Sopranos star Paul Herman, who played Peter ‘Beansie’ Gaeta on the hit mobster show, died on March 29, his 76th birthday.
He is the latest in a growing list of Sopranos actors who have passed since the show ended nearly 15 years in 2007, including Peter Bogdanovich (Elliot Kupferberg), Joseph Siravo (Tony’s father, Johnny Soprano), Rick Aiello (Raymond ‘Ray-Ray’ D’Abaldo), Tom Aldredge (Carmela’s father, Hugh DeAngelis), Denise Borino-Quinn (Ginny Sacrimoni), John Costelloe (Jim ‘Johnny Cakes’ Witowski), Frank Anthony Vallelonga (Carmine Lupertazzi), and of course, James Gandolfini.
Here, DailyMail.com looks at what the cast has been up to since the series wrapped, from Emmy wins to role reprisals to tragic deaths.
The Sopranos premiered on HBO in 1999 and went on until 2007
The critically-aclaimed series followed mob boss Tony Soprano, his family, and his associates
Yesterday, Paul Herman, known for playing ‘Beansie’ Gaeta (left), died at age 76
James Gandolfini: Tony Soprano
James Gandolfini, the breakout star of the show, played an anxiety-prone mob boss juggling the demands of his figurative family — the Mafia — with his literal family.
Balancing the ruthlessness expected of a mob boss with a repressed emotional side and the tenderness required of a family patriarch, Gandolfini’s portrayal earned him three Emmy Awards, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, and a Golden Globe.
After the series that propelled him to stardom wrapped in 2007, Gandolfini starred in Welcome to the Rileys, Down the Shore, Killing Them Softly, and Enough Said, which was released months after his death.
His last film was The Drop, which came out in 2014, though he is also credited as an executive producer on the 2016 HBO miniseries The Night Of, in which he was originally set to star.
Sadly, the actor passed away of a heart attack in June 2013, at age 51, while on holiday with his family in Rome.
James Gandolfini played leading man Tony Soprano (pictured left in character and right in 2013, shortly before his death)
He was found unconscious on his hotel floor by son Michael, who alerted the emergency services, but was pronounced dead in hospital.
He also left behind his second wife, model and actress Deborah Lin, and their daughter, Liliane, who is now nine.
Last year, Gandolfini’s son Michael, now 22, portrayed a young Tony Soprano in The Many Saints of Newark, a prequel film to the Sopranos.
Speaking to NBC News, Michael said that it makes him ‘feel really good’ to be compared to his father ‘because I love my dad.’
‘Sometimes I get insecure. I hope I don’t just get cast as my dad lookalike. Sometimes I think: Am I only good because I look my dad? Or am I good because I did all the work?’
He also admitted he’d never seen the Sopranos before starring int he prequel, saying: ‘I knew nothing about Tony. I had never seen the show. If my dad was a contractor, I wouldn’t want to see the house he built. I kind of was like: I’ll watch it one day. When he passed, it was going to become a thing to watch it. It was going to be painful.’
He left behind his son Michael, his second wife Deborah Lin, and their daughter Liliane, who is now nine
Last year, Gandolfini’s son Michael, now 22, portrayed a young Tony Soprano in The Many Saints of Newark, a prequel film to the Sopranos
Edie Falco: Carmela Soprano
Edie Falco, 58, starred as Carmela Soprano, Tony’s wife who turned a blind eye to his many affairs and his means of income and focused instead on the income itself.
Living a life of luxury did not solve all of Carmela’s problems, however, as she struggled to raise her two children against a backdrop of immorality and violence.
Falco won three Emmys, two Golden Globes, and five Screen Actors Guild Awards for her portrayal of Carmela.
After The Sopranos, she went on to star in the title role in Nurse Jackie. She earned four Golden Globe nominations, eight SAG Award nominations, and an Emmy win for the series.
Carmela Soprano, Tony’s long-suffering wife, was played by Edie Falco (pictured left in character, right in November 2021)
In 2011, she starred in Broadway’s House of Blue Leaves with Ben Stiller and Jennifer Jason Leigh, earning a Tony Award nomination.
She also worked alongside Louis C.K. in the web series Horace and Pete, and appeared as attorney Leslie Abramson in Law & Order True Crime.
Her most recent TV stints have been in Tommy and, last year, American Crime Story, on which she played then-first lady Hillary Clinton.
She’d also filmed a scene for The Many Saints of Newark, but it was cut.
Falco has also been an animal advocate, teaming up with PETA last year to encourage Congress strengthen the laws surrounding animal experimentation.
After the Sopranos, she went on to star as the eponymous hero in series Nurse Jackie
She earned four Golden Globe nominations, eight SAG Award nominations, and an Emmy win for the role
Her most recent TV stints have been in Tommy and American Crime Story, on which she played then-first lady Hillary Clinton (pictured)
Jamie-Lynn Sigler: Meadow Soprano
Growing up as the child of a notorious mobster comes with its challenges, especially for the principled Meadow, who struggled to reconcile how her father made his money with the benefits it brought her.
Aged 17 when The Sopranos first aired, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, now 40, carved out an acting career for herself parallel to the TV series.
She appeared in a Broadway production of Beauty and the Beast as Belle between 2002 and 2003, and played the titular character in Cinderella at Madison Square Garden in 2001.
Since the series wrapped, she has made TV appearances, including as herself in HBO’s Entourage. She has also featured in episodes of How I Met Your Mother and Ugly Betty, and appeared in the music video for The Lonely Island’s song Jizz In My Pants.
Jamie-Lynn Sigler was 17 when she was cast as Meadow Soprano (pictured left in character, right in February 2020)
She had longer stints on Guys with Kids and Beef House, as well as the Hulu series Big Sky.
Most recently, she reprised her role as Meadow in a Super Bowl commercial for Chevrolet.
‘Sopranos has been this unique experience where every time we think it’s going to be the last time we’re doing something, there is always something else that comes,’ she told the Hollywood Reporter, admitting that she watched the series for the first time in 2020.
On the personal front, she shares sons Beau, 8, and Jack, 3, with husband Cutter Dykstra, and has spoken out about suffering from multiple sclerosis.
She’s since had stints on Guys with Kids and Beef House, as well as the Hulu series Big Sky (pictured)
Most recently, she reprised her role as Meadow in a Super Bowl commercial for Chevrolet
Robert Iler: AJ Soprano
The youngest child of Tony and Carmela, Robert Iler, now 37, began the series as the innocent if badly-behaved tearaway of the family, who failed to live up to his father’s many expectations.
As the series continued, AJ’s innocence was shattered and he began to exhibit all of Tony’s negative traits, leading to a battle with depression.
Robert had appeared in commercials for Pizza Hut and bit parts on SNL before he was cast as AJ at age 13.
He’s mostly retired from acting, and since The Sopranos ended, he has appeared in just one episode of Law & Order in 2009.
Robert Iler was just 13 when he was selected to play Tony’s son AJ (pictured left in character, right in 2019)
‘After Sopranos, I told my manager I wanted six months off to go play poker and hang out with my friends and just do whatever,’ he told the Hollywood Reporter. ‘And [my manager] kept calling — “It’s been a year,” “It’s been two years.” The only thing I have done since Sopranos is I got called to do jury duty and I didn’t want to do jury duty … so twice, to get out of jury duty, I did an episode of Law and Order [in 2004 and 2009].
Instead, he made a living as a semi-pro poker player for several years, but quit because it was too tied up in his issues with substance abuse.
He’s expreienced some personal troubles, and in 2001 was arrested for armed robbery of two Brazilian tourists on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and possession of marijuana and was given three years’ probation.
In 2020, he said he has been sober since 2013.
He did make a short return to the small screen earlier this year, appearing alongside Sigler in the Sopranos Super Bowl commercial.
He has retired from acting, and briefly supported himself as a professional poker player
He did make a short return to the small screen earlier this year, appearing alongside Sigler in the Sopranos Super Bowl commercial
Lorraine Bracco: Jennifer Melfi
Tony’s psychiatrist and outlet for his anxiety and deeply repressed emotions, Jennifer Melfi was both fascinated and repulsed by the mobster.
Advised by her colleagues, loved ones, and her own better nature to part ways with Tony, she nevertheless commit to helping him through his troubles.
Lorraine Bracco, 67, was a former model, the husband of Harvey Kietel, and star of mobster mega-hit Goodfellas alongside Robert de Niro before landing her Sopranos role.
Lorraine Bracco agreed to work on The Sopranos only if she could play Tony’s morally conflicted psychiatrist Jennifer Melfi (pictured left in character, right in 2021)
While creator David Chase wanted her to play Carmela, Bracco said she would only sign on if she was allowed to take the role of Dr. Melfi.
Post-Sopranos, she starred as Angela Rizzoli, the mother of detective Jane Rizzoli, in Rizzoli & Isles from 2010 to 2016, and as Mayor Margaret Dutton in Blue Bloods from 2017 to 2018.
Besides acting, she owns her own wine brand, Bracco Wines.
She also published ‘To the Fullest: The Clean Up Your Act Plan to Lose Weight, Rejuvenate, and Be the Best You Can Be,’ her second book, in 2015.
Post-Sopranos, she starred as Angela Rizzoli, the mother of detective Jane Rizzoli, in Rizzoli & Isles from 2010 to 2016
She owns her own wine brand, Bracco Wines, and published ‘To the Fullest: The Clean Up Your Act Plan to Lose Weight, Rejuvenate, and Be the Best You Can Be,’ her second book, in 2015
Michael Imperioli: Christopher Moltisanti
Tony’s distantly-related cousin, fellow mobster, and chosen protege, Christopher Moltisanti was driven by a desire for success and notoriety that had him at odds with Tony’s strong, silent type image — and butting heads with his older ‘colleagues.’
His character was also a drug addict who was frequently abusive to his partner. Hewas ultimately whacked.
Michael Imperioli, 56, scooped a Primetime Emmy for his portrayal in 2004.
An experienced actor before the series began — starring alongside Bracco in Goodfellas, along with appearances in Jungle Fever, Bad Boys, and Malcolm X — he has appeared extensively in film and TV since.
Michael Imperioli was a veteran of Goodfellas before being cast as Christopher Moltisanti (left in character, right in November 2021)
Imperioli played Detective Ray Carling in the US adaptation of British cop show Life On Mars, and followed fellow Sopranos cast members into Law & Order, playing NYPD Detective Nick Falco.
He played Rick Rath in Californication, Detective Louis Fitch in the ABC police drama Detroit 1-8-7, and in 2020 played another detective, Michael Sellitto, on Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector.
In 2008, he achieved character Christopher’s dream of writing a feature film, entitled The Hungry Ghosts.
Like Bracco, Imperioli also appeared in several episodes of Blue Bloods, though his and Bracco’s stints did not overlap.
Last year, he reprised his Sopranos role in The Many Siants of Newark.
He played Rick Rath in Californication (pictured), Detective Louis Fitch in the ABC police drama Detroit 1-8-7, and Michael Sellitto, on Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector
Drea de Matteo: Adriana La Cerva
Christopher’s girlfriend-turned-wife, Adriana La Cerva was vain, obsessed with money and material goods, and desperate for fame.
Often a victim of violence at Christopher’s hand, she turned mole later in the series but refused to give up the family’s deepest secrets.
Drea de Matteo, now 50, won a Primetime Emmy award for the role in 2004.
She used her Sopranos fame to launch a silver screen career, including appearances in Swordfish, Assault on Precinct 13, and Dark Places.
Drea de Matteo won a Primetime Emmy for her portrayal of Adriana la Cerva (pictured left in character, right in 2019)
Her TV credits are numerous too, with the Friends spinoff Joey, 23 episodes of Desperate Housewives, and 35 episodes of Sons of Anarchy.
She played Tess Nazario in Shades of Blue from 2016 to 2018, Barbara Nelson in A Million Little Things, and Maya in Paradise City.
In March of 2020, she and Chris Kushner launched a Sopranos rewatch podcast called Gangster Goddess Broad-Cast.
Matteo shares two children, 14-year-old Alabama and 10-year-old Waylon, with her ex-husband and is engaged to Whitesnake’s Michael Devin.
In 2015, she was struck by tragedy when her East Village, Manhattan apartment was destroyed by a gas explosion that displaced at least 80 people living in four buildings.
In 2019, she reunited with Jamie-Lynn Sigler and Vincent Pastore to present the best pop award at the MTV Video Music Awards
She also starred in Sons of Anarchy, Desperate Housewives, CSI: Miami, and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Dominic Chianese: Corrado ‘Junior’ Soprano
Dominic Chianese played Tony’s petulant, resentful, power-hungry uncle who conspires with his mother early on to have him whacked so he could assume control of the family.
Out-played at the game of power by Tony, he was ultimately left frail and confused, suffering from dementia.
Good friends with Al Pacino, Chianese was well-known before The Sopranos started, having starred in The Godfather Part II, Dog Day Afternoon, …And Justice For All, and Looking for Richard.
Dominic Chianese played Tony’s uncle Corrado ‘Junior’ Soprano (pictured left in character, right in 2019)
Now 91, he continues to find work, with TV appearances in Damages, Boardwalk Empire, and The Good Wife.
He’s done voice acting in Mr. Popper’s Penguins, and was in the 2019 NBC series The Village.
In 2018, he co-authored an autobiography titled Twelve Angels: The Women Who Taught Me How to Act, Live, and Love.
Now 91, he continues to find work, with TV appearances in Damages, Boardwalk Empire (pictured), and The Good Wife
Aida Turturro: Janice Soprano
Aida Turturro played Tony’s older, new-agey sister who fled her family’s troubles rather than stay and confront them, but later returned to New Jersey and immersed herself in mob life.
Work-shy, manipulative, and amoral, she and Tony had a love-hate relationship born out of their shared childhood trauma.
Aida Turturro played Tony’s older, new-agey sister, Janice Soprano (pictured left in character, right in November 2021)
After the Sopranos, she had small parts in ER, Mercy, and Curb Your Enthusiasm, and n 2012 was reunited with Edie Flaco in an episode of Nurse Jackie.
She also made TV appearances in Brooklyn Nine Nine, Blue Bloods, Grey’s Anatomy, Kaljave gume, and What We Do in the Shadows, with a 13-episode run on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and 11 episodes of The Blacklist.
In 2021, she appeared with Lorraine Bracco, Dominic Chianese, and other Sopranos stars at MobMovieCon and SopranosCon at Harrah’s in Atlantic City.
She did a 13-episode run on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (pictured) and 11 episodes of The Blacklist
Tony Sirico: Paulie ‘Walnuts’ Gualtieri
One of Tony’s right-hand men, Paulie ‘Walnuts’ Gualtieri was as vicious as he was paranoid, often carrying out hits on his boss’ enemies and disloyal friends alike.
His loyalty to Tony — and his killing temperament — saw him rise through the ranks to become underboss of the DiMeo crime family.
Tony Sirico, 79, was born in Brooklyn and as a teenager was part of a real-life street gang. Hewas once seen associating with Colombo family Caporegime Jimmy ‘Green Eyes’ Clemenza, along with fellow Sopranos actor Vincent Pastore.
Tony Sirico played Paulie ‘Walnuts’ Gualtieri (pictured left in character and right in 2016)
He served time in jail for robbery and felony arms possession before deciding to give acting a try after being visited by a troupe of reformed convicts behind bars.
He initially tried out for the role of Junior, but was was persuaded into taking on Paulie on one condition — the character would never become a snitch.
Following The Sopranos, he has made appearances in Medium and Lilyhammer and voiced characters on Family Guy and American Dad!
He also reprised his Sopranos role in The Many Saints of Newark.
Steve Van Zandt: Silvio Dante
Silvio Dante was the calm, collected, and ever-stylish owner of the gang’s hangout spot and headquarters, the Bada Bing! strip club.
Another of Tony’s trusted advisers, he was often selected to carry out high-level assassinations, including on Christopher’s girlfriend, Adriana.
Steve Van Zandt, 71, was famous long before The Sopranos as a member — past and present — of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, in which he plays guitar and mandolin.
E Street Band member Steve Van Zandt played mobster Silvio Dante (pictured left in character, right in 2019)
Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for his work with Springsteen, he also founded his own band, Little Steven and The Disciples of Soul, in the 1980s.
Zandt continued to pursue acting after The Sopranos, starring in and co-writing Netflix series Lilyhammer, which also inclued an appearance from Tony Sirico.
He also appeared in Netflix’s The Christmas Chronicles in 2018 and The Irishman in 2019.
He also reprised his Sopranos role in The Many Saints of Newark
Steve Schirripa: Bobby Baccalieri
An unusual character within the mob world, Bobby Baccalieri was portrayed as lovable, kind-hearted, loyal to his wife, and caring of others.
A senior member of Junior’s crew, he ended up caring for his former boss when he suffered from cancer, and married Tony’s sister, Janice.
Steve Schirripa, 64, currently stars in Blue Bloods, which has had several appearances from his Sopranos co-stars over the years.
Steve Schirripa played Bobby Baccalieri (pictured left in character, right on March 10)
He has also asppeared in episodes of Brothers, Call Me Fitz, The Secret Life of the American Teenager, and Benders.
Schirripa has also published several books, including A Goomba’s Guide to Life, The Goomba’s Book of Love, The Goomba Diet: Large and Loving It, and Big Daddy’s Rules: Raising Daughters Is Tougher Than I Look.
His pasta sauce line, Uncle Steve’s Italian Specialties, launched in 2014. They are organic, gluten free, vegan, and kosher.
He currently stars in Blue Bloods, which has had several appearances from his Sopranos co-stars over the years
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