Meet The Sopranos star James Gandolfini’s lookalike son who played his father’s iconic role

James Gandolfini built a name for himself as one of the most recognisable actors in Hollywood. His remarkable portrayal of Tony Soprano, the Italian-American mafia crime boss, earned him more awards than he could count on one hand.

And it seems his 27-year-old son could be on track to follow suit. Michael Gandolfini is not only the spitting image of his dad but has also forged a stellar career as an actor.

In fact, he played his own dad as a teenage Tony Soprano in The Many Saints of Newark, the Sopranos sequel. So, who is James Gandolfini‘s son?

Who is Michael Gandolfini

He spent the first part of his life in Los Angeles, where he lived with his mother, Marcy Wudarski, who had divorced his father in 2002. Michael has long had a flair for acting, having spent his high school years performing in musicals. 

He went on to study acting at New York University but found that most of his learning was done on set rather than behind a desk. Afterward, he got a role as a busboy in the 2018 film Ocean’s Eight and picked up a part in HBO’s The Deuce.

All the while, Sopranos creator David Chase was on the hunt to find an actor to play young Tony in the 2021 prequel series. The show’s director then suggested he meet with Michael, and the pair hit it off immediately; Michael was an obvious fit for the role, both in skill and appearance.

David noted that despite their eerily similar appearance, Michael was “totally different” in nature than his father. Although a little hesitant to step into his James’s shoes, Michael soon fell in love with the role and found it the perfect excuse to binge the original series.

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“It makes me feel really good because I love my dad,” he told The Independent, adding that he does sometimes worry about being typecast as his dad’s lookalike. 

“Sometimes I think: Am I only good because I look like my dad? Or am I good because I did all the work?” he said. Nevertheless, he said the experience made him feel more “connected” to his dad, both as a father and as an actor.

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Michael was just four months old when James’s hit show debuted on HBO. Eight years later, the final episode aired. However, it took him many years to be able to watch it himself, as James sadly died of a heart attack in 2013 at the age of 51, and he knew “it was going to be painful” to see.

Despite the pain of losing his dad, Michael has a sense of humour about his loss, once claiming that he couldn’t be considered a nepobaby because his dad was no longer alive.

Since taking on his father’s role as Tony Soprano, the actor has appeared in several other productions, including Daredevil: Born Again, Warfare, and Cat Person.