James Gandolfini

Executive produced the HBO documentary on the Iraq War, Alive Day Memories: Home From Iraq ; the film features Gandolfini interviewing numerous disabled veterans

Played a homicide detective in Lonely Hearts, which is based on the true story the notorious Lonely Hearts Killers of the 1940s

Cast in Steven Zaillian s big-screen adaptation of the Robert Penn Warren novel All the King s Men

Cast opposite Kate Winslet, as a two-timing husband who must choose between his mistress and his beleaguered wife in Romance & Cigarettes, helmed by John Turturro (film released theatrically in 2007)

Reprised his role in Be Cool the sequel to the 1995 hit Get Shorty

Co-starred with Ben Affleck and Christina Applegate in the comedy Surviving Christmas

Played a cheating husband in the Coen brothers film noir The Man Who Wasn t There

Portrayed a hit man with a sensitive side in The Mexican

Appeared as a pornographer in Joel Schumacher s 8mm

Became a bona fide star and unlikely sex symbol as Tony Soprano, a gangster having a midlife crisis, in the acclaimed HBO drama The Sopranos ; received Emmy (1999, 2004, 2007), Golden Globe (2001, 2002, 2003) and SAG (2001, 2002, 2005, 2007) nominations for Best Actor

Featured as a concerned parent in A Civil Action starring John Travolta

Delivered a memorable turn as a drunkenly abusive neighbor in She s So Lovely

Featured in the L.A. stage play Remembrance ; produced by Sean Penn and starring Penn s parents Leo Penn and Eileen Ryan

Reteamed with Lumet for Night Falls on Manhattan

TV movie debut as Juror Number 6 in the Showtime remake of 12 Angry Men

Supported Alec Baldwin and Demi Moore in The Juror

Cast as the supply officer in Tony Scott s Crimson Tide

Played a stuntman in Get Shorty opposite John Travolta

Returned to Broadway as Charley Malloy in the ill-fated stage adaptation of On the Waterfront

First leading role, as the title character s plumber beau in Angie opposite Geena Davis

Breakthrough film role as the hitman Virgil in True Romance directed by Tony Scott

Cast as John Cusack s brother in Money for Nothing

Broadway debut playing Steve Hubbell in the revival of A Streetcar Named Desire ; also starring Alec Baldwin and Jessica Lange

Film debut, A Stranger Among Us ; first collaboration with Sidney Lumet

Acted in off-off- and off-Broadway productions

Born and raised in New Jersey

Stage acting debut in Big El s Best Friend

Taken by a friend to an acting class in the late 1980s

Worked various jobs, including as a bouncer, nightclub manager and truck driver