Michael Imperioli
Michael Imperioli (born March 26, 1966)[1] is an American actor, writer, and musician. He is 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 Goodfellas (1990). He has had supporting roles in films such as Jungle Fever (1991), Bad Boys (1995), The Basketball Diaries (1995), Shark Tale (2004) and The Lovely Bones (2009), as well as in the HBO drama series The White Lotus (2021–present).
Michael Imperioli | |
|---|---|
Imperioli in 2007 | |
| Born | March 26, 1966 Mount Vernon, New York, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Actor, writer, musician |
| Years active | 1985–present |
| Spouse | Victoria Chlebowski (m. 1996) |
| Children | 3 |
Imperioli is also a screenwriter, co-writing the screenplay for Summer of Sam (1999) with Spike Lee, writing five episodes of The Sopranos, and writing as well as directing the feature film The Hungry Ghosts (2008).
Early life
Imperioli was born in Mount Vernon, New York, a working class suburb of New York City. He is the son of Dan Imperioli, a bus driver and amateur actor, and Claire Imperioli, a department store worker and amateur actress.[2][3] His ancestors immigrated to New York from Italy in the 1890s, from Lazio and Sicily.[4] At age 11, Imperioli and his family moved to Brewster, New York, and in high school he began watching Broadway plays.[2] After graduating from Brewster High School in 1983,[5] Imperioli planned on studying pre-med at the State University of New York at Albany. The night before he was set to begin college he confided in his parents of his desire to be an actor. At age 17, Imperioli moved to Manhattan's East Village enrolling at Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute to study acting. While at Lee Strasberg, he met John Ventimiglia who later portrayed Artie Bucco on The Sopranos, and the two became roommates.[2][3]
Career
Imperioli has been nominated for two Golden Globe Awards and five Emmy Awards for his work as Christopher Moltisanti on The Sopranos. He won one Emmy for the fifth season of The Sopranos in 2004.[6]
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.[7]
Imperioli served as artistic director of Studio Dante,[8] an Off-Broadway theater he formed with his wife. He 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.[9] He was a guest on the "San Giuseppe" episode of Mario Batali's Food Network television show Molto Mario. In 2010, Imperioli signed on to play the lead in the ABC television show Detroit 1-8-7.[10] 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.
Imperioli 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.[11]
On March 13, 2019, Imperioli was cast in the lead role of Rick Sellitto in the NBC drama series Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector.[12] Imperioli co-hosts a podcast with Steve Schirripa titled Talking Sopranos, which began on April 6, 2020. The two provide inside info as they follow The Sopranos series episode by episode.[13][14] By September 2020, the podcast had reached over five million downloads.[15]
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;[15] the book titled Woke Up This Morning: The Definitive Oral History of The Sopranos was released on November 2, 2021.[16] In July 2020, he hosted a show on NTS Radio called 632 ELYSIAN FIELDS, which was inspired by A Streetcar Named Desire.[17] In September 2020, Imperioli provided narration for The Whistleblower, a podcast about the 2007 NBA betting scandal.[18]
Imperioli is the guitarist and vocalist for the band Zopa.[19] In 2020, Zopa released their debut album entitled La Dolce Vita.[20] In 2021, Zopa headlined the Freakout Festival in Seattle.[21]
Imperioli had a narrator cameo in the 2021 Sopranos prequel film, The Many Saints of Newark.[22]
In January 2022, Imperioli was cast in a lead role in the second season of the dark comedy series The White Lotus at HBO.[23]
Personal life
Imperioli married Victoria Chlebowski in 1996. They have homes in the Upper West Side of Manhattan and in Santa Barbara, California, and have three children. He and his family are avid practitioners of Tae Kwon Do.[24] In 2008, Imperioli became a Buddhist.[25]
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 Customer #1 | |
| Joey Breaker | Larry Metz | ||
| Household Saints | Leonard Villanova | ||
| 1994 | Scenes from the New World | Billy | |
| Touch Base | Bennie | ||
| Hand Gun | Benny | ||
| Men Lie | — | ||
| 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 | ||
| Sweet Nothing | Angelo | ||
| 1996 | Girls Town | Anthony | |
| Blixa Bargeld Stole My Cowboy Boots | Johnny | ||
| Girl 6 | Scary Caller #30 | ||
| I Shot Andy Warhol | Ondine | ||
| Trees Lounge | George | ||
| Last Man Standing | Giorgio Carmonte | ||
| 1997 | River Made to Drown In | Allen Hayden | |
| The Deli | Matty | ||
| Office Killer | Daniel Birch | ||
| Under the Bridge | — | ||
| 1998 | Too Tired to Die | Fabrizio | |
| 1999 | 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 | |
| 2007 | The Inner Life of Martin Frost | Jim Fortunato | |
| The Lovebirds | Vincent | ||
| 2008 | Stóra Planið | Alexander | |
| 2009 | Hungry Ghosts | — | 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[26][27] | ||
| 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 | Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture |
| 2021 | The Many Saints of Newark | Christopher Moltisanti | Voice |
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 | 79 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" |
| 2007 | Oprah Winfrey Presents: Mitch Albom's For One More Day | Charley "Chick" Benetto | Television movie |
| 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. Ottavi | 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, 2021 | Blue Bloods | Robert Lewis | 3 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 |
| 2022 | This Fool | Minister Leonard Payne | 3 episodes |
| 2022 | The White Lotus | Dominic Di Grasso | Season 2 |
| 2022 | Midnight Mass From St. Patrick's Cathedral | Himself | Television special |
Awards and nominations
References
- ^ Today in History By The Associated Press, March 26, 2021
- ^ a b c "'Sopranos' Star Michael Imperioli Was on His Way to Pre-Med When Acting Intervened". wsj.com. November 2, 2021.
- ^ a b "Inside the Zen Mind of Michael Imperioli". GQ. September 3, 2020. Retrieved December 26, 2022.
- ^ "Sopranos star Michael Imperioli: 'I thought they were going to fire me'". the Guardian. November 4, 2021. Retrieved December 26, 2022.
- ^ Spector, Joseph (November 16, 2017). "Guess who is playing Cuomo in new Showtime series?". Democrat and Chronicle. Retrieved November 28, 2022.
Imperioli, 51, is a Mount Vernon native and 1983 Brewster High School graduate.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ a b "'Talking Sopranos' Duo Michael Imperioli And Steve Schirripa Score Book Deal With William Morrow". deadline.com. September 17, 2020.
- ^ "'Sopranos' actors pen definitive look at HBO show: 'You're getting it from two guys who were there'". usatoday.com. November 2, 2021.
- ^ Radio, N. T. S. "Michael Imperioli 8th July 2020". NTS Radio. Retrieved July 8, 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.
- ^ "Michael Imperioli (Christopher Moltisanti from 'The Sopranos') Released an Interesting, Genre-Defying New Album with His Band, Zopa (Listen)". rockcellarmagazine. August 11, 2020.
- ^ Pearis, Bill (June 23, 2021). "Michael Imperioli's band Zopa playing Mercury Lounge". Brooklyn Vegan. Retrieved July 5, 2021.
- ^ Pearis, Bill. "Seattle's Freakout Fest announces 2021 lineup". BrooklynVegan. Retrieved February 25, 2023.
- ^ "'The Many Saints of Newark' Led Michael Imperioli to Depressing Realization About His 'Sopranos' Character". hollywoodreporter.com. October 4, 2021.
- ^ Andreeva, Nellie (January 5, 2022). "'The White Lotus': Michael Imperioli To Star In Second Installment Of HBO Series". Deadline Hollywood.
- ^ 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
LA Yoga Magazine - Michael Imperioli; This Is The Way Of The Bodhisattva
- Michael Imperioli at IMDb