Tony Soprano

Tony Soprano
File:Tony sopranos6.jpg
First appearance	The Sopranos (episode 1.01)
Created by	David Chase
Portrayed by	James Gandolfini
In-universe information
Alias	"Ron Spears" "Kevin Finnerty" "Mr. Petraglia"
Gender	Male
Occupation	Boss of the DiMeo Crime Family/Waste Management 'Consultant'
Family	Livia Soprano (mother) Johnny Boy Soprano (father) Junior Soprano (uncle) Janice Soprano (sister) Barbara Giglione (sister) Hugh De Angelis (father-in-law) Mary De Angelis (mother-in-law) Christopher Moltisanti (cousin - by marriage) Tony Blundetto (cousin)
Spouse	Carmela Soprano
Children	Anthony Soprano, Jr. (son) Meadow Soprano (daughter)

Anthony John Soprano, Sr. is the Boss of the fictional DiMeo family in the HBO TV series, The Sopranos, played by James Gandolfini. He was born on August 22, 1959, to John and Livia (née Pollio) Soprano. Template:Spoiler Throughout the series, Tony Soprano has to juggle the ongoing needs of both his personal family and his professional family. He has a volatile relationship with his wife, Carmela, and a loving — if somewhat strained — relationship with his two children, Meadow and Anthony, Jr. Passionate and often hotheaded, he is nonetheless intelligent and struggles to conduct his personal and professional lives with reason rather than passion.

Tony is frequently unfaithful to his wife. His affairs and one-night stands and his inability to be faithful have been a source of conflict between Tony and Carmela, leading to a year-long separation. Affairs have included Mercedes saleswoman Gloria Trillo and Russian dancer Irina Peltsin. Tony lets his hedonistic pursuits conflict with his business. He had sex with Svetlana Kirilenko, Uncle Junior's nurse and Irina's cousin. He also had an affair with Valentina la Paz. Their relationship started while Valentina was dating Ralph Cifaretto. Tony also slept with Charmaine Bucco before she was married but while he was dating Carmela.

Coupled with this, Tony has to juggle northern New Jersey's most powerful criminal organization, keeping it functioning properly and keeping dissonance to a minimum. Tony is technically only the 'Acting Boss' of the DiMeo Crime Family, keeping it operating while Official Boss Corrado "Junior" Soprano is under house arrest and going senile. The relationship between Tony and Junior was very close for many years, with Junior acting as a father figure for Tony following the death of Giovanni (AKA Johnny Boy) Soprano, Tony's father. However, the relationship was strained when a disgruntled Junior, becoming more and more marginalized in the organization as the FBI's investigation into his activities increased. He pulled the mock execution of Christopher Moltisanti and had Brendan Filone killed, which infuriated Tony. If that wasn't bad enough, he soon conspired with Tony's own mother, Livia Soprano, to have Tony himself killed (although the hit failed).

Despite a level of local notoriety, Tony represents himself publicly as a waste management consultant to Barone Sanitation, one of the many fronts for his criminal enterprises. Tony has been using his putative nephew (actually his wife's cousin) Christopher Moltisanti as a buffer between him and his capos during the past two seasons in order to insulate himself from the FBI.

Past

Tony grew up living with his mother, father, and two sisters in New Jersey. His father, Johnny Boy, was always involved in crime and Tony recollects some of his activities in flashbacks on the show. A young Tony has been portrayed by several actors. Bobby Boriello played Tony in the episode "Down Neck" when he had his first panic attack - prompted by seeing his father mutilate a pork store owner and then his mother's intense pleasure at receiving free meat. Tony believed that his father preferred his older sister Janice to him. Tony's Uncle Corrado Soprano ("Junior") lived near by and worked with Johnny Boy closely when Tony was a child. In another flashback sequence, Tony recalled his father's relationship with his sister, Janice, and his use of her as a cover for attending meetings with criminal associates at a children's fair. At the time, Tony thought that Janice was his father's favorite child. In therapy, when asked to remember happy childhood memories about his mother, Tony struggled to come up with any; he later described her as a joyless woman who wore his father down to a little nub.

Tony went to high school with Artie Bucco and Davey Scatino and remained friends with them into later life. Tony was also close to his cousin Tony Blundetto and neighborhood kids used to call them Tony Uncle-Al and Tony Uncle-Johnny after their fathers to tell them apart. In their teenage years, the two Tony's spent summers at their Uncle Pat Blundetto's farm - Pat was a soldier in the DiMeo organization. They were sometimes joined by their younger cousin Christopher Moltisanti, whom they bullied. Tony B was arrested for his part in a hijacking when the two Tonys were young men. Tony was supposed to join Tony B on the job but failed to because of a panic attack; at the time, he told people that he was attacked and injured. Tony also attended Seton Hall University for a semester-and-a-half before either dropping out or being kicked out.

Tony was part of an unofficial crew of young criminals consisting of Silvio Dante, Ralph Cifaretto and Jackie Aprile, Sr. Tony gained notoriety in the DiMeo crime family by robbing a card game run by Feech LaManna along with Silvio and Jackie. From then on, he was on a fast-track to becoming a made man.

His father shepherded him through his ascendancy until his death in 1986 from emphysema. When he died, Johnny Boy had risen to the level of Capo of his own crew - as had his brother Junior. Junior took over the paternal role and continued to advise and assist Tony. Tony remembers having to buy expensive dinners for Richie Aprile as a newly made man. Soldiers from Johnny Boy's crew, Big Pussy and Paulie "Walnuts" Gualtieri, passed their loyalty on to Tony, and he became capo of his father's old crew. Old friend Silvio Dante joined him in the group.

By 1995, Tony was a well respected Capo in the organization when the boss of the family Eckley DiMeo was sent to prison. Tony's longtime friend and fellow Capo Jackie Aprile, Sr. took on the role of Acting Boss in December 1995.

Under Jackie's wise and respected rule, the DiMeo Family was peaceful and prosperous until 1998. Jackie Aprile was diagnosed with intestinal cancer early in the year, and the family slowly descended into turmoil. With Jackie in and out of the hospital and as such not able to fully run the family Tony began to take on many of his duties, much to Uncle Junior's chagrin. For a time in early 1999, Jackie seemed cured and was back on the street as boss and the family's woes were eased but by late Spring, he was back in the hospital and had begun Chemotherapy treatments. With Tony's role in the family's operation increasing and disagreements including Tony botching Junior's plot to kill Pussy Malanga, tensions between Tony and Uncle Junior rose and reached an all time high as Jackie's condition turned for the worse.

With Jackie's death in mid 1999, a crisis emerged as to who would run the family and the soldiers and other captains began to prepare for all out war within the family but Tony brought a quick end to the conflict by making Junior the nominal boss of the family. Junior would unknowingly act as the lighting rod for the feds, while Tony would run the family from behind the scenes.

Tony's grandfather Corrado Soprano was a stone mason who emigrated from Avellino in Italy in 1910. He helped to build a church in Tony's old neighborhood that Tony occasionally takes his children to so he can tell them about their past. Tony also recalls that when he was 13 his father would let him play around on his construction sites, even driving heavy machinery.

As a father

Tony has two children - Meadow Soprano and AJ Soprano. He also treats his putative nephew, Christopher Moltisanti (actually a 2nd cousin) as a son in many ways.

Tony is often portrayed as a loving father - he attends his children's sports games, wants them to be safe, happy and to have every opportunity in life. He hopes that both his children will escape the life of crime that he has led.

Tony takes great pride in Meadow's achievements. In season 1 he is moved close to tears by her performance at a choir recital. He often tells people about her aspiration to become a pediatrician.

However, he also sometimes alienates his children through his behavior. He has always tried to conceal his criminal life from them - something that Meadow saw through early on and AJ also realised with guidance from his sister.

Tony's overprotectiveness of Meadow has led to feuds between them on several occasions - her first boyfriend at college had a mixed Jewish and African-American heritage and Tony's racism led him to try and drive him away. Meadow learned of her father's actions and didn't speak to him for several months eventually reconciling at Christmas in 2001.

Meadow's next boyfriend was Jackie Aprile, Jr. the son of Tony's old friend Jackie Aprile, Sr.. Tony had promised Jackie Jr's father that he would try to keep Jackie on the straight path. Tony was initially pleased with the relationship believing Jackie to be a hard-working pre-med student from a good family. However since his Uncle Richie's release from prison and subsequent death Jackie had been becoming more and more involved in the mafia's world. Tony realised this by catching Jackie at strip clubs and a casino. He eventually delivered a beating to Jackie to warn him about abusing his daughter's feelings and confiscated a gun from him. Tony failed in his role as surrogate father to Jackie, perhaps because of his overprotectiveness of Meadow and a sign of his selfishness. Jackie was eventually killed after an ill-advised robbery gone wrong - Tony did not give the order but he certainly influenced the decision of the man who did. This drove Meadow to drinking and depression at the loss of her boyfriend, although they broke up shortly before his death.

After Jackie's death, Tony accepts Meadow's college friends and gets on well with her fiancé Finn.

Tony has been physically abusive with his son AJ in the past, but is not violent towards him most of the time.

Therapy

Tony has suffered from panic attacks that sometimes cause him to lose consciousness since his childhood. He has his first onscreen panic attack while cooking sausages at his son's birthday party - this occurs in a flashback in the pilot episode. Tony loses consciousness and knocks over the barbequeue causing a small explosion when a bottle of lighter fluid falls into the coals. Tony describes the experience of the panic attack as feeling like he had "ginger ale in his skull". This prompts him to seek help for the attacks and he sees his neighbour and family physician Bruce Cusamano. After extensive testing that includes an MRI scan and blood work no physical cause can be found so Dr. Cusamano referred Tony to psychiatrist, Dr. Melfi.

Tony's referral to therapy allowed a discussion of his thoughts and feelings away from both aspects of his life - this forum for reaching into the characters thoughts has been described as a Greek chorus and key to the viewers understanding of the character.

Tony was initially very resistant to the idea that there was a psychiatric cause for his symptoms. He resented being in therapy and refused to accept the diagnosis of panic attacks given him by the neurologists who had investigated his illness. Tony begins to open up once Dr. Melfi explains the doctor-patient confidentiality rules. He tells her about the stress of his business life - he has a feeling that he has come in at the end of something and describes a reverence for times past. Tony leaves out the violence associated with his criminal career. Tony tells Dr. Melfi a story about ducks landing in his pool. He also tells her about his mother, Livia, who is relentlessly pessimistic and cynical, at once demanding and resentful of assistance. By the end of the first session Tony has admitted that he feels depressed but storms out when Dr. Melfi presses him further about the relationship between his symptoms and the ducks.

When the family visits Green Grove, a ‘retirement community’ which Tony is trying to place his mother in, Livia’s derisive outburst prompts a second panic attack.

Dr. Melfi's prescribed Prozac as an anti-depressant for Tony telling him that no-one need suffer from depression with the wonders of modern pharmacology. Tony fails to attend their next scheduled session.

At their next session Tony is still reluctant to face his own psychological weaknesses. Tony is quick to credit the medication for his improved mood but Dr. Melfi tells him it cannot be that as it takes 6 weeks to work - she credits their therapy sessions. Tony describes a dream where a bird steals his penis - Dr. Melfi extrapolates from this to reveal that Tony projected his love for his family onto the family of ducks living in his back pool and this brings him to tears, to his consternation. She tells him that their flight from the pool sparked his panic attack through the overwhelming fear of somehow losing his own family.

In the episode "46 Long" they continue discuss Tony's mother and her difficulties living alone. Tony admits that he feels guilty because his mother could not be allowed to live with his family. We learn that he has been left to care for his mother alone by his sisters. When Dr. Melfi asks him to remember good experiences from his childhood he has difficulty. It is clear that Tony's perception of his mother does not meet with the reality of her personality. He also shows that he blames Carmela for preventing his mother from living with them. Later they discuss Livia's car accident and Melfi suggests depression may have contributed to the accident - Tony misunderstands her and becomes angry. Tony has a panic attack while visiting his mother's home after she moves to Green Grove. In a later session Dr. Melfi pushes Tony to admit he has feelings of anger towards his mother and he again storms out. During this episode Tony introduces the concept of him acting like the sad clown - happy on the outside but sad on the inside.

In "Denial, Anger, Acceptance" Tony discusses Jackie's cancer with Dr. Melfi. She tries to use it as an example of Tony's negative thinking contributing to his depression. Tony becomes angry and storms out because he feels she is trying to trick him and manipulate his thoughts using the pictures that decorate her office. After Jackie worsens and Tony is called a Frankenstein by a business associate he returns to therapy to discuss these things with Dr. Melfi - she asks him if he feels like a monster.

In "Down Neck" Tony discusses a childhood memory of an early panic attack. He saw his father and uncle mutilate Mr Satriale, the local butcher, and later fainted at a family dinner consisting of free meat from the butcher. Dr. Melfi makes a connection between meat and Tony's panic attacks and also explores his mother's attitude to the fruits of his father's labor.

Later Dr. Melfi tries prescribing Lithium as a mood stabilizer. In the episode "Isabella" Tony sinks into a severe depressive episode and experiences hallucinations - he sees a beautiful Italian woman named Isabella in his neighbor’s garden. Tony sees Isabella several times during the episode and later learns that she never existed. Melfi theorizes that Isabella was an idealized maternal figure that Tony's subconscious produced because of his deep upset at his own mother's actions at the time.

In "I Dream of Jeannie Cusamano" Tony abruptly ends his therapy and convinces Dr. Melfi to go into hiding when he discovers that his Uncle Junior has found out about their sessions.

The relationship between Tony and Dr. Melfi has been up-and-down, with Tony reaching a level of comfort with Dr. Melfi that he has never experienced with anyone else before, not even his wife. This closeness leads Tony to have something of a "crush" on Dr. Melfi, something that is unattainable. However, the "prying" from Dr. Melfi is uncomfortable for Tony and he often turns sarcastic and antagonistic towards her, leading to an ongoing strain in their relationship.

Injury

In the premiere of the 2006 season, Junior Soprano, suffering from dementia, believes Tony to be "Little Pussy" Malanga and shoots him in the abdomen. He manages to dial 911 but loses consciousness before being able to tell the operator what happened.

The second episode of the sixth season reveals Tony is currently in a medically-induced coma in the hospital. In the second and third episode we see Tony in a dream-like state, eventually arriving at what could be purgatory or perhaps an alternate life, where he is greeted by his late cousin Tony Blundetto. It is also possible the shadowy figure in the doorway to the house is either his mother or Gloria Trillo, both of whom are dead. However, the voice of a younger version of his daughter calls him back. At the end of the third episode he awakes from his coma in a confused but stable state.

By the fourth episode Tony is mobile and fully aware and has regained his voice but is still recovering. Tony's attitude to life has been changed by his near death experience. He has yet to discuss his experiences while unconscious with anyone close to him. However, in the Season 6 episode Kaisha, he admits to Phil Leotardo (who had just suffered a heart attack), that while he was in a coma, he went to a place, but he knows he never wants to go back there. He talks philosophy with John Schwinn, another patient at the hospital, and mentions that while in the coma he had the experience of being drawn towards somewhere he did not want to go and narrowly avoiding it.

Dreams

Tony sometimes has vivid dreams that are shown to the viewer - episodes with dream sequences include "Pax Soprana", "Isabella", "Funhouse", "Everybody Hurts", "Calling All Cars" and "The Test Dream".

In the pilot, Tony tells Dr. Melfi about a dream he had wherein a screw in his belly button, when removed, causes his penis to fall off. He tries to find a car mechanic (who had worked on his Lincoln when Tony drove Lincolns) to put it back on, but a duck swoops down and snatches it from his hand.

In "Meadowlands", Tony has a dream of several people in his life in Dr. Melfi's office, causing him to be paranoid that people will find out he is seeing a psychiatrist. The dream ends with Tony confronting Melfi, only to find out he's speaking to his mother, Livia.

In "Pax Soprana", Tony has several dreams and fantasies of Dr. Melfi. He becomes convinced that he is in love with her, but she turns him down when he makes advances towards her.

In "Isabella", Tony, suffering from depression after Big Pussy disappears, acquaints himself with a dental student named Isabella who is staying in the Cusamano home while they are on vacation. He later discovers that he’d hallucinated Isabella due to taking too much lithium, and that Isabella represented the mother he never had.

In "Funhouse," an extended dream sequence exposes many of Tony's subconscious thoughts and feelings through symbolic and sometimes bizarre events: he attempts suicide to preempt a doctor's diagnosis of early death, witnesses himself shooting Paulie "Walnuts" Gaultieri to death during a card game, has an innuendo-laden conversation with his therapist Dr. Melfi while sporting a prominent erection, and a fish that speaks with the voice of Sal "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero confirms his suspicions that the longtime friend and soldier is a federal informant.

In "Everybody Hurts," Tony dreams of his ex-comare Gloria Trillo shortly after learning of her suicide by hanging. He visits her apartment and finds her in a black dress with a black scarf around her neck. She is cooking dinner and when she goes over to the oven the scarf drapes across Tony. Plaster falls down in front of Tony and when he looks up he sees that the chandelier is almost pulled out of the ceiling. Gloria is suddenly back at the table and offers Tony a choice between seeing what she has under her dress or under her scarf. As she goes to peel away the scarf, Tony wakes up and makes his way to the bathroom for some medication.

In "Calling All Cars" Tony has two dreams featuring Ralph Cifaretto. In the first he is being driven by Carmela in the back of his fathers old car while Ralph sits in the passenger seat. There is a caterpillar crawling on the back of Ralph's head. Tony's fellow passenger in the back seat changes - Gloria Trillo and Svetlana Kirilenko are both seen. The caterpillar turns into a butterfly. Dr. Melfi later tells him that the dream signifies a change for Ralphie and Carmela being in control. This occurs after he killed Ralphie indicating what could have been. Ralphie showed uncharacteristic humanity for his injured son.

In the second dream Tony follows Ralph to an old house which Ralph enters. Tony is dressed in trousers, suspenders and a vest. He knocks on the door and a female figure descends slowly in shadow; the door creeks ominously. Tony says he is there for the stonemason job but does not speak English well. Just as Tony is about to enter the house he wakes up.

In "The Test Dream" Tony comes to terms with having to kill his cousin Tony Blundetto, as well reflecting inner demons and fears ranging from his children's future, his relationship with his wife, his infidelities, those who have died by his hand or by his orders, his fate and even his relationship with his father. He is again shown in his father's old car accompanied by a range of past associates.

The strain realised

The true strain of being a mafia boss is illustrated when Tony is shot in the early 6th season and Silvio takes over, he suffers an asthma attack in a matter of days. This is almost certainly the explanation for Tony's binge eating and other ways of relieving himself of the stress he's perpetually under.

Quirks

Tony has numerous quirks and eccentricities.

• War documentaries. Tony seems to be infatuated with war documentaries, and is often seen watching The History Channel, late at night in his home theater. (This may be a nod to notorious Boston Mob boss James "Whitey" Bulger, who is known for his deep interest in history and military leaders.)
• Playing with his food. Tony is often shown with his family and others sitting down to a formal and relaxing meal with plenty of food and wine. In such a case, however, Tony's behavior is rarely relaxed; he toys with his food with his fork scraping loudly on the plate as he moves the food around. When Tony finally eats he spears food with his fork and moves it rapidly into his mouth and then continues with moving the food on the plate. This occurs in almost every episode.
• Tony is also shown to be a fan of classic rock music. He can often be seen listening to artists such as Eric Clapton, Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, etc...
• The first thing Tony often does when he enters the kitchen is open the refrigerator to look for deli meat or drink orange juice straight from the box.
• Cheapness. Tony often leaves generous tips, yet in his business life he is exceedingly cheap.
• Is shown to have a fear of terrorism by groups like Al Queda. This was shown in the episode "Cold Cuts" from Season Five.
• Passing on advice. Tony will often give advice to other characters which he has heard from someone else. For example, when Carmela's cousin Brian tells Tony to buy land 'Because God ain't making any more of it' (itself a Mark Twain quote) Tony gives the same advice to his son A.J. later in the episode.
• Deep, audible, nasal breathing most notably heard during his moments with Dr. Melfi. Often symbolic of moments when Tony is vulnerable.
• Tony has shown a childlike affection for many animals. First, the ducks in his backyard, and then the horse "Pie-O-My", whose death was so traumatic it led him to kill Ralph Cifaretto. During Christopher Moltisanti's intervention he became angry when he discovered Christopher had (accidentally) smothered Adriana's dog while high. In Big Girls Don't Cry Tony becomes angry at Irina for feeding cheese doodles to ducks swimming near his boat.
• JFK. Tony has an interest in JFK, it is revealed in a few episodes. For example, in "The Sopranos" it is learned that that he bid on and had won a JFK "captain's" hat that he was very proud of and did not want to come to harm. He shares this admiration for the former President with Uncle Junior, who is also an admirer of Kennedy. In the episode "In Camelot", Tony meets his father's mistress and is impressed with her monogramed JFK handkerchief and her tale of an affair with JFK.
• Often uses the phrases "just as easily" and "end of story."
• Loss of Temper. Tony can go from indifferent/ happy to violently angry in a split second when someone says or does something to which he is particularly sensitive.
• Tony occasionally uses Gary Cooper as a point of reference for how men should behave. In the pilot, he asks "What happened to Gary Cooper? The strong, silent type," in Dr. Melfi's office. He repeats the sentiment in the season four episode "Christopher" and the season five episode "All Happy Families...". In addition, the Cooper film High Noon is showing on a TV in Nuovo Vesuvio in the episode "The Test Dream."

Trivia

• James Gandolfini is the only actor to appear in every episode of the series.
• Tony Soprano was born in Newark, New Jersey and lives in North Caldwell, New Jersey
• Tony attended Seton Hall University for a semester-and-a-half before dropping out.
• In the Season 5 episode "All Due Respect," Tony claims to hold an IQ of 136.
• In the Season 6 episode, "Members Only", we learn that Tony suffers from sleep apnea.
• In "Members Only", we also learn that Tony weighs about 280 pounds (with his shoes and pants removed, about 283 pounds with them on).
• Tony has an interest in sports. He attends his daughter's soccer and volleyball games and his son's football games. Tony played baseball and football at the varsity level in high school as a left fielder and defensive lineman, respectively. Tony also often watches sport on television; for example in 'All Happy Families' he and AJ watch baseball together. Tony's derives a sense of worth from his sporting ability -he was hurt when Junior disparaged his skill at football in front of his female cousins and has a recurring dream where his old football coach chastises him for being unprepared.
• Likes GM sport utility vehicles, having owned a red Chevrolet Suburban, and two Cadillac Escalade ESV's.
• According to Carmela, Tony's favorite scene in The Godfather Trilogy is when Vito goes back to Sicily in The Godfather Part II. However, AJ mentions that Tony refers to the scene where Michael kills his father's assassins in The Godfather as his favorite scene of all time.

See also

• The Soprano family tree
• FBI Informants on The Sopranos

External links

• HBO Character Profile: Tony Soprano
• Cast Information on Tony Soprano