Steve Schirripa: Movies & Box Office

Steve Schirripa (Steven Ralph Schirripa) is an American actor best known for his iconic role as Bobby Baccalieri on the groundbreaking HBO series The Sopranos. Born on September 3, 1957, in the Bensonhurst neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City, he grew up in a low‑income household with a culturally mixed heritage—his father was Italian‑American and his mother of Jewish descent—an upbringing that later informed the comedic and self‑deprecating persona he cultivated on talk shows and podcasts. After graduating from Lafayette High School and earning his degree at Brooklyn College, Schirripa worked as the entertainment director of the Riviera Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, where he honed his performance skills and made cameo appearances in comedy specials. This experience propelled him into film, landing an uncredited extra role in Martin Scorsese’s Casino before his breakout as “Bobby” in 1999, a part that earned him five seasons on The Sopranos and solidified his status as a beloved character actor. Throughout the 2000s and 2010s he amassed an extensive résumé, guest‑starring on series such as Law & Order, Angel, The Secret Life of the American Teenager, and Blue Bloods, while also providing voice work for the Open Season films and appearing on a myriad of game shows including Million Dollar Password and Pyramid.

Beyond acting, Schirripa has hosted Investigation Discovery’s true‑crime programs Nothing Personal and Karma’s A Btch!*, co‑hosted the Talking Sopranos podcast with fellow alumnus Michael Imperioli, and authored several humor‑infused books under the “Goomba” brand. In 2014 he launched Uncle Steve’s Italian Specialties, a line of organic vegan pasta sauces, showcasing his entrepreneurial spirit. Married to Laura Lemos since 1989, the couple has two daughters, Bria and Ciara, and Schirripa continues to blend his on‑screen toughness with off‑screen kindness, remaining a versatile presence in contemporary television and pop culture.