James Michael Imperioli (born March 26, 1966 in Mount Vernon, New York), commonly known as Michael Imperioli, is an Emmy winning and Golden Globe Award nominated Italian-American actor who is best known for his role as Christopher Moltisanti on The Sopranos. He also appeared as Det. Ed Green's temporary replacement, Det. Nick Falco, in the popular TV drama series Law & Order.
In addition to his role on The Sopranos, Imperioli has also appeared in a number of films, including Goodfellas, Jungle Fever, Bad Boys, The Basketball Diaries, Clockers, Dead Presidents, Lean on Me, Last Man Standing, Shark Tale, High Roller: The Stu Ungar Story, and Summer of Sam, which he also co-wrote and co-produced. In addition, he has also written a number of episodes for The Sopranos.
In Goodfellas, Imperioli plays Michael "Spider" Gianco, whom Joe Pesci's character, Tommy DeVito, shoots in the foot for not getting him a drink and later kills for talking back. In The Sopranos he gets to pass the favor on, shooting a bakery clerk in the foot for being too slow with his pastry order (and showing a lack of respect). On his way out of the scene, the victim cries out, "You shot me in the foot!" Christopher comically retorts, "it happens" as he walks out the door, in a humorous allusion to his role in Martin Scorsese's film.
Imperioli has been nominated for five Emmy Awards for his work on The Sopranos and won once, in 2004 for the show's fifth season. He has also been nominated for a Golden Globe Award.
He serves as artistic director of an off-Broadway theater, Studio Dante, which he created together with wife, Victoria.
He is the lead singer/guitarist for a rock band named La Dolce Vita (Italian for "the sweet life" and the title of a famous Federico Fellini film).
He was one of the customary three guests — along with Claudine Pépin — on episode MB2E08 ("San Giuseppe") of Mario Batali's Food Network television show Molto Mario where the chef introduced him simply as "my friend Mike".
In 1995, he married Victoria Chlebowski, with whom he has two children (Isabella, 16, and Vadim, 9).
Michael Imperioli was born in Mt. Vernon, New York, on March 26, 1966. His film work began in the late 1980s. An early part that brought him recognition was in Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas (1990), as Spider, a local kid who works for the gangsters and has a run-in with a psychopathic mob soldier played by Joe Pesci. He worked throughout the 1990s in the New York independent film industry, especially as a regular in Spike Lee's movies, appearing in Jungle Fever (1991), Malcolm X (1992), Clockers (1995), Girl 6 (1996) and Summer of Sam (1999), generally playing working-class Italian-Americans from the "outer boroughs." While rooted in the New York movie scene, Imperioli also worked in Hollywood in the mid-'90s, in the formulaic movies Bad Boys (1995) and Last Man Standing (1996/I). In 1999 Imperioli was cast in "Sopranos, The" (1999) as Christopher Moltisanti, a low-ranking soldier in the Soprano crime organization whose family connections to street boss Tony Soprano move him up the ladder in the organization. Imperioli's multi-layered portrayal of such an unappealing character is a real highlight of the series and earned him an Emmy and a SAG award. Imperioli has long been active in the New York theater scene as well, having written, directed, produced or starred in numerous plays. He was a founder, along with Lili Taylor (I) (his then-girlfriend and co-star in Household Saints (1993)) of the downtown theater company Machine Full. He has also written several episodes of "The Sopranos" and was a writer on Lee's "Summer of Sam," which he also executive-produced. Although most famous for his prominent part in "The Sopranos," Imperioli has worked on other television programs as well, including "Law & Order" (1990), "New York Undercover" (1994) and "NYPD Blue" (1993). He is married and has three children.
