| Michael Imperioli | |
|---|---|
|
File:Chris Moltisanti.jpg Imperioli in 2007 | |
| Born |
March 26, 1966 Mount Vernon, New York, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actor, writer, director |
| Years active | 1985–present |
| Spouse | Victoria Chlebowski (m. 1995) |
| Children | 3 |
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 in 2005
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 | |
| Lean on Me | George | ||
| 1990 | Goodfellas | Spider | |
| Jacob's Ladder | Doctor | Uncredited | |
| 1991 | Jungle Fever | James Tucci | |
| 1992 | Fathers & Sons | Johnny | |
| Malcolm X | Reporter at Fire Bombing | ||
| 1993 | The Night We Never Met | Dry Cleaning Costumer #1 | |
| Joey Breaker | Larry Metz | ||
| Household Saints | Leonard Villanova | ||
| 1994 | Scenes from the New World | Billy | |
| Touch Base | Bennie | ||
| Hand Gun | Benny | ||
| Men Lie | N/A | ||
| Amateur | Doorman at Club | ||
| Post Cards from America | The Hustler | ||
| 1995 | The Addiction | Missionary | |
| Trouble | Ellis | Short film | |
| Bad Boys | Jojo | ||
| The Basketball Diaries | Bobby | ||
| Clockers | Detective 'Jo-Jo' | ||
| Flirt | Michael | ||
| Dead Presidents | D'ambrosio | ||
| 1996 | Girls Town | Anthony | |
| Blixa Bargeld Stole My Cowboy Boots | Johnny | ||
| Sweet Nothing | Angelo | ||
| Girl 6 | Scary Caller #30 | ||
| I Shot Andy Warhol | Ondine | ||
| Trees Lounge | George | ||
| Last Man Standing | Giorgio Carmonte | ||
| 1997 | River Made to Drown In | Allen Hayden | |
| The Deli | Matty | ||
| Office Killer | Daniel Birch | ||
| Under the Bridge | N/A | ||
| 1999 | Too Tired to Die | Fabrizio | |
| On the Run | Albert DeSantis | ||
| 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 | |
| Shark Tale | Frankie | Voice role | |
| 2007 | The Inner Life of Martin Frost | Jim Fortunato | |
| The Lovebirds | Vincent | ||
| 2008 | Stóra Planið | Alexander | |
| 2009 | Hungry Ghosts | N/A | Director and writer Nominated—International Film Festival Rotterdam - Tiger Award |
| The Lovely Bones | Detective Len Fenerman | ||
| 2010 | Love & Distrust | Stud | |
| 2011 | Stuck Between Stations | David | |
| 2013 | The Call | Alan Denado | |
| Oldboy | Chucky | ||
| 2014 | Foreclosure | Bill Landopolous | |
| The Scribbler | Moss | ||
| Cantinflas | Michael Todd | ||
| 2015 | The Wannabe | Alphonse | |
| 2018 | Cabaret Maxime | Bennie Gazza | |
| 2019 | The Last Full Measure | Jay Ford | |
| 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" |
| 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 episodes Primetime 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" |
| 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" |
| The Godfather Legacy | Narrator | Voice Television documentary | |
| 40 | Unknown | Pilot | |
| 2013 | The Office | Sensei Billy | Episode: "Livin' the Dream" |
| 2014 | Californication | Rick Rath | 11 episodes |
| Rake | Alberto Rinaldi | Episode: "Bigamist" | |
| 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 |
| Escape at Dannemora | Andrew Cuomo | Episode: "Part 7" | |
| 2019 | Watchmen | Video Testimonial Man | Uncredited Episode: "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 |