior, Tony secretly struck a deal with the rest of the family to be the true boss, allowing Junior to believe that he is in power and act as a distraction for the FBI.
Narrated killings committed by Tony Soprano[edit]
Tony personally committed eight murders during the show. As a boss, he was responsible for the deaths of others killed on his orders. The eight known murders, all explicitly presented onscreen, were:
Legacy and cultural impact[edit]
The character of Tony Soprano was the first likable "antihero" character in television.[17] Playwright Craig Wright stated, "A show like The Sopranos has a soothing quality because ultimately there's an unspoken assumption behind it that even the most monstrous people are haunted by the same concerns we're haunted by."[18] Tony Soprano quickly became a pop culture icon during the show's run. In an article for the Los Angeles Times, Chris Lee referred to Tony Soprano as a "cultural sensation" who became the "unlikeliest of sex symbols." On the importance of Gandolfini's performance, Lee stated: "He forever rejiggered television's fascination with morally challenged antiheroes and less-than-physically-perfect protagonists."[19]
The Globe and Mail wrote, "Women made Tony Soprano an unlikely sex symbol – and the men found him no less seductive. Wish fulfillment has always been at the queasy heart of the mobster genre, the longing for a life outside the bounds of convention, mingled with the conflicted desire to see the perpetrator punished for the same transgression. So it was for the fictional men of the straight world on The Sopranos, who were drawn to Tony's flame with consistently disastrous results. Likewise for viewers, for whom a life of taking, killing, and sleeping with whomever and whatever one wants had an undeniable, if conflict-laden, appeal."[18]
The final scene of "Made in America" became the subject of much discussion, controversy, and analysis after its original broadcast; however, Chase consistently refused to give any definitive answers.[20][21] The use of an abrupt cut to black followed by several seconds of silence led many viewers to initially believe that their cable or DVR had cut out at a crucial moment.[22] Opposing interpretations soon emerged among viewers regarding the ultimate fate of Tony, with some believing that he was killed while others believed that he remained alive.[23][24] During a November 2021 interview with Hollywood Reporter, Chase made comments which seemed to confirm Tony Soprano was killed at the end of the final episode.[11]
Following Gandolfini's death on June 19, 2013, his portrayal of Tony Soprano was praised for its influence on subsequent other TV characters. TV Guide columnist Matt Roush stated, "Without Tony, there's no Vic Mackey of The Shield, no Al Swearengen of Deadwood, no Don Draper of Mad Men (whose creator, Matthew Weiner, honed his craft as a writer on The Sopranos)." Similar testimonials were included by his co-stars and colleagues; Bryan Cranston stated that his Breaking Bad character, Walter White, would not have existed without Tony Soprano.[25] Mark Lawson of The Guardian praised Gandolfini for his "towering central performance" as Tony Soprano, writing: "The Sopranos was part of a wave of American TV dramas that finally persuaded cineastes and critics who had been snobbish and dismissive about television as a medium to accept the smaller screen as an artistic equivalent of the larger one. Although many of those who watched and wrote about TV had got this message much earlier, the remarkable and sustained range of Gandolfini's portrayal of Tony Soprano played a major part in ending any remaining inferiority complex about the medium."[26]
Gandolfini's son, Michael, was cast in 2019 for the 2021 film The Many Saints of Newark to play a young Tony Soprano, as a prequel to the show.[27] Michael, having never watched The Sopranos, watched through it to prepare for the role, describing it as an intense process.[28]