Lorraine Bracco Biography

Summary

"Lorraine Bracco" (born October 2, 1954) is an Oscar, Golden Globe and Emmy Award nominated and Screen Actors Guild Award-winning American actress perhaps best known for her roles as Karen Hill in "Goodfellas" and Dr. Jennifer Melfi on the hit HBO TV series, "The Sopranos".

Biography

Early life

Bracco was born in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bay Ridge and grew up in Hicksville on Long Island.

She was voted the 'ugliest girl in the 6th grade' at her Long Island grade school. (... more) She moved to France in 1974 where she became a fashion model for Jean-Paul Gaultier.

She is of Italian and English ancestry. She is also fluent in French.

Career

She appeared as Paul Guilfoyle's hostage in the first season "Crime Story" episode 'Hide and Go Thief'. Her sister Elizabeth played a hostage in the series pilot.

She has appeared in several films, including "Riding in Cars with Boys", "The Basketball Diaries", "Medicine Man", "Radio Flyer" and "Hackers".

Bracco received her big career break when offered the role as the mobster-wife Karen Hill in "Goodfellas", which earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. During the audition process for "The Sopranos", Bracco had originally vied for the lead female role of Carmela Soprano, but turned it down fearing the part was too similar to her role as the mob-wife in "Goodfellas" and that the role of mob-psychiatrist Dr. Jennifer Melfi would be a new and bigger challenge for her. The role has netted her several award nominations, including 3 consecutive nominations for 'Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series' at the Emmy Awards in 1999, 2000 and 2001 and at the Golden Globe awards for Best TV Actress in a Drama in 2000, 2001 and 2002. She lost out at the "Emmys" in 1999 and 2001 and at the "Golden Globes" in 2000 to her co-star, Edie Falco. She was nominated again at the 2007 "Emmy Awards" for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series, thus being pitted against "The Sopranos" co-star, Aida Turturro for the award.

Personal life

Bracco has been married and divorced twice. Her first marriage was to Daniel Guerard from the late 1970s to the early 1980s, after which she entered into a long-term relationship with Harvey Keitel. Following a turbulent breakup with Keitel, she then married Edward James Olmos. She has two children, Stella Keitel and Margaux Guerard. Bracco engaged in a five-year legal battle that ended in 1999 for custody of her daughter Stella from the relationship with Keitel. The huge legal fees and taxes forced her to file for bankruptcy, and she and Olmos filed for divorce in March 2002. Bracco is currently dating former Syracuse Orange basketball star Jason Cipolla and has long since recovered financially thanks to the success of "The Sopranos".

She is the owner of (Bracco Wines) . Her line of wines was featured on the Season 1 finale of Bravo's show Top Chef in 2006. She appeared as a guest judge for the 2 episode finale.

On Thursday, May 24, 2007, Bracco appeared on "Oprah" to discuss how she conquered clinical depression and to promote her book on the subject, "On The Couch".