James Gandolfini was a lot like Tony Soprano in real life

When James Gandolfini was in his mid-twenties, he joined an acting class. He’d attend that class for two years and during this time, his teacher would repeatedly ask him to let go. One day, when he was in the middle of an acting exercise with another student, something made him snap. “I just destroyed the place,” Gandolfini recounted in an interview. By the end, he’d torn apart everything that was on stage and his hands were bleeding. His teacher, however, was calm. “This is what people are paying for,” she told him and Gandolfini had something of an epiphany. “I realised I could go to where my anger was and control it.” The lesson would come very handy to the actor who will be remembered for his sensitive and compelling performances of angry, confused men. Gandolfini, 51, died on Wednesday while travelling in Rome. Sources say he suffered from a heart attack. He is survived by his wife, Deborah Lin Gandolfini, his daughter, Liliana, his son Michale (from a previous marriage to Marcella Wudarski), and sisters Leta Gandolfini and Johanna Antonacci. [caption id=“attachment_890595” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  James Gandolfini poses at the premiere of “Zero Dark Thirty” at the Dolby theatre in Hollywood, California on December 10, 2012. Reuters[/caption] Best known for being Tony Soprano in The Sopranos, which was voted the best television series of all time recently, Gandolfini had some things in common with the character he played. Both were New Jersey men who were fiercely proud of their Italian heritage. Both loved eating and drinking. While Tony Soprano’s father was a stone mason, Gandolfini’s father was a bricklayer and a cement mason. Gandolfini had said in interviews that he could identify with Tony’s struggle to find an anchor in a shifting, modern world. Like Tony, Gandolfini also went to college (he studied communications at Rutger University). Unlike Tony, he completed his degree. After graduating, he went to New York and worked as a manager at a night club called Private Eyes. Gandolfini had said that the years he spent at Private Eyes were invaluable in terms of people-watching and that he’d draw upon what he saw there in later acting performances. Gandolfini made his film debut in 1987 and until he was cast in The Sopranos in 1997, he appeared in films like A Stranger Among Us, True Romance, Angie and Get Shorty. David Chase, who created The Sopranos, spotted a star in the character actor and Gandolfini was approached for the role of Tony Soprano. Gandolfini’s first reaction to reading the script he’d been sent was to laugh out loud. He was sure he wouldn’t get the part. “I thought that they would hire some good-looking guy, not George Clooney but some Italian George Clooney, and that would be that,” he said in an interview. Chase, however, noticed the authenticity with which Gandolfini played Tony Soprano and Gandolfini landed the role. The Sopranos ran for six seasons, between 1999 and 2007, and Gandolfini’s career skyrocketed from the moment he appeared on television as Tony Soprano. Balding, beefy and violent, Gandolfini as Tony was also endearing, charming and supremely convincing. Women loved him, mobsters approved of him (except when he wore shorts in public) and the straightforward masculine machismo made him a favourite with audiences. “Jimmy was one of the most talented, authentic and vulnerable actors of our time,” said Paramount chairman Brad Grey, who produced “Sopranos” through his Brillstein-Grey Television banner. “He was unorthodox and truly special in so many ways. He had the sex appeal of Steve McQueen or Brando in his prime as well as the comedic genius of Jackie Gleason.” Heartbroken upon hearing that Gandolfini had died while travelling in Italy, Chase said, “I remember telling him many times: ‘You don’t get it. You’re like Mozart.’ There would be silence at the other end of the phone.” Gandolfini once described himself as a “ 285-pound Woody Allen” and like Allen, he was reticent when it came to the media and talking about himself. He preferred to keep everyone’s attention focussed upon his work. In recent times, the actor had been seen in well-received films like In the Loop, Zero Dark Thirty, and had provided the voice for Carol in Where the Wild Things Are. Speaking about the roles he chose, Gandolfini had said while being interviewed for Inside the Actors Studio, “Good actors have a point of view of what they want to say…To me, it’s about telling a story about blue collar America.” He wanted to tell their stories, the stories of people like his parents, because he admired the grit and determination it took for them to survive. “These are the kind of people I love and these are the kind of people I like to show in movies because I think they’re getting screwed.” Nearing the end of the programme, Gandolfini was asked what he hoped God would say to him when Gandolfini showed up at the pearly gates. “Take over for a while, I’ll be right back,” Gandolfini said with a grin.