Say goodbye to ‘The Sopranos’? Fuhgeddaboudit! See what the actors of HBO’s iconic mob drama are doing today
The Sopranos premiered on Jan. 10, 1999, heralding a new era of television at the turn of the millennium. In its time, the series scored 21 Primetime Emmys, five Golden Globes and two Peabody Awards, among other accolades.
Though the diner went dark on June 10, 2007, a 2021 prequel film, The Many Saints of Newark — starring James Gandolfini’s son, Michael Gandolfini, as a young Tony Soprano — welcomed a new generation of fans and kept interest in the series going.
In January 2024, the show celebrated its 25th anniversary, and the creator, David Chase, reminisced with PEOPLE about the impact of his legendary plot. “I still feel this tremendous sense of gratitude that it’s still going on,” he said. “I can’t remember this happening with any other television show ever.”
“It’s the best thing I’ve ever done,” Chase added. “It’s probably the best thing I ever will do.”
Here are all the details on what the cast is up to now.
01
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James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano
As a ruthless New Jersey mob boss and duck-loving family man working in “waste management,” Gandolfini’s Tony Soprano left a lasting legacy as one of the most darkly fascinating characters on TV.
Before his big break as Tony — which earned him three Emmys, three Screen Actors Guild Awards and a Golden Globe — the actor had been working for nearly a decade, with small parts in a number of films, including Angie (1994), alongside Aida Turturro, who would later play his sister Janice on The Sopranos.
Post-Sopranos, Gandolfini executive produced several HBO projects, including Hemingway & Gellhorn and The Night Of (with a posthumous credit). He continued to star heavily in mob dramas, such as Killing Them Softly (2012) and The Drop (2014), released posthumously.
Gandolfini died unexpectedly from a heart attack in 2013. He was 51.
From 1999 to 2002, the actor was married to producer Marcy Wudarski, with whom he shared his son Michael. He later wed model-actress Deborah Lin in 2008, with whom he welcomed his daughter Liliana.
Over 10 years after his death, Lorraine Bracco, who played Tony’s psychiatrist, Dr. Melfi, reflected on her favorite moments with Gandolfini. For the show’s 25th anniversary in 2024, the actress told PEOPLE that she remembers Gandolfini as a “very committed actor.”
“I would forget that I was in the scene with him,” she said. “And I would watch him, because he had a lot of monologues, which is very rare in television, and he would want to shoot them all together in one go. I used to love to watch him do that.”
02
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Edie Falco as Carmela Soprano
Edie Falco had a number of parts in crime and mob dramas before landing the starring role of Tony’s wife, Carmela, in which she painted a brutal yet brilliant portrait of the pair’s marital roller coaster.
Falco earned three Emmys, three SAG Awards and two Golden Globes for her turn as the OG Jersey housewife. She went on to star as a drug-addicted nurse on Nurse Jackie, which ran from 2009 to 2015 and earned her another Emmy.
Since then, Falco — a mother of two children, son Anderson and daughter Macy, whom she welcomed by adoption in 2005 and 2008, respectively — has starred on several TV series, including Horace and Pete, Law & Order True Crime, Tommy and more.
She also played former first lady Hillary Clinton on 2021’s Impeachment: American Crime Story and portrays Pete Davison’s mother, Amy, on the Peacock series Bupkis, based on the comedian’s life. In 2022, Falco appeared in the Oscar-nominated Avatar: The Way of Water and will reprise her role in the film’s sequel, Avatar 3.
03
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Jamie-Lynn Sigler as Meadow Soprano
Before her career-making role as the smart, sassy and incredibly spoiled Meadow, Jamie-Lynn Sigler’s biggest role had been starring in a Mariah Carey music video. Since The Sopranos, she’s had a number of roles in film (including 2019’s Mob Town) and predominantly on TV, with recurring roles on Entourage (as herself), Ugly Betty, Guys with Kids and Big Sky.
Sigler was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) at age 20. As a spokesperson for the pharmaceutical company Novartis, the actress has devoted her life to helping others living with the disease.
“A lot of the times with a diagnosis it can be fear, depression, sadness, grief,” she told PEOPLE in 2023. “I really came to this place of understanding, processing those feelings, and stepped into this place of acceptance. … People really like to be helpful. People really want to help.”
Sigler shares sons Beau and Jack Adam with husband Cutter Dykstra, whom she wed in 2016. She was previously married to A.J. DiScala from 2003 until 2005.
The actress’ on-screen brother A.J. Soprano was played by Robert Iler, who Sigler has said still plays a huge role in her and her kids’ lives.
“Robert is my best friend. He’s my kid’s Uncle Rob,” she told PEOPLE in January 2024, for the show’s 25th anniversary. “He spends Thanksgiving and Christmas with me and my family every single year. He followed me to Austin and moved there.”
She added, “We have a unique chemistry and bond that just goes beyond Meadow and A.J.”
04
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Robert Iler as A.J. Soprano
A spoiled slacker with an underlying anxiety disorder, Iler’s A.J. was always causing trouble in the HBO series. Two years after the show ended, Iler guest-starred on an episode of Law & Order but otherwise stepped away from the spotlight to pursue a career in the professional poker world in Las Vegas.
“The only thing I have done since Sopranos is I got called to do jury duty and I didn’t want to do jury duty … so twice, to get out of jury duty, I did an episode of Law and Order,” he told The Hollywood Reporter in a rare interview in 2020. He also spoke out about his past of substance misuse and addiction, revealing that he was seven years sober at the time.
He and Sigler co-hosted the Pajama Pants podcast with YouTuber Kassem G, which ended in December 2022.
05
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Lorraine Bracco as Jennifer Melfi
As Tony’s psychiatrist, Bracco’s character was privy to information — however couched in metaphor or sanitized details — that no one else in his life was. Through all their scenes together, Bracco told PEOPLE in 2024 that she and Gandolfini “pranked each other a lot.”
Bracco was nominated for three Golden Globes, three Emmys and three SAG Awards for her turn as Dr. Melfi. Having been in the industry for two decades when The Sopranos first aired, Bracco was already famous for her role in another mob project, Goodfellas (1990).
After the series ended, she narrated the 2011 show I Married a Mobster and starred on Rizzoli & Isles from 2010 to 2016. She’s since made brief stints on Blue Bloods and Jerk, and in 2020, she purchased a home in Sicily for one euro and documented the renovation on the HGTV miniseries My Big Italian Adventure. She also voiced Sofia the Seagull in Disney+’s live-action Pinocchio (2022).
From 1979 to 1982, Bracco was married to Daniel Guerard, with whom she welcomed a daughter, actress Margaux Guerard. She welcomed her second child, daughter Stella Keitel, with actor Harvey Keitel in 1985. The actress later married actor Edward James Olmos in 1994, and the couple divorced in 2002.
06
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Michael Imperioli as Christopher Moltisanti
Michael Imperioli’s swaggering, erratic Christopher was one of the show’s most iconic characters. Before his turn as Tony’s nephew and would-be successor — which earned him an Emmy and two SAG Awards — Imperioli starred as Spider in Goodfellas.
Since then, he’s continued to work on both the small and big screen, focusing on detective roles, which he played in TV shows like Life on Mars, Detroit 1-8-7 and Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector. He portrayed former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on an episode of Ben Stiller’s Escape at Dannemora and starred in season 2 of HBO’s The White Lotus. He reprised the role of Christopher as the narrator for the Sopranos prequel film, The Many Saints of Newark.
Imperioli co-hosted the Talking Sopranos podcast with former costar Steve Schirripa (who played Bobby Baccalieri) from April 2020 to December 2021; the pair also wrote a book together, 2021’s Woke Up This Morning: The Definitive Oral History of The Sopranos. He will make his Broadway debut in a 2024 revival of Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People.
Since 1996, Imperioli has been married to Victoria Chlebowski, with whom he shares three children.
07
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Drea de Matteo as Adriana La Cerva
Drea de Matteo earned an Emmy for her heart-wrenching turn as Christopher’s girlfriend-turned-fiancée-turned-FBI informant. After her time on The Sopranos, she took on the role of Gina Tribbiani, Joey Tribbiani’s sister, on his eponymous Friends spinoff from 2004 to 2006.
She’s since landed a number of roles on other popular TV series, including Sons of Anarchy, Desperate Housewives, A Million Little Things, Paradise City and more.
In 2020, the actress co-hosted a podcast, Made Women, with longtime friend Chris Kushner, which often delves into behind-the-scenes moments from The Sopranos. The co-hosts also launched a mob-themed wine, “Gangster Goddess” Pinot Noir.
De Matteo shares two children, daughter Alabama Gypsy Rose and son Waylon Albert, from her previous relationship with musician Shooter Jennings, to whom she was engaged. Since 2015, the actress has been engaged to former Whitesnake bassist Michael Devin.
08
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Tony Sirico as Paulie Gualtieri
Paulie “Walnuts” was one of Tony’s right-hand men as a captain and, later, a particularly violent underboss in the DiMeo crime family. Tony Sirico and many of his Sopranos costars also previously starred in Goodfellas.
After The Sopranos, he appeared in a handful of short films, with his most notable roles being in Woody Allen’s Café Society (2016) and Wonder Wheel (2017). He did voice work, including on Family Guy — voicing the family dog, Vinny — from 2013 to 2016, and American Dad!, voicing mobster Enzo Perotti from 2017 to 2019.
On July 8, 2022, Sirico’s family announced his death at age 79. In a tribute on social media, Sopranos costar Imperioli wrote: “Tony was like no one else: he was as tough, as loyal and as big hearted as anyone I’ve ever known.”
Sirico is survived by his two children, daughter Joanne Sirico Bello and son Richard Sirico.
09
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Steven Van Zandt as Silvio Dante
Another member of Tony’s inner circle, Steven Van Zandt’s Silvio eventually became the mob boss’s consigliere, or advisor. Van Zandt continued tapping into mafia-related roles, including as a New York mob boss on Lilyhammer, a Norwegian American series that aired from 2012 to 2014, and in The Irishman (2019), alongside Al Pacino himself, whom Silvio often impersonated.
Offscreen, Van Zandt is most famously known as “Little Steven,” the guitarist of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band. He also published a memoir, Unrequited Infatuations, in 2021.
He has been married to actress Maureen Santoro since 1982.
10
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Vincent Pastore as Salvatore “Big Pussy” Bonpensiero
While his time on the show was briefer than many of the other members of Tony’s inner circle, Vincent Pastore’s “Big Pussy” — named for his character’s early career as a cat burglar — had a lasting impact.
Pastore has more than 180 acting credits to his name, including a stint on General Hospital in 2008 and a slew of appearances in films like Mickey Blue Eyes (1999), The Family (2013) and Spinning Gold (2023).
Apart from acting, Pastore launched his own line of pasta sauce, Vincent Pastore’s Italian Sauce, in 2019. He has one child, daughter Renee, from his previous marriage to Nancy Berke.
11
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Dominic Chianese as Corrado “Junior” Soprano
Dominic Chianese got his start as Johnny Ola in The Godfather Part II (1974) before famously portraying Tony’s Uncle Junior, a mentor who is the technical head of the family for much of the series.
After The Sopranos, Chianese landed roles on HBO’s Boardwalk Empire from 2011 to 2013, CBS’ The Good Wife from 2012 to 2015 and NBC’s The Village in 2019.
Chianese has also pursued a career in music, having released two albums: 2001’s Hits and 2003’s Ungrateful Heart. He also authored a memoir, Twelve Angels: The Women Who Taught Me How to Act, Live, and Love, published in 2018.
12
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Aida Turturro as Janice Soprano
Aida Turturro began acting in the late ’90s with roles in films including Sleepers (1996) and Deep Blue Sea (1999) before her big break as Tony’s narcissistic and drama-rousing elder sister, Janice.
In the years since, she’s made appearances in a handful of TV shows and movies, guest-starring on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit numerous times from 2013 to 2023 and landing a recurring role on NBC’s mob drama The Blacklist from 2017 to 2023.