About Me
Tony Soprano
Played By James Gandolfini
"All due respect, you got no idea what it's like to be number one. Every decision you make affects every facet of every other thing. It's too much to deal with almost. And in the end you're completely alone with it."
The pressures of running 'the family' have taken their toll on Tony. As the acting boss of the DiMeo family, Anthony Soprano heads the most powerful criminal organization in New Jersey. A second-generation wise guy, he's the son of the late Johnny Boy Soprano, a DiMeo capo who brought his boy into his profession and showed him the ropes. After Johnny's death, Tony was mentored by his old man's closest associates, Hesh Rabkin, Jackie Aprile, and Pussy Bonpensiero, as well as Johnny's older brother, Corrado "Junior" Soprano.
Tony was born in 1959 and grew up in Newark and West Orange, New Jersey. Violence was a staple of his childhood: he once witnessed his dad and uncle viciously beating a guy for being late with a numbers payment. Another time he watched Johnny Boy amputate a debtor's finger with a meat cleaver. And though he never struck his two daughters, when Tony transgressed his father sent him flying. Tony's mother, Livia, was busy doling out emotional beatings. Depressive and paranoid, Livia was incapable of affection--she once threatened to plunge a fork into her son's eye--and constantly told Tony he'd never amount to anything. But the coup de grace came years later: when Tony put Livia into a nursing home, she conspired with Junior to have him killed.
These days Tony has his hands full, to put it mildly. he perks of being the boss come at an increasingly high price. He's already had to take out two of his closest associates: Pussy, whom he loved like a brother, when he was recruited as government informant; and Jackie Aprile's son, when he ran afoul of the organization. More recently, when his cousin Tony B. 'went into business for himself,' Tony had to make an agonizing decision: take him out or face an all out war with the New York organization.
If these pressures weren't enough, his personal life became a train wreck. His wife, Carmela, started moving forward with divorce proceedings, fed up after years of his infidelities. His college student daughter, Meadow, was barely speaking to him. And his son, Anthony, Jr., is an undisciplined student and a lackluster athlete, and Tony has doubts he will succeed in life.
It should come as no surprise then that Tony has gone back into therapy. He first went to see Dr. Jennifer Melfi for his debilitating anxiety attacks, which were similar to the ones suffered by his late father and now his son. Despite the raised eyebrows of his associates, Tony stayed in therapy for four years before calling it quits, convinced it wasn't working. After his split with Carmela, he went back to Dr. Melfi - this time to ask her out. Though he was rebuffed, he eventually got over it, returning to her in a professional capacity.
The therapy appears to be working, as Tony's managed to make some amends as of late. He patched things up with Carmela and moved back into the house. He smoothed things over with his nephew Christopher, despite sanctioning the hit on his fiancee, Adriana. And he even managed to put aside his differences with Johnny Sack, now the capo of the New York organization.
But its unlikely Tony will be done with therapy in the near future. As Dr. Melfi sees it, Tony's anxiety is rooted in anger, grief and guilt, and odds are it won't be going away anytime soon.
Christopher Moltisanti
Played By Michael Imperioli
"Tony was right, he set me straight...No more distractions. Focus. Eye on the prize."Christopher Moltisanti is Tony's nephew and Carmela's first cousin. His father Dickie Moltisanti was something of a mentor to the youthful Tony. So when the senior Moltisanti was shot to death, Tony, in turn, took Christopher under his wing. As Christopher remembers very little of his father - he was still in diapers when Dickie was killed - Tony's the closest thing he's ever had to a paternal figure.Under Tony's tutelage Christopher became a cugine and eventually a made man - but his ascent wasn't smooth. For one thing, Christopher is impulsive, and his impulses are often violent: he once "handled" a negotiation with a rival garbage concern by turning their representative into refuse and hauling him to Staten Island - without permission. For another, Christopher wasn't always one hundred percent certain that this thing of ours was the thing for him. He once explored the possibility of a film career, going so far as to befriend some Hollywood types and write a screenplay titled, "You Bark, I Bite." But when Tony got wind of it, he barked an ultimatum: if you're with the Soprano crew it's "every fucking second of every fucking day." Christopher's been a devoted "family man" - he even got engaged to longtime girlfriend, Adriana La Cerva - ever since.But just as things were looking good for him, Christopher's "recreational" heroin use became a full-blown addiction - making him a serious potential liability to Tony and the rest of the organization. Rather than "put him out of misery" as Junior advised, Tony sent him to rehab.He still struggles with urges and dips in every now and then, but for the most part Christopher walks a straight line. When Adriana tried to convince him to turn for the Feds, he had to face the ultimate decision: rat out Tony and enter witness protection, or rat out Adriana to Tony and get his fiancee killed. In the end, Christopher couldn't imagine leaving the only life he's ever known.
Corrado "Junior" Soprano
Played By Dominic Chianese
You choose this life, it comes with responsibilities...Teddy Roosevelt gave an entire speech once with a bullet lodged in his chest. Some things are a matter of duty."Corrado Soprano, Jr., AKA Uncle Junior, is the son of Corrado and Mariangela D'Agostino Soprano, Italian immigrants who came over from the town of Ariano in 1911. Junior had two younger brothers: Giovanni (AKA Johnny Boy), who was Tony's father and Ercoli (AKA Eckley), who was mentally retarded and spent most of his life in an institution. The senior Corrado was a stonemason, but Junior and Johnny Boy had no intention of following in his footsteps; they dropped out of high school, quickly affiliating themselves with the DiMeo crime family.Though Junior was highly competitive with his little brother, he always had a deep affection for his nephew. Junior has no children of his own - he's never been married - and he spent a lot of quality time with Tony while he was growing up.After Dominic DiMeo was sent to prison for life and Johnny Boy and Jackie Aprile succumbed to cancer, Junior took over as head of the New Jersey organization. But he was perceived as high-handed and selfish -- in mob parlance "he ate alone" -- causing serious dissension in the ranks. Tony eventually stepped in and took charge, leaving Junior as a figurehead -- and a target for the Feds. Once again upstaged by a younger relative, Junior was hurt and angry, and vulnerable to manipulation by Tony's mother, Livia. Nursing her own grudges against Tony, Livia convinced Junior to order a hit on her son. But the hit attempt failed, and Tony punished his uncle by severely curtailing his earning power and effectively cutting him out of his life. Not long after that Junior was placed under house arrest on federal racketeering charges and diagnosed with his own case of the "big casino" -- cancer.But Junior's a tough old bird. He's outlasted haler, heartier enemies and despite his situation, he hasn't sung for the feds. His luck soon changed when his case was declared a mistrial, thanks to a hung (and tampered with) jury. And he managed to bury the hatchet with Tony - or at least kick some dirt over it. Then he suffered a series of small strokes, and though he seemed fine afterwards, something wasn't right. He started insulting Tony in public and losing track of his train of thought. On house arrest awaiting his re-trial, Junior spends his days waiting for the next Italian funeral, the only time he gets to sit outside in the sun.
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