Vincent Pastore
Vincent Pastore’s Salvatore “Big Pussy” Bonpensiero didn’t last too long on The Sopranos but he burned brightly. To this day, Tony’s childhood best friends remains of the character’s most associated with the mob aspects of the show. Since embodying Big Pussy, Pastor has played a whole host of mafia-adjacent characters in film and television (Blue Bloods, Hawaii Five-O, Wu-Tang: An American Saga). He’s often at his best, however, when playing himself like he did during a surreal appearance in the finale of Showtime’s A24 series The Curse.
Steve Schirripa
As the mild-mannered Bobby “Bacala” Maccalieri, Steve Schirripa excelled at playing a gentle giant mobster who didn’t really have a taste for violence. His post-Sopranos career has put that characterization to good use. After playing Leo Boykewich for 113 episodes of The Secret Life of the American Teenager, Schirripa has continued to pop up in TV projects like Ugly Betty and American Dad! He also played Big Mike Frato in 2011’s Kill the Irishman. He hosted the Talking Sopranos podcast alongside Michael Imperioli, which led to a book deal in 2021 for Woke Up This Morning: The Definitive Oral History of The Sopranos.
Joe Pantoliano
Thanks to prominent roles in Bad Boys, The Fugitive, and The Matrix, New Jersey-born actor Joe Pantoliano was already relatively famous before taking on the role of Ralph Cifaretto in The Sopranos‘ third season. Following his Emmy-award winning stint as the character, Pantoliano stayed hard at work in Hollywood. His post-Sopranos highlights include the Bad Boys sequels and TV shows Roswell, How to Make it in America, and Sense8. Most recently he’s appeared in CBS’s MacGyver reboot, played himself in Syfy’s Chucky, and provided his voice to The Patrick Star Show.
Vincent Curatola
On The Sopranos, Vincent Curatola brought New York mobster John “Johnny Sack” Sacrimoni to life. Since then he’s played mobster Johny Amato in 2011 film Killing Them Softly and real life Boston mayor Thomas Menino in 2016’s Patriots Day. Of late he’s the go-to guy for authority figures on network TV dramas, playing roles in Person of Interest, The Good Wife, Blue Bloods, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, The Blacklist, and FBI.
Joseph R. Gannascoli
Joseph R. Gannascoli is one of the few actors lucky enough to play two roles on The Sopranos. After portraying unassuming bakery customer Gino in season 1, the actor was eventually brought back to play closeted mobster Vito Spatafore. Gannascoli has continued working since The Sopranos, popping up mostly in bit parts in movies like Men in Black 3 and TV shows like White Collar. He’s also a passionate chef and a consistently funny social media presence.
Frank Vincent
Perhaps you may have heard but Phil Leotardo did 20 years in the can. Thanks to his iconic work in Goodfellas, Casino, and even the Grand Theft Auto video game series, Frank Vincent brought real mob movie gravitas to the role of Tony’s nemesis in the latter seasons of The Sopranos. He continued to put that gravitas to good use in the years since, appearing in a handful of mostly low-budget mob movies and some big TV shows like Stargate Atlantis, Law & Order: SVU, and most compellingly, providing his voice to Ezra Koenig’s Netflix animated series Neo Yokio. Vincent passed away in New Jersey in 2017.
