page_title: The Sopranos
section_title: Casting
hierarchical_section_title: The Sopranos / Production / Casting
caption_attribution_description: English: Members of the Sopranos with a U.S. Air Force member in Kuwait during a USO visit
context_page_description: The Sopranos is an American crime drama television series created by David Chase. The story revolves around Tony Soprano, a New Jersey-based Italian-American mobster, portraying the difficulties that he faces as he tries to balance his family life with his role as the leader of a criminal organization. These are explored during his therapy sessions with psychiatrist Jennifer Melfi. The series features Tony's family members, mafia colleagues, and rivals in prominent roles—most notably his wife Carmela and his protégé/distant cousin Christopher Moltisanti. The pilot was ordered in 1997, and the show premiered on HBO on January 10, 1999. The series ran for six seasons totaling 86 episodes until June 10, 2007. Broadcast syndication followed in the U.S. and internationally. The Sopranos was produced by HBO, Chase Films, and Brad Grey Television. It was primarily filmed at Silvercup Studios in Long Island City in Queens, New York City and on location in New Jersey. The executive producers throughout the show's run were David Chase, Brad Grey, Robin Green, Mitchell Burgess, Ilene S. Landress, Terence Winter, and Matthew Weiner.
context_section_description: Many of the actors on The Sopranos are Italian Americans, like the characters they portray, and many appeared together in films and television series before joining the cast of The Sopranos. The series has 27 actors in common with the 1990 Martin Scorsese gangster film Goodfellas, including main cast members Lorraine Bracco, Michael Imperioli, and Tony Sirico.
  The casting directors were Georgianne Walken and Sheila Jaffe. The main cast was put together through a process of auditions and readings. Actors often did not know whether Chase liked their performances or not. Michael Imperioli beat out several actors for the part of Christopher Moltisanti; he said that Chase has "a poker face, so I thought he wasn't into me, and he kept giving me notes and having me try it again, which often is a sign that you're not doing it right." Chase said that he wanted Imperioli because he had been in Goodfellas. 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. Lorraine Bracco played the role of mob wife Karen Hill in Goodfellas, and she was originally asked to play the role of Carmela Soprano. She took the role of Dr. Jennifer Melfi instead because she wanted to try something different and felt that the part of the highly educated Dr. Melfi would be more of a challenge for her. Tony Sirico has a criminal history, and he signed on to play Paulie Walnuts so long as his character was not to be a "rat". Sirico had originally auditioned for the role of Uncle Junior with Frank Vincent, but Dominic Chianese landed the role. Chase was impressed with Steven Van Zandt's humorous appearance and presence after seeing him induct The Rascals into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997, and invited him to audition. Van Zandt, a guitarist in Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, had never acted before. He auditioned for the role of Tony Soprano, but HBO felt that the role should go to an experienced actor, so Chase wrote a new part for him. Van Zandt eventually agreed to star on the show as consigliere Silvio Dante, and his real-life spouse Maureen was cast as his on-screen wife Gabriella.
  The cast of the debut season of the series consisted of largely unknown actors, with the exception of Bracco, Chianese and Nancy Marchand, but many cast members were noted for their acting ability and received mainstream attention for their performances.
  Subsequent seasons saw established actors Joe Pantoliano, Robert Loggia, Steve Buscemi, and Frank Vincent join the starring cast, along with well-known actors in recurring roles such as Peter Bogdanovich, John Heard, Robert Patrick, Peter Riegert, Annabella Sciorra, and David Strathairn. Several well-known actors appeared in one or two episodes, such as Lauren Bacall, Daniel Baldwin, Annette Bening, Polly Bergen, Sandra Bernhard, Charles S. Dutton, Jon Favreau, Janeane Garofalo, Hal Holbrook, Tim Kang, Elias Koteas, Ben Kingsley, Linda Lavin, Ken Leung, Julianna Margulies, Sydney Pollack, Wilmer Valderrama, Alicia Witt, and Burt Young.
caption: James Gandolfini (right) and Tony Sirico (left) visit the U.S. Air Force during a USO visit to Southwest Asia
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