Vincent Pastore

Infobox actor
name = Vincent Pastore

---

caption = Vincent Pastore, June 2006
birthdate = birth date and age|1946|7|14|mf=y
birthplace = The Bronx, New York, U.S.
yearsactive = (1988 -present)
website = http://www.vincentpastore.com/

Vincent Pastore (born July 14 1946) is an American film and television actor, often cast as a mobster. He is well known for the role of Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero on "The Sopranos".

Early life

Pastore was born in The Bronx, New York, of Italian-American descent. He attended Pace University for 3 years before eventually going into the acting industry after befriending Matt and Kevin Dillon; he was previously a club-owner in New Rochelle, New York.

Career

Acting

Pastore has made a career of playing the parts of Italian-American mobsters. He began with cameo appearances in 1990's "GoodFellas" and 1993's "Carlito's Way". In "GoodFellas", he is briefly seen rolling a coat rack through the kitchen of a restaurant and is credited as "Vincent Pastore" playing "Man with Coat Rack". In "Carlito's Way", he is one of the friends of the Italian man that dances with Gail, whom Kleinfeld insults. He is listed in the credits as "Vinny Pastore" playing "Copa Wiseguy."

Pastore got a bigger role in the comedy/crime film "" (1995) as Tony Scarboni, one of the three gangsters and Lazarro (Alan Arkin)'s clients. In the 1996 HBO television movie "Gotti", Pastore played the character of Angelo Ruggiero, alongside fellow "Sopranos" cast members Tony Sirico and Dominic Chianese.

In 1999, Pastore got his biggest role to date in "The Sopranos", where he played the character Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero. His character died in the finale of season 2, but Pastore would make a few more appearances over the next few years in dream and flashback sequences.

Following "The Sopranos", he appeared in "Mickey Blue Eyes", "Two Family House" (with "Sopranos" cast mates Michael Rispoli, Kathrine Narducci, Matt Servitto, Michele Santopietro, Louis Guss, Rosemary De Angelis, and Sharon Angela), "Under Hellgate Bridge", "Riding in Cars with Boys". "Deuces Wild", "Made", "Mafia!", "The Hurricane", "Serving Sara", "Carlito's Way" with Sean Penn, "American Cousins", "A Tale of Two Pizzas", "This Thing of Ours", "Shark Tale" , "Johnny Slade’s Greatest Hits", and Guy Ritchie’s "Revolver". He served as Associate Producer of the film, "Doughboys".Television credits include "Grounded for Life" (2002), character Vinnie Fellachio in "Son of a Beach" (2002), "Law & Order" (various roles from 1992 – 1996), soap opera, "One Life to Live", hosted "Repo-Men/Stealing for a Living", "Ed", "Queens Supreme", "Vegas", and "Everybody Hates Chris".

In 2007, he starred in the independent feature film "P.J.", [ [http://www.pjthemovie.com Independent feature film "P.J.] ] co-starring with Sopranos co-star John Heard and Robert Picardo. He had a role in 2008's "College Road Trip", with Martin Lawrence and Raven-Symoné, as well as in the upcoming "Ghost in the Machine".

In 2008, Pastore entered Daytime, joining the cast of General Hospital as Maximus Giambetti, father of two characters on the show. He once again plays an mobster.

Reality shows

Pastore lost 29 lbs on the fourth season of the VH1 reality show "Celebrity Fit Club" which ran from August 6 to October 1, 2006.

On February 20, 2007, the ABC television network announced that Pastore would participate in the fourth season of the American version of the competitive dance series "Dancing with the Stars". [cite news |title=Meet the New Cast of 'Dancing With the Stars| url=http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Entertainment/story?id=2890554&page=1
work=ABC.com Dancing with the Stars|date=February 20, 2007|accessdate=2007-02-21] Pastore withdrew from the competition after only one week, however, after finding the necessary training and preparation too physically demanding. John Ratzenberger took his place in the competition. [cite news | url=http://www.abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/DancingStars/story?id=2912176 | title=John Ratzenberger Joins Cast of 'Dancing with the Stars' | date=March 2, 2006 | work=ABC News | accessdate=2007-05-14 ]

Pastore was featured as a contestant on the January 2008 edition of "Celebrity Apprentice". In the second week, Vincent participated in raising $52,286.00 by selling hot dogs on a Manhattan Street, for that week’s charity. And in a task of selling Broadway show tickets, Pastore as Project Manager lead his team to raise $33,300 for charity. In week 5, Pastore originally got into a faked, blow-out conflict with the project manager of the task, Piers Morgan in order to see if Pastore could get the women to let him on their team to spy on them. The episode had played out like an episode of "The Sopranos" with Pastore switching allegiances multiple times. But, then, Pastore was deliberately "ratted out" to the women by Morgan in the end, to make Pastore look bad to the women. While Pastore and the women then lost their task, besides, before Trump even lifted a finger to fire anyone that week, Pastore resigned from the show and Trump eventually accepted Pastore's resignation after trying to convince him to stay. The show ended with a sequence based on the series finale of "The Sopranos", ending abruptly before Pastore could give the customary end-of-show interview in the cab. Week 6 episode begins with Pastore meeting his ex wife Nancy in a restaurant and presenting her the check he received for being Project Manager for $50,000, in memory of her husband, Mitchell Burke’s Memorial fund with the Lustgarden Foundation.

On July 1, Pastore appeared on NBC’s new show, "Celebrity Family Feud", as part of a family team trying to win $50,000 for their favorite charity. He first competed, with his friends and family, against the cast of "The Girls Next Door". Then, Pastore's team made it to the finals against Kathy Lee Gifford's family, but did not win. However, Pastore and his team picked up a $10,000 consolation prize for their charity, which is researching a cure for pancreatic cancer.

Radio

Pastore hosts "The Wiseguy Show" on Sirius Satellite Radio (Raw Dog, channel 104), described as a "weekly three-hour celebration of Italian-American culture." It currently airs on Wednesdays from 6pm-9pm. [ [http://investor.sirius.com/ReleaseDetail.cfm?ReleaseID=152343&cat=&newsroom= SIRIUS Satellite Radio ] ]

Personal life

Pastore is divorced, having previously been married to Nancy Berke. He became friends with Berke's subsequent husband, Mitchell, and donated the winnings from his stint on the "Apprentice" to a charity in his name.

He still lives on City Island in the Bronx.

References

External links

*imdb|0665114
* [http://www.vincentpastore.com VincentPastore.com] - The Official Web Site of Vincent Pastore

Persondata
NAME= Pastore, Vincent
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=
DATE OF BIRTH= 1946-7-14
PLACE OF BIRTH= The Bronx, New York, U.S.
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=