Edie Falco

Edith Falco, known as Edie, was born on July 5, 1963, in Brooklyn, New York, to Judith Anderson, an actress, and Frank Falco, a jazz drummer. She is of Italian (father) and Swedish, English, and Cornish (mother) descent. Edie grew up on Long Island and attended SUNY Purchase, where she studied acting at the prestigious Conservatory of Theatre Arts and Film. After graduating, she moved to Manhattan, auditioning for roles and working various jobs to support herself, including wearing a Cookie Monster costume at parties for an entertainment company and encouraging guests to dance. Falco began landing film roles, mostly small supporting parts, starting in the late 1980s. Her first notable role was a supporting part in *Bullets Over Broadway* (1994). Interestingly, it was in television where the conservatory-trained Falco's career first flourished. She obtained her first recurring roles in 1993, on the acclaimed police dramas *Homicide: Life on the Street* (1993), as the wife of a blinded police officer, and *Law & Order* (1990), as a Legal Aid attorney. Next came a recurring role on the prison drama *Oz* (1997), as a sympathetic corrections officer. All the while she continued to work in film, still in small supporting roles.

Supporting herself in acting continued to be a challenge until at last Falco found success in 1999, when she was cast in the HBO series *The Sopranos* (1999), as Carmela, the wife of New Jersey Mafia street boss Tony Soprano. *The Sopranos* brought her significant visibility and praise for her strong dramatic skills. In 2000, Falco became one of the few actresses in history to win all of the major television awards (the Emmy, the Golden Globe, and the SAG Award) in one year for a dramatic role. She is also the first female actor ever to receive the Television Critics Association Award for Individual Achievement in Drama. Interestingly, her roles have frequently placed her on one side of the law or the other—such as a defense attorney, a corrections officer, a cop's wife, a mobster's wife, and a police officer (in a pilot for a television adaptation of the movie *Fargo* (1996)). She has also worked frequently on the stage, including award-winning performances in the play *Sideman*, in *The Vagina Monologues*, and in revivals of *Frankie and Johnny in the Claire de Lune* (which was highly successful) and *'night Mother*.

Unlike her brashly assertive character Carmela Soprano, Falco is self-described as shy, but is clearly a witty and down-to-earth person. She sometimes travels with her beloved dog Marley, driving so that the dog does not have to travel in the baggage compartment. At one point, Falco had a relationship with her *Frankie and Johnny* co-star Stanley Tucci. She was treated for breast cancer in 2004 and her prognosis is very good. In December 2004, Falco adopted a baby boy, whom she named Anderson, after her mother's surname. Another adoption, of a baby girl named Macy, followed in 2008.