Tony Sirico

Sirico was born in New York City on July 29, 1942.[1] He grew up in Brooklyn, in the East Flatbush and Bensonhurst neighborhoods.[2] Sirico's brother, Robert Sirico, is a Catholic priest and co-founder of the free-market Acton Institute.[3]

Sirico was convicted of several crimes and had been arrested 28 times, including for disorderly conduct, assault, and robbery, before taking up acting.[2][4] On February 27, 1970, he was arrested at a restaurant, and found with a .32 caliber revolver on his person. In 1971, he was indicted for extortion, coercion and felony weapons possession, convicted, and sentenced to four years in prison, of which he served 20 months at Sing Sing.[5][6][7] According to a court transcript at the time of his sentencing, Sirico was the owner of a discotheque in Manhattan, and also had pending charges for criminal possession of a dangerous drug.[5] Sirico has stated that he was visited by an acting troupe composed of ex-convicts during his imprisonment, which inspired him to give acting a try.[8] He appeared in the 1989 documentary The Big Bang by James Toback, in which he discussed his earlier life.

Sirico's first confirmed role in film was as an extra in the 1974 film Crazy Joe, who had secured the role with the help of Richard Castellano.[7] Sirico has played gangsters in a number of films, including Goodfellas, Mob Queen, Mighty Aphrodite, Love and Money, Fingers, The One Man Jury, Defiance, The Last Fight, Innocent Blood, Bullets over Broadway, The Pick-up Artist, Gotti, The Search for One-eye Jimmy, Cop Land, Turn of Faith, Hello Again, and Mickey Blue Eyes.

He also played policemen in the films Dead Presidents and Deconstructing Harry. Sirico's most acclaimed acting job was that of Paulie Gualtieri in David Chase's Emmy award winning drama, The Sopranos. He originally auditioned for the role of Uncle Junior with Frank Vincent, but Dominic Chianese landed the role. David Chase instead offered him the role of playing Paulie Gualtieri; Sirico agreed under the condition that his character would not "become a rat".[7]

In late 2013, he voiced the character of Vinny Griffin, who was the family's pet dog in Family Guy (replacing Brian Griffin after his death; Brian would later be saved via time travel two episodes after Vinny's debut).[9] Sirico also made a live-action cameo in the episode "Stewie, Chris, & Brian's Excellent Adventure", where he threatens Stewie, who had insulted Italians, calling them "ridiculous people". Vinny would return in a cameo appearance at the end of the Season 15 premiere, “The Boys In The Band”.

In 2018, he reunited with former Sopranos actors, Federico Castelluccio and Vincent Pastore, in Sarah Q.[10]

Sirico (left) and James Gandolfini with a member of the U.S. Air Force during a USO visit to Southwest Asia

In 1999, Sirico and Sopranos co-star Vincent Pastore met with James Clemenza and his brother Jerry, Colombo crime family soldiers, at a Christmas party in Little Italy, Manhattan. Clemenza was under FBI surveillance at the time.[11]

• Tony Sirico on IMDb