Michael Imperioli

Michael Imperioli (born March 26, 1966) is an American actor, writer and director, 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 1990 film Goodfellas. Imperioli's other television work includes roles as Nick Falco in the drama series Law & Order, Ray Carling in the U.S. version of Life on Mars, and Louis Fitch in the ABC police drama Detroit 1-8-7. He has also had supporting roles in films such as Shark Tale (2004) and The Lovely Bones (2009).
Imperioli wrote and directed his first feature film, The Hungry Ghosts, in 2008. In 2015, he starred in Mad Dogs, a dark-comic thriller television series released on Amazon's Prime Video streaming platform.
==Early life==
Imperioli was born in Mount Vernon, New York, on March 26, 1966. His grandparents were Italians from Lazio and Calabria. He is the son of Dan Imperioli, a bus driver and amateur actor, and Claire Imperioli, an amateur actress.
==Career==
Imperioli has been nominated for two Golden Globe Awards as well as for five Emmy Awards for his work as Christopher Moltisanti on The Sopranos; he won one Emmy for the show's fifth season in 2004.
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.
He served as artistic director of Studio Dante, an Off-Broadway theater he formed with his wife. He is also the lead singer/guitarist for a rock band named La Dolce Vita. He makes a brief appearance in the video for the 1983 hit 'Shiny Shiny' by British performance group Haysi Fantayzee. Imperioli 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. He was a guest on episode MB2E08 ("San Giuseppe") of Mario Batali's Food Network television show Molto Mario. In 2010, Imperioli signed on to play the lead in the ABC TV show Detroit 1-8-7. 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.
He 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. 
On March 13, 2019, Imperioli was cast in the lead role of Rick Sellitto in NBC drama series Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector. Imperioli began hosting a podcast alongside Steve Schirripa called Talking Sopranos, which began on April 6, 2020, where the two provide inside info as they follow The Sopranos series episode by episode. By September 2020, the podcast had reached over five million downloads. 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. In July 2020, he hosted a show on NTS Radio called 632 ELYSIAN FIELDS, which was inspired by A Streetcar Named Desire. In September 2020, Imperioli provided narration for The Whistleblower, a podcast about the 2007 NBA betting scandal.
==Personal life==
Imperioli has been married to Victoria Chlebowski since 1995, lives in Santa Barbara, California, and has three children. He and his family are avid practitioners of Tae Kwon Do. In 2008, Imperioli became a Buddhist.
==Filmography==
===Film===
Year	Title 	Role 	Notes
1989	Alexa 	Acid Head 	
1989	Lean on Me 	George 	
1990	Goodfellas 	Spider 	
1990	Jacob's Ladder 	Doctor 	Uncredited
1991	Jungle Fever 	James Tucci 	
1992	Fathers & Sons 	Johnny 	
1992	Malcolm X 	Reporter at Fire Bombing	
1993	The Night We Never Met 	Dry Cleaning Costumer #1	
1993	Joey Breaker 	Larry Metz 	
1993	Household Saints 	Leonard Villanova 	
1994	Scenes from the New World 	Billy 	
1994	Touch Base 	Bennie 	
1994	Hand Gun 	Benny 	
1994	Men Lie 	 	
1994	Amateur 	Doorman at Club 	
1994	Post Cards from America 	The Hustler 	
1995	The Addiction 	Missionary 	
1995	Trouble 	Ellis 	Short film
1995	Bad Boys 	Jojo 	
1995	The Basketball Diaries 	Bobby 	
1995	Clockers 	Detective 'Jo-Jo' 	
1995	Flirt 	Michael 	
1995	Dead Presidents 	D'ambrosio 	
1996	Girls Town 	Anthony 	
1996	Blixa Bargeld Stole My Cowboy Boots	Johnny 	
1996	Sweet Nothing 	Angelo 	
1996	Girl 6 	Scary Caller #30 	
1996	I Shot Andy Warhol 	Ondine 	
1996	Trees Lounge 	George 	
1996	Last Man Standing 	Giorgio Carmonte 	
1997	River Made to Drown In 	Allen Hayden 	
1997	The Deli 	Matty 	
1997	Office Killer 	Daniel Birch 	
1997	Under the Bridge 	 	
1999	Too Tired to Die 	Fabrizio 	
1999	On the Run 	Albert DeSantis 	
1999	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 	
2004	Shark Tale 	Frankie 	Voice role
2007	The Inner Life of Martin Frost 	Jim Fortunato 	
2007	The Lovebirds 	Vincent 	
2008	Stóra Planið 	Alexander 	
2009	Hungry Ghosts 	 	Director and writerNominated—International Film Festival Rotterdam - Tiger Award
2009	The Lovely Bones 	Detective Len Fenerman 	
2010	Love & Distrust 	Stud 	
2011	Stuck Between Stations 	David 	
2013	The Call 	Alan Denado 	
2013	Oldboy 	Chucky 	
2014	Foreclosure 	Bill Landopolous 	
2014	The Scribbler 	Moss 	
2014	Cantinflas 	Michael Todd 	
2015	The Wannabe 	Alphonse 	
2018	Cabaret Maxime 	Bennie Gazza 	
2019	The Last Full Measure 	Jay Ford 	
2019	Primal 	Paul Freed 	
2020	One Night in Miami 	Angelo Dundee 	
===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"
1997 	Firehouse 	Lt. O'Connell 	Television movie
1998 	Witness to the Mob 	Louie Milito 	Television movie
1999–2007	The Sopranos 	Christopher Moltisanti 	80 episodes; also wrote 5 episodesPrimetime 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"
2010 	The Secret Life of the American Teenager 	Dr. Wattabi 	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"
2012 	The Godfather Legacy 	Narrator 	VoiceTelevision documentary
2012 	40 	Unknown 	Pilot
2013 	The Office 	Sensei Billy 	Episode: "Livin' the Dream"
2014 	Californication 	Rick Rath 	11 episodes
2014 	Rake 	Alberto Rinaldi 	Episode: "Bigamist"
2014 	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 	Blue Bloods 	Deputy Attorney General Robert Lewis	2 episodes
2017 	Dice 	Himself 	Episode: "Fingerless"
2018 	Alex, Inc. 	Eddie 	10 episodes
2018 	Escape at Dannemora 	Andrew Cuomo 	Episode: "Part 7"
2019 	Watchmen 	Video Testimonial Man 	UncreditedEpisode: "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
Category:1966 births
Category:Male actors of Italian descent
Category:American Buddhists
Category:American male film actors
Category:American male television actors
Category:Outstanding Performance by a Supporting Actor in a Drama Series Primetime Emmy Award winners
Category:People of Lazian descent
Category:American people of Italian descent
Category:Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute alumni
Category:Living people
Category:American male taekwondo practitioners
Category:Male actors from New York (state)
Category:Actors from Mount Vernon, New York
Category:20th-century American male actors
Category:21st-century American male actors
Category:American podcasters