Michael Imperioli

"Hey, I`m gonna be a star!" was Michael Imperioli`s one and only line in "Lean On Me" (1989), his professional feature film debut. Terrified in front of the camera for the first time, he mumbled and mangled the line over and over again. Exasperated, director John Avildson finally left the botched line on the cutting room floor.

"If you look hard, you kind of see me in a scene bringing all the bad kids in school up on a stage," says Imperioli, 34, now a solid, seasoned performer as violence-prone nephew Christopher Moltisanti on "The Sopranos," an international hit series revolving around a steaming-hot and icy-cold New Jersey Mafia family.

"It was a horrendous experience in front of the crew and hundreds of kids in the cast on `Lean On Me,`" Imperioli continues, sipping a glass of sparkling water in a VIP lounge at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Pasadena, Calif. "I was so afraid that I hoped nobody would notice me if I mumbled; it took me a long time just to stop shaking and get comfortable on camera. I was terrified, because I wanted so badly to do good work."

Imperioli made good on his long-forgotten promise to make it in the big time when he joined the industrial-strength cast of "The Sopranos" two years ago, having failed to ignite the public`s imagination through parts big and small in 25 motion pictures - including "Malcom X" and "GoodFellas." He also gained a healthy measure of respect from the film community by co-writing, co-executive producing and co-starring in Spike Lee`s "Summer of Sam." Not waiting for applause, he also wrote last season`s ninth episode of "The Sopranos, " titled "From Where to Eternity."

And now, with 26 episodes of "The Sopranos" in the can and soon to be finished with 13 more, Imperioli is so famous that he is approached by fans approximately 20 times an hour when walking down any New York street or riding the subway from his home in lower Manhattan to the Silver Cup Studios in Queens.

"For a character actor, it`s really strange to be famous, and even more weird is that people know my name," he says, shaking his head.

"When we`re shooting interiors in Queens, I take the subway to work every day," says Imperioli, "and for some reason people are always surprised to see me there. I don`t know why, because it takes forever to get there in a cab during rush hour. Maybe they expect me to ride in a limousine, or something, just because I`m on television. Spotting me in the local supermarket with my wife also freaks some people out."

Filming exteriors for "The Sopranos" in a half-dozen small New Jersey towns has changed Imperioli`s lifestyle dramatically, including the necessity of learning how to drive his own car a couple of years ago.

"I had never needed a car in my life, so driving in terrible midtown traffic with an instructor at my side seemed insane," he says, laughing. "I`m doing OK now, but in the `The Sopranos` pilot, I accidentally smashed a Lexus into a tree in a scene where I was backing up the car after Tony (James Gandolfini) beat up some guy."

A native of Mount Vernon, N.Y., he was born in the same hospital as "Sopranos" creator/executive producer David Chase. Imperioli`s father, Dan, is set to retire soon after 30 years as a bus driver in the Bronx and intends to become a full-time actor.

"My dad was very active in community theater before I got involved in high school, in Brewster (N.Y.), so he definitely was an early influence," he explains. "My younger brother, John, is studying acting, too."

After high school and faced with agonizing career choices, Imperioli took the easy way out and decided to become an actor. He spent the next six years as a furniture mover, busboy, waiter, bartender and phone marketing researcher to pay for private acting lessons with John Ventimiglia (now his co-star on "The Sopranos" as Artie Bucco) and a series of well-known teachers at the Lee Strasberg Institute. But it took another three or four years before he could make a living at the craft.

Imperioli`s career picked up speed after "GoodFellas" (1990), but the real turning point in his life came when he met and married Victoria, a linguist and philosophy scholar, four years ago.

"She`s the most amazing person I`ve ever met; someone who can translate a book from French and build beautiful pieces of furniture," he says, smiling. "I have a couple of skills, but she has many, many. When we met, we had nothing in common, yet everything in common.

"I went through drastic changes, the great epiphany, after getting married," he continues. "It`s called maturity. Finally, I was able to finish what I started, including screenplays. Then our son, Vadim, was born two years ago, to go along with my 9-year-old step-daughter, Isabella. I love my wife and children ... they`re so much more important than acting. No longer No. 1 as a self-absorbed and driven actor, I`m now No. 4 and fading."

Part of a "huge Italian family who all lived within five minutes of each other in the Bronx," Imperioli remembers fondly all the weddings, christenings and graduations when the clan gathered.

"I love family life, down to grandparents and in-laws. When I was a kid, a birthday guaranteed 30 people showing up. We still spend Christmas Eve at some relative`s house in the Bronx. For us, it`s the loudest night of the year. We try to out-do each other in volume."

Despite the strong Italian family bonds, Imperioli has no qualms about playing an explosive young Mafioso in "The Sopranos" - even one who is a cold-blooded murderer.

"That doesn`t bother me at all, because I`m not in the Mafia," Imperioli says with a shrug. "Still, some people think I`m in the Mafia - mostly fans, but even a few people in the business think I`m connected in some way. The Mob has become a mythical thing, an outlaw society. Today`s Mafia genre has all the elements of the old Western movies."

Not limited to homicidal gumbah roles, Imperioli recently wrapped production as Rosencrantz in another film version of "Hamlet" and recorded the audio book version of "Omerta," Mario Puzo`s final novel. He hopes to direct Peter Falk and James Gandolfini in an independent film titled "The Crossroads of Monte Carlo" - from his own screenplay - in the immediate future.

"I wrote the movie for Peter and he loves it," he says. "If it works out, I want to do more writing, directing and producing. With my family behind me, I can do it."

(c) Copley News Service.

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Author: Eirik Knutzen