Tony Sirico
From Sopranopedia - The Sopranos Encyclopedia
| Tony Sirico | |
| Birth name | Genaro Anthony Sirico, Jr. |
| Born | July 29 1942 (age 67) Brooklyn, New York, USA |
| Notable roles | Paulie Walnuts in The Sopranos |
Genaro Anthony Sirico, Jr. (born July 29 1942), better known as Tony Sirico, is an American actor who is most famous for his role as Paulie Walnuts on the HBO television series, The Sopranos.
Table of contents |
Background
Sirico was born in Brooklyn, New York. Before becoming an actor, Sirico was a feared shakedown artist who preyed on Manhattan nightclubs and who once gave this description of his own extortion technique: "You hit them over the head with a baseball bat, and they come around." After a dispute with a disco owner, Sirico once warned, "I'm going to come back here and carve my initials in your forehead. You better learn a lesson, you better show me the respect I deserve." A Bellevue Hospital psychiatric report from that period concluded that Sirico suffered from a "character disorder."
He spent a total of 20 months in jails like the famed Sing Sing for holding up a number of night clubs in the late 1960s and early 1970s. While in prison, he became interested in acting from watching a theater group that came to perform.
Career
When he got out of jail, Sirico played gangsters in a number of films, including Gangsters, Love and Money, Fingers, The Last Fight, Goodfellas, Bullets Over Broadway, Mighty Aphrodite, Gotti, Cop Land, and Mickey Blue Eyes. He also played a policeman in the film Dead Presidents.
He got a part in the 1974 film 'Crazy Joe' which led to him obtaining a Screen Actors Guild card. Although in Cop Land he is credited as being in the film, you never see him act in it; he appears on a photograph handed to Sylvester Stallone.
Trivia
- In Goodfellas, played a mobster named Tony who reports to a boss named Paulie. In The Sopranos, plays a mobster named Paulie who reports to a boss named Tony.
- He did the voice for Big Daddy (a mafia fairy) in the series The Fairly OddParents.
- He has also done a voice-over for a SpongeBob SquarePants Episode.
- His voice is used for his TV character in the THQ Playstation 2 Game The Sopranos: Road To Respect.
- Sirico has stated that politically he is a "far-to-the-right Republican." [1]
- Sirico's brother, Robert Sirico, is a priest and co-founder of the free-market Acton Institute.[2]
- Has done Stacker 2 commercials with WWE wrestlers, Tazz, Trish Stratus and Bubba Ray Dudley.
- Lives in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn.
- Has a son and a daughter in their 30s
- Practices Karate and Kung Fu
- Frequently cast as a bit player in Woody Allen movies.
- An Italian-American, of Sicilian descent.
External links
- Tony Sirico at the Internet Movie Database
- thesmokinggun.com
- Tony Sirico in an early 90s TV Commercial for Dunkin Donutsde:Tony Sirico
pl:Tony Sirico known to his childhood friends as "Junior"
