Michael Imperioli
Michael Imperioli
James Michael Imperioliis an Italian-American actor, writer and director best known for his role as Christopher Moltisanti on The Sopranos, for which he won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 2004. He also appeared in the TV drama series Law & Order as NYPD Detective Nick Falco. Imperioli spent the 2008-2009 television season as Detective Ray Carling in the US version of Life on Mars. He was starring as Detective Louis Fitch in...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionTV Actor
Date of Birth26 March 1966
CityMount Vernon, NY
CountryUnited States of America
Detroit is a city that really stands out. It's been through a very difficult time. There's been a lot of pain here, and the city, physically, has suffered. You can see it in certain neighborhoods, and there's buildings downtown that have been abandoned.
I played guitar in a band from when I was about 20 for three years. Then I sang a little. Then I started getting really busy as an actor and forgot about it.
I'd go for parts that didn't pay a dime, and there would be 300 to 400 actors there. It could be very discouraging. To make it in this business, you have to have a kind of dumb sense that you're really good. You have to believe that someone is going to recognize that.
I've been working professionally as an actor since I was 20. That's going to be 25 years soon. So, that's a veteran. That's a big-time veteran. I've had some great successes, and I've had some not-successes.
I've played some gangster roles, but that's obviously not me. When you're an Italian-American New York actor, it's just an easy way to get cast.
In Britain you're more used to challenging drama. In America, TV is just boring, and numbing, and bloody terrible.
John Ventimiglia, who was on 'The Sopranos,' was in my first acting class and we have been friends since that time. Alec Baldwin was in my class back then, Sean Young and Andrew McCarthy.
My family is my life, and everything else comes second as far as what's important to me.
Not to toot our own horn, but when 'The Sopranos' was on, it was as good as any movie that was coming out in the theater. I think that goes for a lot of shows today.
There's too many actors in LA. I mean, I'll go out there from time to time, but I always find it pretty soul-destroying. I don't drive, and the people kind of rub me the wrong way. It's just not home. You know? It's not New York. It's not... my town.
Stop and appreciate what you have today. Look at what you have with wider eyes, maybe with more compassion and more gratitude for the things that you do have and not the things you don’t have.