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With an open expressive face and a penchant for taking roles that might prove too much of a challenge for a performer with more vanity and less integrity, blonde actress Edie Falco emerged as a rare gem among those who shared her profession. With lead actor talent and appeal and character actor versatility, she would capture many enviable roles on stage, screen and television.

Often cast as the tough female in many male-dominated projects, Falco brought increased dimensionality to the stereotypical hardened woman, aptly playing an overworked and understanding corrections officer as a regular on HBO’s “Oz” (1997-1999). She was frequently a featured guest star on the crime dramas “New York Undercover” (Fox) and “Law & Order” (NBC) and had a particularly memorable recurring role as a strong-willed wife of an injured officer on NBC’s “Homicide: Life on the Street”. In 1999, the busy actress began her award-winning portrayal of a cautious Mafia wife on the successful and critically acclaimed HBO series “The Sopranos”. Falco brought a multifaceted spin to her portrayal of Carmela Soprano, a woman determined to keep her family together and to keep her husband’s criminal activities from her children.

Falco did memorable film work in Hal Hartley’s “The Unbelievable Truth” (1989) and “Trust” (1991), displaying a fluency with Hartley’s dialogue that would make her a sought after independent film presence. In 1992, she co-starred in Nick Gomez’s Brooklyn-set gritty crime drama “Laws of Gravity” and subsequently appeared in Abel Ferrara’s striking if uneven vampire film “The Addiction” (1995) and had a bit part in his post-Depression-era crime drama “The Funeral” (1996). Her compelling performance in Gomez’s “Cost of Living” (1997) earned a Best Actress Award from Los Angeles’ AFI Film Festival and the busy actress also offered strong performances that same year in “Cop Land”, “Hurricane Streets” and “Trouble on the Corner”. In 1999, Falco played the title character, a disarming would-be movie star, in Eric Mendelsohn’s acclaimed independent feature “Judy Berlin” (screened at the Sundance Film Festival and MOMA’s New Directors/New Films series) and had her first major role in a mainstream Hollywood picture supporting Harrison Ford and Kristin Scott Thomas in “Random Hearts”.

Falco also managed to carve out a significant stage career despite her many film and television commitments. In 1996, she originated the role of the alcoholic, mentally unstable wife of a jazz musician in Warren Leight’s semi-autobiographical “Side Man”. While filming both “Oz” and the initial episodes of “The Sopranos”, the actress recreated the part in the play’s Off-Off-Broadway production but scheduling conflicts precluded her continuation with the show in its Off-Broadway and Broadway incarnations and she was replaced by Wendy Makkena. When pregnancy forced Makkena’s withdrawal from the role, the producers tapped Falco and three years after creating this memorable character, the actress achieved her dream of starring on Broadway. In 2000, she took “Side Man” to the London stage, starring opposite Jason Priestly. Now a household name thanks to the overwhelming popularity of “The Sopranos”, a success due in no small part part to Falco’s note-perfect performance, she returned to feature film with a co-starring role in the John Sayles drama “Sunshine State” in 2002, where she excelled as a downtrodden Floridian who suddenly awakens to romance. She followed up with her most rich, intense and significant turn as Carmella–at a crossroads in her marriage with Tony–in the 2002-2003 season of “The Sopranos,” for which she was justly rewarded with an Emmy as the best lead actress in a dramatic series.

• Also Credited As:
  Edith Falco
• Born:
  in Brooklyn, New York
• Job Titles:
  Actor, Cashier, Waitress

Family

• Brother: Joe Falco. born c. 1961
• Brother: Paul Falco. younger
• Father: Frankie Falco. married Falco’s mother in 1960; divorced
• Mother: Judith Loney. married Falco’s father in 1960; divorced
• Sister: Ruth Falco. born c. 1967; engaged to Tony Pappas

Significant Others

• Companion: John Devlin. together from c. 1996 to c. 2000

Milestones

• 1989 Film debut in Hal Hartley’s “The Unbelievable Truth”
• 1991 Reteamed with Hartley for a memorable turn in “Trust”
• 1992 Co-starred in Nick Gomez’s Brooklyn-set drama “Laws of Gravity”
• 1993 Had recurring role as the wife of a blinded police officer on NBC’s acclaimed drama “Homicide: Life on the Street”
• 1995 Featured in a two-part guest starring role as a police sergeant on “New York Undercover” (Fox)
• 1995 Starred alongside Lili Taylor and Christopher Walken in Abel Ferrara’s “The Addiction”
• 1996 Made brief appearance in Ferrara’s “The Funeral”
• 1996 Originated the role of the alcoholic mother in Warren Leight’s semi-autobiographical play “Side Man” in workshop productions
• 1996 Starred in the crime-themed comedy “Layin’ Low”
• 1997 Played Sheriff Marge Gunderson in a failed pilot based on the 1996 hit film “Fargo”, directed by Kathy Bates
• 1997 Was featured in the films “Cop Land”, “Hurricane Streets” and “Trouble on the Corner”
• 1998 Starred in “Side Man” at the CSC Theater in New York; was unable to recreate role when it moved to the Roundabout Theater; replaced by Wendy Makkena
• 1998 Won the Los Angeles AFI Film Festival Best Actress award for her performance in “Cost of Living”, directed by Gomez
• 1999 Co-starred as Mafia wife Carmela Soprano in the acclaimed HBO series “The Sopranos”; garnered Emmy Awards in 1999, 2001 and 2003
• 1999 Appeared in supporting role in the Harrison Ford drama “Random Hearts”
• 1999 Broadway debut replacing Wendy Makkena as Terry in “Side Man”
• 1999 Played title role in the independent feature “Judy Berlin”, screened at the Sundance Film Festival; film directed by Purchase classmate Eric Mendelsohn; released theatrically in 2000
• 2000 Reprised stage role in “Side Man” in the London production, co-starring Jason Priestley
• 2001 Acted in “The Vagina Monologues” in London
• 2002 Featured in the John Sayles drama “Sunshine State”
• 2002 Returned to the NYC stage opposite Stanley Tucci in “Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune”
• 2004 Guest-starred on an episode of “Will & Grace,” as a lesbian real-estate speculator
• 2004 Nominated for an Emmy and a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Drama Series for her role as Carmela Soprano in “The Sopranos”
• 2005 Received a SAG nomination for Best Actress in a Drama Series for her role as Carmela Soprano on “The Sopranos”
• Had featured role as prison guard Diane Wittlesey in the HBO drama “Oz”
• Raised in Islip, New York