He studied for two years under Kathryn Gately at The Gately Poole Conservatory. He was introduced to acting while living in New York City, when he accompanied his friend Roger Bart to a Meisner technique acting class. He also worked as a bartender and club manager in Manhattan prior to his acting career. He earned a BA in Communications from Rutgers University in 1983, where he worked as a bouncer at an on-campus pub. Gandolfini grew up in Park Ridge, New Jersey, and graduated from Park Ridge High School in 1979, where he played basketball, acted in school plays, and was awarded the title 'Class Flirt' in his senior yearbook. Due to the influence of his parents, he developed a strong sense of Italian-American identity and visited Italy regularly. Gandolfini's parents were devout Catholics who spoke Italian at home. His Italian-born father, James Joseph Gandolfini, a native of Borgo Val di Taro (in the Northeastern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna), worked as a bricklayer and cement mason and later was the head custodian at Paramus Catholic High School. His mother, Santa ( née Penna), was a high school food service worker of Italian descent who was born in the United States and raised in Naples. Gandolfini was born in Westwood, New Jersey on September 18, 1961. In 2013, Gandolfini died of a heart attack in Rome at the age of 51. In addition to Alive Day Memories, he also produced the television film Hemingway & Gellhorn (2012), which gained him a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited Series nomination.

In 2007, Gandolfini produced Alive Day Memories: Home from Iraq, a documentary in which he interviewed injured Iraq War veterans and in 2010, Wartorn: 1861–2010 examining the impact of post-traumatic stress disorder on soldiers and families throughout several wars in U.S. For his performance as Albert in Enough Said (2013), Gandolfini posthumously received much critical praise and several awards, including a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination and the Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor. Other roles are enforcer and stuntman Bear in Get Shorty (1995) and impulsive 'Wild Thing' Carol in Where the Wild Things Are (2009). Bobby Dougherty in Crimson Tide (1995), Colonel Winter in The Last Castle (2001) and Mayor of New York in The Taking of Pelham 123 (2009).

Gandolfini's notable film roles include mob henchman Virgil in True Romance (1993), Lt. Gandolfini's portrayal of Tony Soprano is widely regarded as being among the greatest performances in television history. He was best known for his role as Tony Soprano, the Italian-American crime boss in HBO's television series The Sopranos, for which he won three Emmy Awards, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, and one Golden Globe Award. ( Italian: Septem– June 19, 2013) was an American actor and producer.

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