Aida Turturro

Aida Turturro

Active - 1989 - 2022  |   Born - Sep 25, 1962 in Brooklyn, New York, United States  |   Genres - Crime, Drama, Family & Personal Relationships

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Biography by AllMovie

Aida Turturro, born September 25, 1962, in New York City, can be seen in numerous feature films in addition to her most well-known role as Janice on HBO's Sopranos series. Turturro has show business in her blood, attested by the careers of her cousins, Nicholas Turturro and John Turturro (actor-brothers), and is a long-term friend of Sopranos co-star James Gandolfini. She and Gandolfini have made collaborate film appearances in Fallen (1998) and Angie (1994) -- in the latter of which, Turturro supported the role of Geena Davis as her best friend. In 1992, Turturro and Gandolfini starred with Jessica Lange and Alec Baldwin on Broadway in A Streetcar Named Desire.

Residing in New York for much of her life, Turturro attended the State University of New York at New Paltz as a theater student and graduated in 1984. Her first feature-film appearance came in 1989 as Grace in True Love, a film involving Italian family life. She has since made numerous film and network television appearances, including the features Jersey Girl and Denise Calls Up, and multiple episodes of both Law & Order and Mr. & Mrs. Smith.

In 1998, she collaborated with cousin John Turturro in a supporting role under his direction in Illuminata. Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles (2001), a silly adventure film following up a pair of Dundee hits in the 1980s, featured Turturro in the role of Jean. In that same year, she appeared in Edward Burns' Sidewalks of New York, the title of which attracted gratuitous attention to its theatrical release shortly after the terrorist attacks on the U.S. on September 11, 2001.

She enjoyed a long run on The Sopranos, and acted in her brother John's idiosyncratic musical Romance & Cigarettes, and had a major part in 2010's A Little Help.

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Factsheet

  • First name was inspired by her father's love of opera.
  • Admits she was shy as a child.
  • After college, studied acting at Carnegie Hall under Robert X. Modica.
  • Early in her acting career, supported herself between jobs by cleaning houses.
  • Was encouraged to audition for The Sopranos by series star James Gandolfini, with whom she became friends when they appeared together in a Broadway revival of A Streetcar Named Desire.
  • When she met Keith Richards, she told CNN.com, the rocker was disappointed to learn that her tattoo wasn't real.
  • Appeared in the 2005 film Romance & Cigarettes, featuring Gandolfini and directed by her cousin, actor John Turturro; she thinks of Turturro as a big brother.
  • Serves as national spokesperson for the "Joint Effort Against Rheumatoid Arthritis" campaign (she was diagnosed with the disease at age 12).
  • Campaigns for diabetes awareness (she was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in 2001).
  • As an adult, she went to Italy and connected with some of her Italian relatives.