Lorraine Bracco

Lorraine Bracco was born on October 2, 1954, in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, New York. She spent her childhood in Hicksville, New York, graduating from Hicksville High School in 1972. In 1974, Bracco moved to France, where she began a career as a fashion model for Jean-Paul Gaultier, living there for approximately a decade. Her initial foray into acting was in French films like “Duos sur canapé” (1979) and “Camorra” (1985), where she took on supporting roles. During the 1980s, she also worked as a disc jockey for Radio Luxembourg, diversifying her professional experience prior to her breakthrough in American cinema.

Bracco gained significant recognition for her role as mobster wife Karen Hill in Martin Scorsese’s 1990 crime drama, “Goodfellas.” Her performance earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress and a Golden Globe nomination in the same category. She further cemented her career with her role as psychiatrist Dr. Jennifer Melfi in the critically acclaimed HBO crime drama series, “The Sopranos,” which ran from 1999 to 2007. For this role, Bracco received three consecutive nominations for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series at the Emmy Awards (1999, 2000, 2001) and Golden Globe Awards (2000, 2001, 2002). Her filmography also includes “Medicine Man” (1992), “The Basketball Diaries” (1995), and “Riding in Cars with Boys” (2001).

Beyond her acting achievements, Bracco has explored other ventures. She is the owner of Bracco Wines, in association with Straight-Up Brands LLC, a line of wines that was featured on Bravo’s “Top Chef” in 2006. From 2010 to 2016, she co-starred in the TNT crime drama “Rizzoli & Isles” as Angela Rizzoli. More recently, Bracco starred in the HGTV documentary television series “My Big Italian Adventure” (2020), documenting her renovation of a 200-year-old house in Sambuca di Sicilia. In 2022, she voiced Sofia the Seagull in Robert Zemeckis’s remake of “Pinocchio” and starred in the 2023 film “Jacir,” delivering a performance noted by some critics.