Aleksa Federici Palladino (born September 21, 1980) is an American actress and singer, perhaps best known for her lead roles in '' Manny & Lo'', ''

The Adventures of Sebastian Cole ''The Adventures of Sebastian Cole'' is a 1998 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Tod Williams and starring Adrian Grenier as the title character. Plot In June 1983 in Dutchess County, New York, Sebastian Cole's stepmother, who ...

'', ''

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 or ...

'', Angela Darmody in the HBO crime series ''

Boardwalk Empire ''Boardwalk Empire'' is an American period crime drama television series created by Terence Winter and broadcast on the premium cable channel HBO. The series is set chiefly in Atlantic City, New Jersey, during the Prohibition era of the 1920 ...

'' (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 comes from t ...

'' (2007), '' The Midnight Swim'' (2014), Mary Sheeran in ''

The Irishman ''The Irishman'' (subtitled onscreen as ''I Heard You Paint Houses'') is a 2019 American epic gangster film directed and produced by Martin Scorsese and written by Steven Zaillian, based on the 2004 nonfiction book ''I Heard You Paint Hou ...

'' (2019), and '' No Man of God'' (2021). She also played a main role in the second season of the AMC 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).

Life and acting career

Aleksa Federici 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, psychological horror and fantasy, much of which has been dramatized for radio, cinema and television. He also wrote a relatively small ...

's 1959 novel Psycho. An episode of ''

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel ''The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel'' is an American period comedy-drama television series, created by Amy Sherman-Palladino, that premiered on March 17, 2017, on Amazon Prime Video. Set in the late 1950s and early 1960s, it stars Rachel Brosnahan as ...

'', created by

Amy Sherman-Palladino Amy Sherman-Palladino (born January 17, 1966) is an American television writer, director, and producer. She is the creator of the comedy-drama series ''Gilmore Girls'', ''Bunheads'', and ''The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel''. Sherman-Palladino has rec ...

, 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 ( , ; scn, Tràpani ; lat, Drepanum; grc, Δρέπανον) is a city and municipality (''comune'') 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 impor ...

, 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 danc ...

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 photo ...

. Palladino's ancestral origins are in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

and

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

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

Scarlett Johansson Scarlett Ingrid Johansson (; born November 22, 1984) is an American actress. The world's highest-paid actress in 2018 and 2019, she has featured multiple times on the ''Forbes'' Celebrity 100 list. ''Time'' magazine named her one of the 100 ...

, 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 any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

''Number One Fan'' with

Glenn Fitzgerald Glenn Fitzgerald (born December 21, 1971) is an American actor of stage, film, and television. Career His film roles have included Homicide Detective Anderson in Kathryn Bigelow's ''Detroit''; Lonnie, the son of Alan Alda and Lily Tomlin's ch ...

, and soon appeared in ''Wrestling with Alligators'' with

Joely Richardson Joely Kim Richardson (born 9 January 1965) is an English actress. She is known for her roles as Julia McNamara in the FX drama series ''Nip/Tuck'' (2003–10) and Katherine Parr in the Showtime series ''The Tudors'' (2010). She has also appeared ...

, the well-received ''

'' with

Adrian Grenier Adrian Sean Grenier (born July 10, 1976) is an American actor, producer, director and musician. He is best known for his portrayal of Vincent Chase in the television series ''Entourage (American TV series), Entourage'' (2004–2011). He has appe ...

, 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 produced outside the major film studio system, in addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies (or, i ...

''Lonesome'', and ''

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

'' with

Selma Blair Selma Blair Beitner (born June 23, 1972) is an American actress. She played a number of roles in films and on television before obtaining recognition for her leading role in the film '' Brown's Requiem'' (1998). Her breakthrough came when she s ...

. She then had guest appearances in ''

Law & Order: Criminal Intent ''Law & Order: Criminal Intent'' is an American police procedural Drama (film and television), drama television series set in New York City, where it was also primarily produced. Created and Executive producer#Motion pictures and television, p ...

'' (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 story revolves around Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a New Jersey-based American Mafia, Italian-American mobster, portraying h ...

'' and ''

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

''. In 2004, Palladino returned to acting with a guest appearance on ''

Medium Medium may refer to: Science and technology Aviation *Medium bomber, a class of war plane *Tecma Medium, a French hang glider design Communication * Media (communication), tools used to store and deliver information or data * Medium of ...

'', followed by her lead role in ''Spectropia'' and a supporting one in ''

'' with

Vin Diesel Mark Sinclair (born July 18, 1967), known professionally as Vin Diesel, is an American actor. One of the world's highest-grossing actors, he is best known for playing Dominic Toretto in the ''Fast & Furious'' franchise. Diesel began audition ...

. After she worked in ''Find Me Guilty'', director

Sidney Lumet Sidney Arthur Lumet ( ; June 25, 1924 – April 9, 2011) was an American film director. He was nominated five times for the Academy Award: four for Best Director for ''12 Angry Men'' (1957), ''Dog Day Afternoon'' (1975), ''Network'' (1976), ...

offered Palladino the role of Chris Lasorda in ''

''. She then appeared in ''

The Picture of Dorian Gray ''The Picture of Dorian Gray'' is a philosophical fiction, philosophical novel by Irish writer Oscar Wilde. A shorter novella-length version was published in the July 1890 issue of the American periodical ''Lippincott's Monthly Magazine''.''Th ...

'', based on

the novel ''The Novel'' (1991) is a novel written by American author James A. Michener. A departure from Michener's better known historical fiction, ''The Novel'' is told from the viewpoints of four different characters involved in the life and work of ...

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...

, 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 ...

-era gangster

Jimmy Darmody James Edison Darmody is a fictional character in the television show ''Boardwalk Empire'', played by Michael Pitt. He is one of the main characters in the first two seasons of the series. Unlike most of the other main characters in the series, Jim ...

closeted ''Closeted'' and ''in the closet'' are metaphors for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender and other (LGBTQ+) people who have not disclosed their sexual orientation or gender identity and aspects thereof, including sexual identity and human ...

wife Angela in the HBO series ''

'' 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 November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominatio ...

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

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

and received only a

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

Musical career and personal life

For over ten years she was the lead singer and songwriter of the band Exitmusic, which she formed with her husband Devon Church. After a self-released album in 2007, the band released an EP in 2011 and a full-length album in 2012 for the indie label

Secretly Canadian Secretly Canadian is an American independent record label based in Bloomington, Indiana, with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Austin, London, Paris, Amsterdam, and Berlin. Secretly Canadian is a label included in Secretly Group, which ...

. A final album followed in 2018 for Felte Records. Palladino met Church in 2001 while on a cross Canada train trip. They married on September 30, 2004, before separating in 2013. Their divorce was finalized in 2015. They had no children together.

Discography

with Duo ''Exitmusic'' * ''The Decline of the West'' (self-released, 2007) * ''From Silence'' (EP) (

, 2011) * ''Passage'' (Secretly Canadian, 2012) * ''The Recognitions'' (Felte, 2018)

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

*
Band MySpace
{{DEFAULTSORT:Palladino, Aleksa 1980 births Living people 20th-century American actresses 20th-century American singers 21st-century American actresses 21st-century American singers 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