Michael Rispoli is an American
character actor
A character actor is a supporting actor who plays unusual, interesting, or eccentric characters.28 April 2013, The New York Acting SchoolTen Best Character Actors of All Time Retrieved 7 August 2014, "..a breed of actor who has the ability to b ...
.
[ He was a contender for the role of ]Tony Soprano
Anthony John Soprano is a fictional character and the antihero protagonist in the HBO television drama series ''The Sopranos'' (1999–2007), portrayed by James Gandolfini. Soprano is a member of the American Mafia, Italian-American Mafia and, ...
in the HBO
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
television series ''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 ...
,''[ but was ultimately cast as Jackie Aprile, a recurring character in the show’s first season. Rispoli reunited with ''Sopranos'' co-star ]James Gandolfini
James Joseph Gandolfini Jr. (; September 18, 1961 – June 19, 2013) was an American actor. For his role as Tony Soprano, the Italian-American Mafia crime boss in HBO's television series ''The Sopranos'', he won three Emmy Awards, five Scree ...
in the 2009 thriller '' The Taking of Pelham 123''.
Early life and education
Rispoli, a second-generation Italian American
Italian Americans ( it, italoamericani or ''italo-americani'', ) are Americans who have full or partial Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeast and industrial Midwestern metropolitan areas, ...
, was raised in Tappan, New York
Tappan ( ) is a hamlet and census-designated place in the town of Orangetown, Rockland County, New York. It is located northwest of Alpine, New Jersey, north of Northvale, New Jersey and Rockleigh, New Jersey, northeast of Old Tappan, New ...
, one of eight children,[ and attended ]Tappan Zee High School
Tappan Zee High School is a public high school located in Orangeburg, New York in Rockland County. The school serves students in grades 9-12 and is part of the South Orangetown Central School District. The school derives its name from the near ...
, where he played football.[Rodriguez, Justin]
"Actor trades Hollywood glitz for life in Pine Bush"
''Times Herald-Record
The ''Times Herald-Record'', often referred to as ''The Record'' or ''Middletown Record'' in its coverage area, is a daily newspaper published in Middletown, New York, covering the northwest suburbs of New York City. It covers Orange, Sullivan ...
'', July 26, 2014. Accessed October 27, 2018. "Rispoli actually first heard of Pine Bush as a senior at Tappan Zee High School in 1977.... Michael Rispoli fell in love with Pine Bush. It reminded him of home, it still does. He grew up in Tappan, where his parents ran a hardware store." He majored in theater at State University of New York at Plattsburgh
The State University of New York College at Plattsburgh (SUNY Plattsburgh) is a public college in Plattsburgh, New York. The college was founded in 1889 and officially opened in 1890. The college is part of the State University of New York (SUN ...
and graduated in 1982.[
]
Career
The feature film ''Union Square
Union commonly refers to:
* Trade union, an organization of workers
* Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets
Union may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Music
* Union (band), an American rock group
** ''Un ...
'' (co-written and directed by Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...
Grand Jury Award winner Nancy Savoca
Nancy Laura Savoca (born July 23, 1959) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter.
Early life and education
Nancy Laura Savoca was born in 1959 in the Bronx, New York, to Argentine and Sicilian immigrants Maria Elvira and Carlos S ...
) premiered in 2011 at the Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...
: Rispoli co-stars with Mira Sorvino
Mira Katherine Sorvino (; born September 28, 1967) is an American actress. She won the Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Woody Allen's ''Mighty Aphrodite'' (1995).
She also starred in the films ...
, Patti LuPone
Patti Ann LuPone (born April 21, 1949) is an American actress and singer best known for her work in musical theater. She has won three Tony Awards, two Olivier Awards, two Grammy Awards, and was a 2006 inductee to the American Theater Hall of Fa ...
, Tammy Blanchard
Tammy Blanchard (born December 14, 1976) is an American actress. She rose to prominence for her role as teenage Judy Garland in the critically acclaimed television film '' Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows'' (2001), for which she received ...
, Mike Doyle Michael, Mick or Mike Doyle may refer to:
Politics
* Michael Doyle (Irish politician), Irish Farmers' Party politician from Wexford, TD from 1922 to 1927
*Michael Doyle, alleged member of the Molly Maguires
*Mike Doyle (American politician) (born ...
, and Daphne Rubin-Vega
Daphne Rubin-Vega ( Vega; born November 18, 1969) is a Panamanian-American actress, dancer, and singer-songwriter. She is best known for originating the roles of Mimi Marquez in the Broadway musical ''Rent'' and Lucy in the Off-Broadway play ''J ...
.
He also starred in the Pulitzer Prize-winning play '' Between Riverside and Crazy'' by Stephen Adly Guirgis
Stephen Adly Guirgis is a Pulitzer Prize Winning American playwright, screenwriter, director, and actor. He is a member and a former co-artistic director of New York City's LAByrinth Theater Company.Blake, Leslie (Hoban)"Comin' Uptown" ''Theater ...
.
Filmography
Film and TV Movies
Television
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rispoli, Michael
1960 births
Living people
People from Tappan, New York
Male actors from New York (state)
American male film actors
American male television actors
Circle in the Square Theatre School alumni
State University of New York at Plattsburgh alumni
American people of Italian descent