Aida Turturro

Actor

• Born: September 25, 1962
• Place of Birth: New York, New York

Contribution: Aida Turturro is an Emmy-nominated American actor best known for her role as Janice Soprano on the HBO crime drama series The Sopranos.

Background

Aida Turturro was born on September 25, 1962, in the Brooklyn borough of New York City, to Domenick and Dorothy Turturro. After her parents divorced, her father and stepmother, Joan Turturro, raised her in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. After graduating from high school, Turturro decided that she wanted to become a professional actor, following in the footsteps of her cousins John and Nicholas Turturro.

In 1980, Turturro entered the State University of New York at New Paltz, paying for her education by cleaning houses. She graduated in 1984 with a bachelor of fine arts degree in theater, later furthering her acting training at Carnegie Hall in Manhattan. Following this, Turturro acted in numerous stage productions throughout New York for the remainder of the decade.

Career

As Turturro continued to perform in New York theater, she began to audition for small parts in feature films. Her first notable role was in True Love (1989), a drama centering on the life of an Italian American family. In 1991, Turturro appeared as a prostitute in the Frank Oz–directed comedy What about Bob?

The following year, Turturro appeared in a Broadway production of A Streetcar Named Desire in the role of Eunice Hubbell, starring alongside up-and-comers Jessica Lange, Alec Baldwin, and James Gandolfini—with whom she would remain close friends. Turturro followed this with additional supporting roles in films over the next several years, including the comedy Life with Mikey (1993), Woody Allen’s Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993), and the romantic comedy Angie (1994) alongside Gandolfini. The actor stayed active into the mid-to-late 1990s with small parts in such films as Junior (1994), Money Train (1995), and Sleepers (1996). The latter film is a legal drama featuring high-profile stars such as Robert De Niro and Dustin Hoffman.

In the late 1990s, Turturro continued to play small roles in features, including the thriller Fallen (1998), in which Gandolfini also appears; the comedy Woo (1998); and Illuminata (1998), a romantic comedy cowritten and directed by her cousin John Turturro.

After appearing in the 1999 films Deep Blue Sea and Bringing Out the Dead, Turturro broke into mainstream television in 2000 when she was cast in the second season of the HBO crime drama series The Sopranos. She would stay on the show for the remainder of its six-season run. On The Sopranos, Turturro portrays Janice Soprano, the sister of mob boss Tony Soprano, played by Turturro’s old friend James Gandolfini. The show was a great success, earning widespread critical acclaim and becoming a cultural phenomenon in the United States.

As a result, Turturro earned much national attention, and critics praised her recurring performances as Janice throughout the show’s run. Turturro was nominated for Primetime Emmy Awards for outstanding supporting actress in a drama series in 2001 and 2007. After the death of James Gandolfini in June 2013, Turturro publicly spoke of him as having been like a brother to her for more than twenty years.

Turturro continued to supplement her career with guest spots in episodes of popular television shows as well as in films such as Sidewalks of New York (2001) and Romance & Cigarettes (2005). The latter film, a musical starring Gandolfini, Kate Winslet, and Susan Sarandon, was written and directed by John Turturro. The Turturro cousins also starred together in a 2005 Off-Broadway production of Souls of Naples, a version of Eduardo De Filippo’s 1946 play Questi fantasmi (These Ghosts), translated by Michael Feingold.

After The Sopranos ended in 2007, Turturro continued to act but received fewer projects than she had in the 1990s. After making her singing debut as prison matron Mama Morton in the Broadway production of the musical Chicago in 2007, she returned to television. Over the next several years she made guest appearances in episodes of shows such as ER (2008), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2011), Nurse Jackie (2012), Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2013–23), Brooklyn Nine-Nine (2016), Grey's Anatomy (2017), Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders (2017), and The Blacklist (2017–23). During the 2010s, she appeared in three films: the crime film Rob the Mob (2014), the crime mystery Making a Killing (2018), and the dramedy Head Full of Honey (2018). Though most of her work through this decade and into the next was on television, she continued to land roles in films such as Call Jane in 2022.

In June 2018, Turturro appeared on stage in The Neo-Political Cowgirls' production of Monica Bauer's one-act play, Andromeda's Sisters. The play was named for a scene in Andromeda in which the daughters of sea god Poseidon save Andromeda from being sacrificed to a sea monster. Turturro has said that she believes in the ideal of women helping women that forms the heart of Andromeda's Sisters.

Turturro and other members of the cast of The Sopranos were in the spotlight again in 2024. David Chase, the writer and director of the series, was the subject of a two-part documentary that debuted September 7 on HBO. Wise Guy: David Chase and The Sopranos featured footage from the series and many interviews.

Impact

Turturro proved her dramatic acting abilities in her career-defining role as Janice Soprano on The Sopranos. The serious, emotional performances required of her by that character have solidified Turturro’s standing as a skilled and valuable supporting actor, one worthy of being counted among many other strong character actors working today.

Personal Life

Turturro was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis when she was twelve. She joined the Joint Effort Against Rheumatoid Arthritis, a campaign cosponsored by the Arthritis Foundation and Centocor (now Janssen Biotech), in 2000, and remained their spokesperson for several years. In 2001, Turturro was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and became an advocate for awareness of the illness.

Turturro lives in Montauk, New York, on Long Island.

Bibliography

Falco, Edie. "Edie Falco and Aida Turturro Have a Sopranos Reunion." Interview by Aida Turturro. Interview, 4 May 2023, www.interviewmagazine.com/culture/edie-falco-and-aida-turturro-have-a-sopranos-reunion. Accessed 20 Sept. 2024.

Finn, Robin. “A Former Soprano Makes Her Singing Debut.” New York Times. New York Times, 7 Dec. 2007. Web. 19 Aug. 2013.

Isherwood, Charles. “Tilting at Phantoms While the Home Fires Fizzle.” Rev. of Souls of Naples, dir. Roman Paska. New York Times. New York Times, 18 Apr. 2005. Web. 19 Aug. 2013.

Keck, William. “Keck’s Exclusives: First Look: Nurse Jackie’s Sopranos Reunion.” TV Guide. CBS Interactive, 26 Dec. 2011. Web. 19 Aug. 2013.

Samarrie, Nadia al-. “Aida Turturro Puts a Hit out on Her Diabetes.” Diabetes Health. Diabetes Health, 1 Mar. 2006. Web. 19 Aug. 2013.

Stolworthy, Jacob. "New Sopranos Documentary Reveals Why Martin Scorsese Didn't Like the Show." The Independent, 5 Sept. 2024, www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/tv/news/hbo-sopranos-martin-scorsese-b2607719.html. Accessed 25 Sept. 2024.

Turturro, Aida. “Exclusive Interview: Aida Turturro, from The Sopranos.” Interview by John Kubicek. BuddyTV. BuddyTV, 20 July 2007. Web. 19 Aug. 2013.

Turturro, Aida. “James Gandolfini’s TV Sister Aida Turturro Remembers Sopranos Star as Someone Who Always Had Your Back.” Daily News. NYDailyNews.com, 23 June 2013. Web. 19 Aug. 2013.

Turturro, Aida. “Scheming Sopranos Sister a Hit with Public.” Interview by Thurston Hatcher. CNN Entertainment. Cable News Network, 12 Sept. 2002. Web. 19 Aug. 2013.