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James Joseph Gandolfini Jr. (1961-2013) was an Italian-American actor best known worldwide for his portrayal of Tony Soprano, the mob boss, in the HBO series *The Sopranos*. Born on September 18, 1961, in New Jersey, he was raised in a household where Italian was spoken, as his parents were first-generation Italian immigrants. During high school, he developed an interest in acting alongside basketball, participating in various plays. While he appeared in numerous supporting roles in films during the 1990s and 2000s, *The Sopranos* brought him widespread fame. From 1999 to 2007, he starred for six seasons as Tony Soprano, a mob boss struggling to balance his criminal activities with his personal life. This role earned him a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama in 1999, the AFI's Actor of the Year Award in 2000, and three Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series in 2000, 2001, and 2003, among other accolades. Gandolfini also achieved success on the big screen, appearing in films such as *The Mexican*, *8mm*, *Fallen*, *A Civil Action*, *The Mighty*, *Night Falls on Manhattan*, *Get Shorty*, *Crimson Tide*, *True Romance*, *The Last Castle*, *The Man Who Wasn't There*, and playing Juror #6 in the 1997 remake of *12 Angry Men*. His final significant role was as CIA Director Leon Panetta in Kathryn Bigelow's 2012 film *Zero Dark Thirty*. James Gandolfini died of a heart attack on June 19, 2013, in Rome, Italy, while on vacation at the age of 51. He was married to Deborah Lin, with whom he had a daughter born in 2012. He also had a son, Michael, from a previous marriage. He was buried in New York after a funeral service on June 27. Five months after his death, his hometown of New Jersey declared December 1st as James Gandolfini Day.