Tony Soprano

Casting

James Gandolfini was invited to audition after casting director Susan Fitzgerald saw a clip of his performance in the 1993 film True Romance. He received the role ahead of other actors due to his large stature and acting ability. Anthony LaPaglia was initially interested but was not considered further because of a Broadway commitment and the decision not to go with Fox. David Chase asked Steven Van Zandt to audition for Tony; Van Zandt, who had never acted, felt the part should go to an experienced actor, so Chase created the role of Silvio Dante for him.

Michael Rispoli, who later played Jackie Aprile, was also close to being cast. In the pilot, the character was named Tommy, an homage to James Cagney's character in The Public Enemy, but clearance for that name was not granted. The name Tony Soprano came from a family friend of Chase's named Toby Soprano. Gandolfini said he would hit himself on the head, stay up all night, drink coffee, or walk with a rock in his shoe to focus anger into his performances.

Fictional character biography

Tony Soprano entered the world in 1959, or 1955 according to the prequel film The Many Saints of Newark, as the only son and second child of Livia and Johnny Soprano. His father held the rank of caporegime within the DiMeo crime family. Tony spent his childhood in Newark, New Jersey’s old First Ward neighborhood, alongside his parents and his two sisters, Janice and Barbara. His paternal grandfather, Corrado Soprano, came to the United States from Avellino, Italy, in 1911, working as a master stonemason.

During therapy sessions, Tony finds it difficult to recall cheerful memories of his mother, whom he portrays as cruel and devoid of joy. His bond with Janice is strained by her erratic behavior; as an adult, she kills her boyfriend Richie Aprile—one of Tony’s underlings—and Tony aids in hiding the corpse. In high school, Tony met his future spouse Carmela DeAngelis and formed friendships with Artie Bucco and Davey Scatino. He shared a close relationship with his maternal cousin Tony Blundetto, and the two spent summers at the farm of their uncle Pat Blundetto, a DiMeo soldier who retired due to chronic illness.

In their early twenties, Blundetto got caught for a hijacking that Tony was meant to participate in but missed because a panic attack, triggered by an argument with his mother, caused him to black out and hit his head. Tony later insisted the injury came from a mugging. After attending Seton Hall University for a semester and a half, he quit school to enter a life of crime.

Legacy and cultural impact

Tony Soprano popularized the antihero character on television after the release of The Sopranos. Playwright Craig Wright noted that the show had a soothing quality because it assumed even monstrous people are haunted by the same concerns as viewers. Tony became a pop culture icon during the series' run; Chris Lee of the Los Angeles Times called him a cultural sensation and an unlikely sex symbol, stating that Gandolfini's performance forever changed television's fascination with morally challenged antiheroes and less-than-perfect protagonists.

The Globe and Mail observed that women made Tony an unlikely sex symbol and that men found him seductive, with wish fulfillment at the heart of the mobster genre. The final scene of the episode 'Made in America' generated extensive discussion and controversy; creator David Chase refused to give definitive answers for years. Many viewers initially thought their cable or DVR had cut out during the abrupt cut to black and silence. Opposing interpretations emerged about whether Tony was killed or remained alive.

In a November 2021 interview with Hollywood Reporter, Chase made comments that seemed to confirm Tony was killed at the end of the final episode.