This high school heartthrob’s evolution into TV legend is truly inspiring

The late James Gandolfini wasn’t always the hulking, balding man the world grew to love as a ruthless yet sensitive mobster on The Sopranos.

Iconic for his portrayal of the philandering Tony Soprano, who had better luck being loyal to his mob family than his own family, Gandolfini was equally frisky in his younger years, decades before he played the enigmatic violent sociopath on The Sopranos.

Born September 18, 1961, James Gandolfini was best known as the affable Tony Soprano, the Mafia crime boss, and the family patriarch in HBO’s The Sopranos.

Sometimes sensitive, other times sociopathic, Gandolfini’s landmark performance of the flawed gangster earned him numerous awards and international acclaim.

Tragedy in Rome

But, along with the legendary actor, the elder Soprano died on June 19, 2013, after a heart attack claimed the life of the beloved 51-year-old star.

The Jersey-born man was travelling with his family in Italy and was in the hotel with his then 13-year-old son Michael when he had a heart attack and died.

Gandolfini left behind his wife Deborah Lin, who he married in 2008, daughter Liliane (born 2012), and Michael, who he shares with first wife, Marcy Wudarski.

Almost 10 years later, Michael landed the biggest role of his life, playing the role of a young Tony Soprano in The Many Saints of Newark.

In September 2021, Michael spoke with the New York Times about capturing the complexity of the character his father so effortlessly played.

“I was always like, ‘I want to make my dad proud. I want to make my dad proud.’” The then 22-year-old actor continued, “I truly wasn’t aware of the legacy of him…My dad was just my dad.”

Though it’s cliché, Michael is his dad. The man inherited many of his father’s features and characteristics, like the sleepy yet inviting eyes, a menacing smirk and the soft voice mixed with the colorful language.

“The pressure is real,” he said of playing the mafia don as a youngster. “Not only was it the feeling of my dad – it was like, Tony Soprano is a f***ing hard character.”

‘Biggest flirt’

Before Gandolfini had three Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe resting on his mantel, he was a regular Italian American kid growing up with his working-class family in a modest Westwood, New Jersey home.

His father served as the building maintenance chief at a Catholic school, and his mother worked as a lunch lady in a high school. He was a “happy, cute little boy,” as described by childhood chum Pam Donlan, who would later become a highly respected actor in Hollywood.

In 1979, the young man, who stood just over 6 ft., was a senior at Park Ridge High School in New Jersey, where he was one of the popular kids.