Michael Imperioli
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Michael Imperioli (born March 26, 1966) is an American actor, writer, and musician. He is best known for his role as
Christopher Moltisanti Christopher Moltisanti, played by Michael Imperioli, is a fictional character on the HBO TV series ''The Sopranos''. He is Tony Soprano's protégé and a member of the DiMeo crime family, rising from associate to captain over the course of th ...
in the HBO crime drama ''
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 ...
'' (1999–2007), which earned him the
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series This is a list of winners and nominees of the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. In early Primetime Emmy Award ceremonies, the supporting categories were not always genre, or even gender, specific. Beginnin ...
in 2004. He gained recognition in the early part of his career for his role as Spider 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 ''
Goodfellas ''Goodfellas'' (stylized ''GoodFellas'') is a 1990 American biographical crime film directed by Martin Scorsese, written by Nicholas Pileggi and Scorsese, and produced by Irwin Winkler. It is a film adaptation of the 1985 nonfiction book '' W ...
'' (1990). He has had supporting roles in films such as '' Jungle Fever'' (1991), '' Bad Boys'' (1995), '' The Basketball Diaries'' (1995), ''
Shark Tale ''Shark Tale'' is a 2004 American computer-animated comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by DreamWorks Pictures. The film was directed by Vicky Jenson, Bibo Bergeron, and Rob Letterman (in his feature directorial de ...
'' (2004) and ''
The Lovely Bones ''The Lovely Bones'' is a 2002 novel by American writer Alice Sebold. It is the story of a teenage girl who, after being raped and murdered, watches from her personal Heaven as her family and friends struggle to move on with their lives while sh ...
'' (2009), as well as in the HBO drama series ''
The White Lotus ''The White Lotus'' is an American black comedy-drama anthology television series created by Mike White for HBO. It follows the guests and employees of the fictional White Lotus resort chain, whose stay is affected by their various psychosoc ...
'' (2022-present). Imperioli is a successful
screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...
, co-writing the screenplay for ''
Summer of Sam ''Summer of Sam'' is a 1999 American crime thriller film about the 1977 David Berkowitz (Son of Sam) serial murders and their effect on a group of fictional residents of an Italian-American neighborhood in The Bronx in the late 1970s. The kille ...
'' (1999) with
Spike Lee Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, has produced more than 35 films since 1983. He made his directorial debut ...
, writing five episodes of ''The Sopranos'', and writing as well as directing the feature film ''
The Hungry Ghosts ''The Hungry Ghosts'' is a 2009 American dramatic film written and directed by Michael Imperioli. The film marked his directorial feature debut. Plot Matthew (Emory Cohen) is a teenage boy in New York who attends therapy with his father Frank (S ...
'' (2008).


Early life

Imperioli was born in
Mount Vernon, New York Mount Vernon is a city in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County, New York (state), New York, United States. It is an inner suburb of New York City, immediately to the north of the Borough (New York City), borough of the Bronx. As of t ...
. He is the son of Dan Imperioli, a bus driver and amateur actor, and Claire Imperioli, a department store worker and amateur actress. He is of
Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...
descent. At age 11, Imperioli and his family moved to
Brewster, New York Brewster is a village and the principal settlement within the town of Southeast in Putnam County, New York. Its population was 2,390 at the time of the 2010 census. The village, which is the most densely populated portion of the county, was nam ...
, and in high school started watching
Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
plays. After graduating from Brewster High School in 1983, Imperioli planned on studying
pre-med Pre-medical (often referred to as pre-med) is an educational track that undergraduate students in the United States pursue prior to becoming medical students. It involves activities that prepare a student for medical school, such as pre-med course ...
at the
State University of New York at Albany The State University of New York at Albany, commonly referred to as the University at Albany, UAlbany or SUNY Albany, is a public research university with campuses in Albany, Rensselaer, and Guilderland, New York. Founded in 1844, it is one ...
. Shortly before he was to start college, he instead enrolled at
Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute (originally the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute) is an acting school founded in 1969 by actor, director, and acting teacher Lee Strasberg. The Institute is located in Union Square on East 15th Street, a ...
to study acting.


Career

Imperioli has been nominated for two Golden Globe Awards and five Emmy Awards for his work as
Christopher Moltisanti Christopher Moltisanti, played by Michael Imperioli, is a fictional character on the HBO TV series ''The Sopranos''. He is Tony Soprano's protégé and a member of the DiMeo crime family, rising from associate to captain over the course of th ...
on ''
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 ...
''. 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 ''Goodfellas'' (stylized ''GoodFellas'') is a 1990 American biographical crime film directed by Martin Scorsese, written by Nicholas Pileggi and Scorsese, and produced by Irwin Winkler. It is a film adaptation of the 1985 nonfiction book '' W ...
'', '' Jungle Fever'', '' Bad Boys'', ''
Malcolm X Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little, later Malik el-Shabazz; May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965) was an American Muslim minister and human rights activist who was a prominent figure during the civil rights movement. A spokesman for the Nation of Is ...
'', '' The Basketball Diaries'', '' Clockers'', ''
Dead Presidents ''Dead Presidents'' is a 1995 American crime film co-written, produced and directed by the Hughes Brothers. The film chronicles the life of Anthony Curtis (Larenz Tate), focusing on his teenage years as a high school graduate and his experience ...
'', '' Girl 6'', ''
My Baby's Daddy ''My Baby's Daddy'' is a 2004 American comedy film, directed by Cheryl Dunye. Plot Childhood friends Lonnie, G, and Dominic have a rude awakening when they find out their girlfriends are pregnant. Lonnie and G have sons names Carver and Bruce-Ler ...
'', '' Lean on Me'', ''
I Shot Andy Warhol ''I Shot Andy Warhol'' is a 1996 biographical drama film about the life of Valerie Solanas and her relationship with the artist Andy Warhol. The film marked the feature film directorial debut of Canadian director Mary Harron. The film stars ...
'', '' Last Man Standing'', ''
Shark Tale ''Shark Tale'' is a 2004 American computer-animated comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by DreamWorks Pictures. The film was directed by Vicky Jenson, Bibo Bergeron, and Rob Letterman (in his feature directorial de ...
'', '' High Roller: The Stu Ungar Story'', and ''
Summer of Sam ''Summer of Sam'' is a 1999 American crime thriller film about the 1977 David Berkowitz (Son of Sam) serial murders and their effect on a group of fictional residents of an Italian-American neighborhood in The Bronx in the late 1970s. The kille ...
'', 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 An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...
he formed with his wife. He is an active member of The
Jazz Foundation of America The Jazz Foundation of America (JFA) is a non-profit organization based in Manhattan, New York that was founded in 1989. Its programs seek to help jazz and blues musicians in need of emergency funds and connect them with performance opportunitie ...
and co-hosted their May 2009 annual benefit concert, "A Great Night in
Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan), ...
", at the Apollo Theater, which celebrated the foundation's 20th anniversary. He was a guest on the "San Giuseppe" episode of
Mario Batali Mario Francesco Batali (born September 19, 1960) is an American chef, writer, and restaurateur. Batali co-owned restaurants in New York City; Las Vegas; Los Angeles; and Newport Beach, California; Boston; Singapore; Westport, Connecticut; and ...
's
Food Network Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (which holds a 69% ownership stake of the network) and Nexstar Media Group ...
television show ''Molto Mario''. In 2010, Imperioli signed on to play the lead in the ABC television show ''
Detroit 1-8-7 ''Detroit 1-8-7'' is an American police procedural drama series about the Detroit Police Department's leading homicide unit, created by Jason Richman for ABC. It featured an ensemble cast of actors including Michael Imperioli and James McDaniel. ...
''. 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 The Queens Museum, formerly the Queens Museum of Art, is an art museum and educational center located in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in the borough (New York City), borough of Queens in New York City, United States. The museum was founded in 1 ...
in 2011. Imperioli won the Tournament of Stars competition on the cooking show ''
Chopped Chopped can have the following meanings: * Chopped and screwed Chopped and screwed (also called screwed and chopped or slowed and throwed) is a music genre and technique of remixing music that involves slowing down the tempo and deejaying. It ...
'' in 2014, sending $50,000 to his designated charity the Pureland Project, an organization which builds and maintains schools in rural
Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...
. In 2016, he guest starred as the angel
Uriel Uriel or Auriel ( he, אוּרִיאֵל ''ʾŪrīʾēl'', " El/God is my flame"; el, Οὐριήλ ''Oúriēl''; cop, ⲟⲩⲣⲓⲏⲗ ''Ouriēl''; it, Uriele; Geʽez and Amharic: or ) is the name of one of the archangels who is menti ...
on the Fox show ''
Lucifer Lucifer is one of various figures in folklore associated with the planet Venus. The entity's name was subsequently absorbed into Christianity as a name for the devil. Modern scholarship generally translates the term in the relevant Bible passage ...
''. On March 13, 2019, Imperioli was cast in the lead role of Rick Sellitto in the
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
drama series '' Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector''. Imperioli co-hosts a
podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...
with
Steve Schirripa Steven Ralph Schirripa ( ; born September 3, 1957) is an American actor. He is best known for portraying Bobby Baccalieri on ''The Sopranos'', Leo Boykewich on ''The Secret Life of the American Teenager'', and Detective Anthony Abetemarco on ' ...
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 HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Cor ...
book imprint
William Morrow and Company William Morrow and Company is an American publishing company founded by William Morrow in 1926. The company was acquired by Scott Foresman in 1967, sold to Hearst Corporation in 1981, and sold to News Corporation (now News Corp) in 1999. ...
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 ''A Streetcar Named Desire'' is a play written by Tennessee Williams and first performed on Broadway on December 3, 1947. The play dramatizes the experiences of Blanche DuBois, a former Southern belle who, after encountering a series of pers ...
''. 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''. Imperioli had a narrator cameo in the 2021 ''Sopranos'' prequel film, ''
The Many Saints of Newark ''The Many Saints of Newark'' (marketed with the subtitle ''A Sopranos Story'') is a 2021 American crime drama film directed by Alan Taylor and written by David Chase and Lawrence Konner. A prequel to Chase's HBO crime drama series ''The So ...
''. In January 2022, Imperioli was cast in a lead role in the second season of the dark comedy series ''
The White Lotus ''The White Lotus'' is an American black comedy-drama anthology television series created by Mike White for HBO. It follows the guests and employees of the fictional White Lotus resort chain, whose stay is affected by their various psychosoc ...
'' at HBO.


Personal life

Imperioli married Victoria Chlebowski in 1996. They have homes in the
Upper West Side The Upper West Side (UWS) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Central Park on the east, the Hudson River on the west, West 59th Street to the south, and West 110th Street to the north. The Upper West ...
of
Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
and in
Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara ( es, Santa Bárbara, meaning "Saint Barbara") is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Co ...
, and have three children. He and his family are avid practitioners of
Tae Kwon Do ''Taekwondo'', ''Tae Kwon Do'' or ''Taekwon-Do'' (; ko, 태권도/跆拳道 ) is a Korean martial arts, Korean form of martial arts involving punching and kicking techniques, with emphasis on head-height kicks, spinning jump kicks, and fast k ...
. In 2008, Imperioli became a
Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
.


Filmography


Film


Television


Awards and nominations


References


External links

*
Bio and photo of Michael Imperioli — Crain's New York Business 40 under 40 — 2005
{{DEFAULTSORT:Imperioli, Michael 1966 births 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors American Buddhists American male film actors American male television actors Converts to Buddhism Outstanding Performance by a Supporting Actor in a Drama Series Primetime Emmy Award winners People of Lazian descent People of Sicilian descent People of Calabrian descent American people of Italian descent Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute alumni Living people American male taekwondo practitioners Male actors from New York (state) Actors from Mount Vernon, New York American podcasters