
James Joseph Gandolfini Jr. (September 18, 1961 – June 19, 2013) was an American actor and producer. He was best known for his role as Tony Soprano, the Italian-American crime boss in HBO's television series The Sopranos, for which he won three Emmy Awards, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, and one Golden Globe Award. Gandolfini's portrayal of Tony Soprano is widely regarded as among the greatest performances in television history. Gandolfini's notable film roles include mob henchman Virgil in True Romance (1993), Lt. Bobby Dougherty in Crimson Tide (1995), Colonel Winter in The Last Castle (2001) and Mayor of New York in The Taking of Pelham 123 (2009). Other roles are enforcer and stuntman Bear in Get Shorty (1995) and impulsive "Wild Thing" Carol in Where the Wild Things Are (2009). For his performance as Albert in Enough Said (2013), Gandolfini posthumously received much critical praise and several awards, including a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination and the Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor. In 2007, Gandolfini produced Alive Day Memories: Home from Iraq, a documentary in which he interviewed injured Iraq War veterans and in 2010, Wartorn: 1861–2010 examining the impact of post-traumatic stress disorder on soldiers and families throughout several wars in U.S. history from 1861 to 2010. In addition to Alive Day Memories, he also produced television film Hemingway & Gellhorn (2012), which gained him a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited Series nomination. In 2013, Gandolfini died of a heart attack in Rome at the age of 51.
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Biography from TMDB.
- September 18, 1961
- June 19, 2013 (aged 51)
- Westwood, New Jersey, USA
- Actor, also producer
- 48 on MovieCove · 58 credits in all
What are James Gandolfini's films like?
Across their 39 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Morality and Self.
Genres
Their MovieCove films by primary genre. The badge is the typical Midcredits score of the genre's films, the median percentile; an up arrow marks a genre at or above their average across these genres.
Themes
What they feel like to watch
Ironic 4 · Wry 6 · Earnest 28
A split, not a type: Light 11 · Serious 6 · Dark 21
A split, not a type: Grounded 20 · Stylized 14 · Heightened 4
Gentle 4 · Charged 19 · Intense 15
A split, not a type: Steady 18 · Shifting 16 · Whiplash 4
A split, not a type: Straight-faced 24 · Some laughs 8 · Funny 6
Slow burn 15 · Even-paced 22 · Relentless 1
Casual 12 · Engaged 17 · Full focus 9
A split, not a type: Easy watch 7 · Affecting 12 · Heavy 19
Resolved 21 · Open-ended 15 · Ambiguous 2
Roles they play
Usually the Shadow: 7 of 24 analyzed roles.
Show the 24 rolesHide the roles
- Shadowas Ben Pinkwater in Terminal Velocity (1994)
- Threshold guardianas Vinnie in Angie (1994)
- Allyas Bear in Get Shorty (1995)
- Shadowas Joey Allegretto in Night Falls on Manhattan (1996)
- Threshold guardianas Eddie in The Juror (1996)
- Shapeshifteras Kiefer in She's So Lovely (1997)
- Allyas Lou in Fallen (1998)
- Threshold guardianas Eddie Poole in 8MM (1999)
- Shapeshifteras Leroy in The Mexican (2001)
- Shadowas Big Dave Brewster in The Man Who Wasn't There (2001)
- Shadowas Col. Winter in The Last Castle (2001)
- Threshold guardianas Tom Valco in Surviving Christmas (2004)
- Heroas Nick Murder in Romance & Cigarettes (2005)
- Allyas Charles Hilderbrandt in Lonely Hearts (2006)
- Shadowas Tiny Duffy in All the King's Men (2006)
- Mentoras The Man in Stories USA (2007)
- Shapeshifteras Carol in Where the Wild Things Are (2009)
- Heraldas Mr. G in Mint Julep (2010)
- Heroas Doug Riley in Welcome to the Rileys (2010)
- Shadowas Craig Gilbert in Cinema Verite (2011)
- Shapeshifteras The Guy in Violet & Daisy (2011)
- Mentoras Pat in Not Fade Away (2012)
- Shadowas Mickey in Killing Them Softly (2012)
- Mentoras Cousin Marv in The Drop (2014)
Moods and endings
- Happy6
- Bittersweet23
- Tragic1
- Ambiguous9
AI-generated from each title's plot synopsis and cast list, with extra plot summaries, reviews and Parents Guide notes for titles the model may not know, and the model's own knowledge of the ones it recognizes. Only analyzed titles count, so this covers part of the filmography; the feel axes count films only for now.
Where can I watch James Gandolfini's films?
As of October 24, 2026, 31 of their 48 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service, most on Tubi (11).
- 12 Angry Men (1997) · actor · free
- True Romance (1993) · actor · free
- The Last Boy Scout (1991) · actor · free
- Welcome to the Rileys (2010) · actor · free
- Fallen (1998) · actor · free
- Perdita Durango (1997) · actor · free
- Killing Them Softly (2012) · actor · free
- Romance & Cigarettes (2005) · actor · free
- All the King's Men (2006) · actor · free
- Mr. Wonderful (1993) · actor · free
- The Juror (1996) · actor · free
- Sony Pictures Core, show their 5 titles on Sony Pictures Core
- Howdy, show their 3 titles on Howdy
- IndiePix Unlimited, show their title on IndiePix Unlimited
- Lionsgate+, show their title on Lionsgate+
- ScreenPix, show their title on ScreenPix
- Sundance Now, show their title on Sundance Now
- ViX, show their title on ViX
Subscription and free streaming for James Gandolfini's titles on MovieCove; rent and buy are not counted. Titles are listed by Midcredits score, highest first, at most 12 per service; a dashed chip is a producer credit or a minor one, such as a thanks. A service opens the browse page, which counts movies only, so its number can differ.
Filmography
58 credits, 48 with a MovieCove page; 10 appearances as themselves are hidden until asked for.

The Night Of(2016)
Midcredits score: 97th percentile of all shows
The Drop(2014)
Midcredits score: 83rd percentile of all films
Enough Said(2013)
Midcredits score: 83rd percentile of all films
Violet & Daisy(2011)
Midcredits score: 43rd percentile of all films
Nicky Deuce(2013)
Midcredits score: 30th percentile of all films
Midcredits score: 32nd percentile of all films
Not Fade Away(2012)
Midcredits score: 44th percentile of all films
Zero Dark Thirty(2012)
Midcredits score: 92nd percentile of all films
Hemingway & Gellhorn(2012)
Midcredits score: 52nd percentile of all films
Killing Them Softly(2012)
Midcredits score: 50th percentile of all films
Cinema Verite(2011)
Midcredits score: 58th percentile of all films
Down the Shore (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2011)

Wartorn: 1861-2010(2010)
Midcredits score: 88th percentile of all films
Welcome to the Rileys(2010)
Midcredits score: 78th percentile of all films
Mint Julep(2010)
Midcredits score: 20th percentile of all films (provisional, few ratings)
Midcredits score: 72nd percentile of all films
The Taking of Pelham 123(2009)
Midcredits score: 57th percentile of all films
In the Loop(2009)
Midcredits score: 92nd percentile of all films
Stories USA(2007)
Midcredits score: 2nd percentile of all films
Midcredits score: 88th percentile of all films
Midcredits score: 96th percentile of all shows
Club Soda (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2006)
HBO: The Making of 'The Sopranos: Road to Respect' (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2006)

All the King's Men(2006)
Midcredits score: 40th percentile of all films
Lonely Hearts(2006)
Midcredits score: 54th percentile of all films
Romance & Cigarettes(2005)
Midcredits score: 49th percentile of all films
Stories of Lost Souls(2005)
Midcredits score: 28th percentile of all films
Surviving Christmas(2004)
Midcredits score: 23rd percentile of all films
The Man Who Wasn't There(2001)
Midcredits score: 94th percentile of all films
The Last Castle(2001)
Midcredits score: 78th percentile of all films
Come Together: A Night for John Lennon's Words & Music (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2001)

The Mexican(2001)
Midcredits score: 44th percentile of all films
Gun: Fatal Betrayal (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2000)
A Whole New Day (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1999)

8MM(1999)
Midcredits score: 60th percentile of all films
The Sopranos(1999)
Midcredits score: 99th percentile of all shows
A Civil Action(1998)
Midcredits score: 65th percentile of all films
The Mighty(1998)
Midcredits score: 88th percentile of all films
Fallen(1998)
Midcredits score: 77th percentile of all films
Midcredits score: 65th percentile of all films
Perdita Durango(1997)
Midcredits score: 60th percentile of all films
She's So Lovely(1997)
Midcredits score: 41st percentile of all films
12 Angry Men(1997)
Midcredits score: 97th percentile of all films
Gun (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1997)

Night Falls on Manhattan(1996)
Midcredits score: 67th percentile of all films
The Juror(1996)
Midcredits score: 29th percentile of all films
Get Shorty(1995)
Midcredits score: 78th percentile of all films
Crimson Tide(1995)
Midcredits score: 93rd percentile of all films
The New World (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1995)

Terminal Velocity(1994)
Midcredits score: 20th percentile of all films
Italian Movie (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1994)

Angie(1994)
Midcredits score: 24th percentile of all films
Mr. Wonderful(1993)
Midcredits score: 39th percentile of all films
Money for Nothing(1993)
Midcredits score: 25th percentile of all films
True Romance(1993)
Midcredits score: 97th percentile of all films
A Stranger Among Us(1992)
Midcredits score: 28th percentile of all films
The Last Boy Scout(1991)
Midcredits score: 78th percentile of all filmsShock! Shock! Shock! (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1987)
Career shape
Star power in the 99th percentile of 239,109 people with a billed film role, over a full career of 58 titles from 1987 to 2016; peak year 2013.
Film career
Peak 2013 · at the high point of their film career. Top draw in 14 MovieCove titles. Film roles by billing, audience size and rating; 25+ votes. A show carries a single first-air date, so shows are not on the curve.
- 1992Screen debut· A Stranger Among Us
- 1995Screen Actors Guild Award nomination· Get Shorty
- 1999Career best· The Sopranos
- 1999Primetime Emmy win· The Sopranos
- 2001Career best· The Last Castle
- 2005First top-billed film· Romance & Cigarettes
Show 1 more milestoneShow fewer
- 2013Screen Actors Guild Award nomination· Enough Said
Billing
Counts from TMDB across their full career, self appearances out; a title counts in every role they held on it. The ring is the typical Midcredits score (the median percentile) of the role's titles that are on MovieCove, shown from 5 scored. Billing is TMDB cast order for roles with 25+ votes, billed in the top 30; the columns are the share of top-billed roles in each era, 5-year spans from the year on the label, merged until each holds at least 5 roles.
Awards
3 Primetime Emmys, a Golden Globe and 5 Screen Actors Guild Awards from 31 major nominations, 1996–2014.
- Screen Actors Guild Award, nominated · Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
+2 other major bodies · 3 nominations
- Critics Choice Award, nominated · Best Actor in a Comedy
- Critics Choice Award, nominated · Best Supporting Actor
- Independent Spirit Award, nominated · Best Supporting Male
- Primetime Emmy, nominated · Outstanding Miniseries or Movie
- Primetime Emmy, nominated · Outstanding Nonfiction Special
- Screen Actors Guild Award, won · Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
- Screen Actors Guild Award, won · Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
- Primetime Emmy, nominated · Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
- Screen Actors Guild Award, nominated · Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
- Screen Actors Guild Award, nominated · Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
- Screen Actors Guild Award, nominated · Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
- Screen Actors Guild Award, nominated · Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
- Primetime Emmy, nominated · Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
- Primetime Emmy, won · Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
- Golden Globe, nominated · Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Drama
- Screen Actors Guild Award, won · Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
- Screen Actors Guild Award, nominated · Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
- Golden Globe, nominated · Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Drama
- Screen Actors Guild Award, nominated · Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
- Screen Actors Guild Award, nominated · Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
Show 4 earlier yearsShow fewer
- Primetime Emmy, won · Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
- Golden Globe, nominated · Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Drama
- Screen Actors Guild Award, nominated · Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
- Screen Actors Guild Award, nominated · Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
- Primetime Emmy, won · Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
- Golden Globe, won · Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Drama
- Screen Actors Guild Award, won · Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
- Screen Actors Guild Award, won · Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
- Primetime Emmy, nominated · Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
- Screen Actors Guild Award, nominated · Outstanding Performance by a Cast
Major bodies only: the Oscars, Primetime Emmys, Golden Globes, BAFTAs and Screen Actors Guild Awards are named; Cannes, Venice, the Berlinale, Sundance, the directors', writers' and producers' guilds, the Grammys, Critics Choice and the Independent Spirit Awards count as other major bodies. Festival and regional prizes are not counted. Source: IMDb.
How do James Gandolfini's films land?
Their typical MovieCove film has a Midcredits score in the 58th percentile, the median of all 45; across their 38 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 56th percentile for acclaim.
- 75th and up19
- 50th to 74th11
- 25th to 49th13
- Below 25th5
Shape of the crowd
22 of their 48 titles are Crowd Pleasers.
- Universally Loved7
- Divisive2
- Cult Classic1
- Crowd Pleaser22
- Broadly Agreed8
- Mixed8
Reviewers score the acting 74/100 in their films, across 35 reviewed titles; fans 81, detractors 51. The element that speaks to their work as an actor.
Percentiles are each film's standing among all films on MovieCove; the typical film is the median, so one outlier cannot drag it. Percentiles and reviewer scores count the films IMDb credits them on, for now; the Midcredits score bands, the shape of the crowd and the two cards count their MovieCove titles, shows included (a show ranked among shows), appearances as themselves left out. A descriptor is the shape of a title's IMDb rating distribution against the catalog; "most divisive" needs a spread wider than half of all titles, and a card names only a principal credit: a craft role, and on a show a crew role or a run of episodes, never a courtesy credit or a one-off guest spot.
Is James Gandolfini's work okay for kids?
Across up to 26 MovieCove titles with content scores, violence & gore, profanity and frightening / intense run heavier than most films.
Severity 0–100 from the Content Guide. Categories with under 10 votes on a title are not counted. The band's colour is the severity of their median, named beside it.
Who does James Gandolfini work with?
People who share at least 2 of James Gandolfini's MovieCove titles, grouped by what they did on them; John Travolta shares the most, 5.
Directors
- Steven ZaillianShared titles: Welcome to the Rileys (2010), All the King's Men (2006), A Civil Action (1998)See all 3 shared titles with Steven Zaillian

- Tony ScottShared titles: Welcome to the Rileys (2010), The Taking of Pelham 123 (2009), Crimson Tide (1995)See all 3 shared titles with Tony Scott

- Ellen Goosenberg KentShared titles: Wartorn: 1861-2010 (2010), Alive Day Memories: Home from Iraq (2007)See all 2 shared titles with Ellen Goosenberg Kent
- Jon AlpertShared titles: Wartorn: 1861-2010 (2010), Alive Day Memories: Home from Iraq (2007)See all 2 shared titles with Jon Alpert

Actors
- John TravoltaShared titles: The Taking of Pelham 123 (2009), Lonely Hearts (2006), A Civil Action (1998), She's So Lovely (1997), Get Shorty (1995)See all 5 shared titles with John Travolta

- Aida TurturroShared titles: Romance & Cigarettes (2005), The Sopranos (1999), Fallen (1998), Angie (1994)See all 4 shared titles with Aida Turturro

- Catherine KeenerShared titles: Enough Said (2013), Where the Wild Things Are (2009), 8MM (1999)See all 3 shared titles with Catherine Keener

- Michael ImperioliShared titles: James Gandolfini: Tribute to a Friend (2013), Nicky Deuce (2013), The Sopranos (1999)See all 3 shared titles with Michael Imperioli

Composers, cinematographers and editors
- George PapuashviliShared titles: The Drop (2014), Killing Them Softly (2012)See all 2 shared titles with George Papuashvili
- Greig FraserShared titles: Killing Them Softly (2012), Zero Dark Thirty (2012)See all 2 shared titles with Greig Fraser

- Matthew O'NeillShared titles: Wartorn: 1861-2010 (2010), Alive Day Memories: Home from Iraq (2007)See all 2 shared titles with Matthew O'Neill

- Carter BurwellShared titles: Where the Wild Things Are (2009), The Man Who Wasn't There (2001)See all 2 shared titles with Carter Burwell

Producers
- Jenno ToppingShared titles: The Drop (2014), Surviving Christmas (2004)See all 2 shared titles with Jenno Topping

- Bob WeinsteinShared titles: Killing Them Softly (2012), She's So Lovely (1997)See all 2 shared titles with Bob Weinstein

- Harvey WeinsteinShared titles: Killing Them Softly (2012), She's So Lovely (1997)See all 2 shared titles with Harvey Weinstein

- Megan EllisonShared titles: Killing Them Softly (2012), Zero Dark Thirty (2012)See all 2 shared titles with Megan Ellison

Mixed roles
- Robert RedfordShared titles: The Last Castle (2001), A Civil Action (1998)See all 2 shared titles with Robert Redford









