Michael Imperioli

Michael Imperioli (born March 26, 1966) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Christopher Moltisanti in the HBO crime drama series ''The Sopranos'' (1999–2007), which earned him the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 2004, and as Dominic Di Grasso in the HBO comedy drama series '' The White Lotus'' in 2022.

In the early part of his career, he played the role of Spider in Martin Scorsese's '' Goodfellas'' (1990). He went on to play many supporting roles in films such as '' Jungle Fever'' (1991), '' Bad Boys'' (1995), '' The Basketball Diaries'' (1995), '' Shark Tale'' (2004), '' The Lovely Bones'' (2009), and '' One Night in Miami'' (2020). Imperioli co-wrote the screenplay for '' Summer of Sam'' (1999) with Spike Lee, and wrote five episodes of ''The Sopranos''. He made his directorial feature film debut with '' The Hungry Ghosts'' (2008), which he also wrote.

For his role as Dominic Di Grasso in the second season of HBO series ''The White Lotus'' (2022) he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. On stage, he made his Broadway debut in the revival of the Henrik Ibsen play '' An Enemy of the People'' (2024).

Early life and education

Imperioli was born on March 26, 1966, in Mount Vernon, New York. His father, Dominic Ralph Imperioli, was a bus driver and amateur actor, and his mother, Claire Linda (Luzzi), was a department store worker and amateur actress. His ancestors immigrated to New York City from Lazio, Sicily, and Oriolo, Cosenza, Calabria in Italy.

At age 11, Imperioli and his family moved to Brewster, New York, and in high school he began watching Broadway plays. After graduating from Brewster High School in 1983, Imperioli planned on studying pre-med at the State University of New York at Albany. The night before he was set to begin college, he confided in his parents that he sought to be an actor. At age 17, Imperioli then moved to Manhattan's East Village, where he enrolled at Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute to study acting. While there, he met John Ventimiglia, who later portrayed Artie Bucco on ''The Sopranos'', and the two became roommates.

In the early 1990s, Imperioli performed as lead vocalist of the New Jersey-based jangle pop band Wild Carnation, departing to focus on his acting career prior to the release of their debut recordings in 1993.

Career

Imperioli has been nominated for two Golden Globe Awards and five Emmy Awards for his work as Christopher Moltisanti on ''The Sopranos''. He won one Emmy for the fifth season of ''The Sopranos'' 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''.

Imperioli served as artistic director of Studio Dante, an Off-Broadway theater he formed with his wife. He 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 the "San Giuseppe" episode of Mario Batali's Food Network television show ''Molto Mario''. In 2010, Imperioli signed on to play the lead in the ABC television 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.

Imperioli 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 the NBC drama series '' Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector''. Imperioli co-hosts a podcast with Steve Schirripa titled '' Talking Sopranos'', which began on April 6, 2020. 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; the book titled ''Woke Up This Morning: The Definitive Oral History of The Sopranos'' was released on November 2, 2021. 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. Imperioli is the guitarist and vocalist for the band Zopa. In 2020, Zopa released their debut album entitled ''La Dolce Vita''. In 2021, Zopa headlined the Freakout Festival in Seattle.

Imperioli portrayed Andrew Cuomo in the Showtime limited series '' Escape at Dannemora'' (2018), Angelo Dundee in the Regina King directed '' One Night in Miami'' (2020), and served as narrator in the 2021 ''Sopranos'' prequel film, '' The Many Saints of Newark''. In January 2022, Imperioli was cast in a lead role in the second season of the HBO dark comedy series '' The White Lotus''. For his performance he received a nomination for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. In 2023 it was announced that Imperioli would make his Broadway debut in the 2024 Sam Gold-directed adaptation of the Henrik Ibsen play '' An Enemy of the People'', acting alongside Jeremy Strong and Victoria Pedretti at the Circle in the Square Theatre. He acted in the Paul Schrader directed film '' Oh, Canada'' which premiered at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.

Personal life

Imperioli married Victoria Chlebowski in 1996. They have homes on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and previously in Santa Barbara, California, and have three children. He and his family are avid practitioners of Tae Kwon Do. In 2008, Imperioli became a Buddhist.

Imperioli is a fan of the animated sitcom ''American Dad!''. He has stated that ''American Dad!'' is his favorite TV show in several interviews and even appeared in an episode voicing the character Roger's father Fred.

Filmography

Film

Television

Podcasts

Theatre

Awards and nominations

References

External links

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LA Yoga Magazine - Michael Imperioli; This Is The Way Of The Bodhisattva

{{DEFAULTSORT:Imperioli, Michael
1966 births
20th-century American male actors
21st-century American male actors
American Buddhists
American male film actors
American male taekwondo practitioners
American male television actors
American people of Italian descent
American film and television podcasters
Converts to Buddhism
Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute alumni
Living people
Male actors from Mount Vernon, New York
Outstanding Performance by a Supporting Actor in a Drama Series Primetime Emmy Award winners
People of Calabrian descent
People of Lazian descent
People of Sicilian descent
Theatre World Award winners
20th-century American sportsmen