Aleksa Palladino (born ) is an American actress, perhaps best known for her lead roles in '' Manny & Lo'', '' The Adventures of Sebastian Cole'', ''

Find Me Guilty ''Find Me Guilty'' is a 2006 American courtroom comedy-drama film co-written and directed by Sidney Lumet. The film is based on the true story of the longest Mafia trial in American history. Much of the courtroom testimony was taken from the ori ...

'', Angela Darmody in the HBO crime series '' Boardwalk Empire'' (2010–2011), Mara in '' Wrong Turn 2: Dead End'' (2007), ''

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead ''Before the Devil Knows You're Dead'' is a 2007 American crime thriller film directed by Sidney Lumet. The film was written by Kelly Masterson, and stars Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke, Marisa Tomei, and Albert Finney. The title come ...

'' (2007), '' The Midnight Swim'' (2014), Mary Sheeran in '' The Irishman'' (2019), and '' No Man of God'' (2021). She also played a main role in the second season of the

AMC AMC may refer to: Film and television * AMC Theatres, an American movie theater chain * AMC Networks, an American entertainment company ** AMC (TV channel) ** AMC+, streaming service ** AMC Networks International, an entertainment company *** ...

period drama '' Halt and Catch Fire''. From 2007 to 2018, she was one half of the dreampop duo Exitmusic with former husband Devon Church, releasing the albums ''The Decline of the West'' (2007), ''Passage'' (2012), and ''The Recognitions'' (2018).

Early life

Palladino was born in New York City, where she grew up and worked as an actress. She is the only child of filmmaker, soprano singer, photographer, graphic artist, and producer Sabrina A. Palladino, and the granddaughter of Sicilian painter and sculptor Angela Fodale Palladino and the Italian-American illustrator and graphic designer Anthony Americo "Tony" Palladino, who designed the lettering for

Robert Bloch Robert Albert Bloch (; April 5, 1917September 23, 1994) was an American fiction writer, primarily of crime fiction, crime, psychological horror fiction, horror and Fantasy Fiction, fantasy, much of which has been dramatized for radio, cinema and ...

's 1959 novel '' Psycho''. An episode of '' The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel'', created by

Amy Sherman-Palladino Amy Sherman-Palladino (born January 17, 1966) is an American television writer, Television director, director, and producer. She is the creator of the comedy drama series ''Gilmore Girls'' (2000–2007), ''Bunheads'' (2012–2013), and ''The Marv ...

, is dedicated to Tony. Palladino's aunt, Kate Palladino-Kirk, is a designer, her great-great-uncle Rocco Fodale was a painter from

Trapani Trapani ( ; ; ) is a city and municipality (''comune'') with 54,887 inhabitants, on the west coast of Sicily, in Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Trapani. Founded by Elymians, the city is still an important fishing port and the mai ...

, and her great-uncle Tonino Fodale worked as a retoucher for the biggest fashion photographers, such as

Richard Avedon Richard Avedon (May 15, 1923 – October 1, 2004) was an American fashion and portrait photographer. He worked for ''Harper's Bazaar'', '' Vogue'' and '' Elle'' specializing in capturing movement in still pictures of fashion, theater and ...

and

Peter Lindbergh Peter Lindbergh (born Peter Brodbeck; 23 November 1944 – 3 September 2019) was a German fashion photographer and film director. He had studied arts in Berlin and Krefeld, and exhibited his works before graduation. In 1971, he turned to phot ...

. Palladino's ancestral origins are in

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

and

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

Career

Acting

Her debut role was as "Lo" in '' Manny & Lo'' opposite

Scarlett Johansson Scarlett Ingrid Johansson (; born November 22, 1984) is an American actress and singer. The List of highest-paid film actors, world's highest-paid actress in 2018 and 2019, she has been featured multiple times on the Forbes Celebrity 100, ''F ...

and Mary Kay Place, in which she played a 16-year-old character despite being 14 at the time. The next year, she was given her first lead role in the

short film A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...

''Number One Fan'' with Glenn Fitzgerald, and soon appeared in ''Wrestling with Alligators'' with Joely Richardson, the well-received '' The Adventures of Sebastian Cole'' with Adrian Grenier, and ''Second Skin'' with Fitzgerald again. The year 2000 saw the release of ''Red Dirt'', followed by the

independent film An independent film, independent movie, indie film, or indie movie is a feature film or short film that is film production, produced outside the Major film studios, major film studio system in addition to being produced and distributed by independ ...

''Lonesome'', and ''

Storytelling Storytelling is the social and cultural activity of sharing narrative, stories, sometimes with improvisation, theatre, theatrics or embellishment. Every culture has its own narratives, which are shared as a means of entertainment, education, cul ...

'' with Selma Blair. She then had guest appearances in '' Law & Order: Criminal Intent'' (where she played two different characters), ''

The Sopranos ''The Sopranos'' is an American Crime film#Crime drama, crime drama television series created by David Chase. The series follows Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a New Jersey American Mafia, Mafia boss who suffers from panic attacks. He reluct ...

'', and ''

Law & Order ''Law & Order'' is an American police procedural and legal drama television series created by Dick Wolf and produced by Wolf Entertainment and Universal Television, launching the ''Law & Order'' franchise. ''Law & Order'' aired its entire ...

''. In 2004, Palladino returned to acting with a guest appearance on '' Medium'', followed by her lead role in ''Spectropia'' and a supporting one in ''

'' with Vin Diesel. After she worked in ''Find Me Guilty'', director

Sidney Lumet Sidney Arthur Lumet ( ; June 25, 1924 – April 9, 2011) was an American film director. Lumet started his career in theatre before moving to film, where he gained a reputation for making realistic and gritty New York City, New York dramas w ...

offered Palladino the role of Chris Lasorda in ''

''. She then appeared in ''

The Picture of Dorian Gray ''The Picture of Dorian Gray'' is an 1890 philosophical fiction and Gothic fiction, Gothic horror fiction, horror novel by Irish writer Oscar Wilde. A shorter novella-length version was published in the July 1890 issue of the American period ...

'', based on the novel by

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish author, poet, and playwright. After writing in different literary styles throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular and influential playwright ...

, and landed a supporting role in the acclaimed horror sequel '' Wrong Turn 2: Dead End''. The 2010s saw her busy mainly on television; her role as

Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic b ...

-era gangster Jimmy Darmody's

closeted ''Closeted'' and ''in the closet'' are metaphors for LGBTQ people who have not disclosed their sexual orientation or gender identity and aspects thereof, including sexual identity and sexual behavior. This metaphor is associated and sometime ...

wife Angela in the HBO series '' Boardwalk Empire'' stands out. She was also a series regular of season two in the critically acclaimed AMC series '' Halt and Catch Fire'' as Sara Wheeler. Her next important film role was Mary Sheeran in

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November17, 1942) is an American filmmaker. One of the major figures of the New Hollywood era, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Martin Scorsese, many accolades, including an Academ ...

's ''The Irishman'', which was distributed by

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

and received only a

limited theatrical release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few cinemas across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...

Music

Palladino was the lead singer and songwriter of the band Exitmusic. After self-releasing their debut album in 2007, the band released an EP and a follow-up album on indie label Secretly Canadian in 2011 and 2012, respectively. Palladino released a final Exitmusic album on Felte Records in 2018.

Personal life

Palladino formed the band Exitmusic with her husband Devon Church, whom she had met on a cross-Canada train trip in 2001. Palladino and Church divorced in 2015.

Discography

with Duo ''Exitmusic'' * ''The Decline of the West'' (self-released, 2007) * ''From Silence'' (EP) ( Secretly Canadian, 2011) * ''Passage'' (Secretly Canadian, 2012) * ''The Recognitions'' (Felte, 2018)

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Palladino, Aleksa Living people 20th-century American actresses 20th-century American singer-songwriters 21st-century American actresses 21st-century American singer-songwriters Actresses from New York City American people of Italian descent American child actresses American women singer-songwriters American film actresses American television actresses Singers from New York City Singer-songwriters from New York (state) 20th-century American women singers 21st-century American women singers Secretly Canadian artists