He also played Angelo “Gyp” DeCarlo in over 2000 performances of “Jersey Boys”.
Joseph Siravo, the veteran Broadway actor and educator who played Johnny “Johnny Boy” Soprano on HBO’s The Sopranos, died after a long battle with cancer. He was 64.
His friends The Sopranos co-star Garry Pastore confirmed Siravo’s death in an Instagram post on Sunday night. “RIP my best friend who has fought an incredible fight. I will miss you. See you on the other side,” Pastore wrote.
The BBC quoted his daughter Allegra Okarmus as writing on Instagram: “I was by his side when my dear father passed away peacefully this morning in his beloved Treehouse … “He didn’t go far. He had a lot of credits, but by far his favorite was Nonno Joe’s.”
“Joe was an excellent actor and a great guy and he will be sorely missed”, The sopranoCo-star Michael Imperioli said on Instagram. “His performance [as] Johnny Boy Soprano was perfect and he also made a perfect John Gotti in Nick Sandow’s The WannabeIn my opinion, he was the best of all the actors who played the Teflon Don. “
Better known to television audiences around the world for his turn as Tony Soprano’s ruthless father The SopranosSiravo built an impressive roster of Broadway, Off-Broadway and regional theater credits and became an integral part of the Tony and Grammy award-winning’s first national tour Jersey guys, who played Angelo “Gyp” DeCarlo in over 2000 performances.
Born in Washington DC on February 12, 1957, Sivaro attended Stanford University, where he performed for the Stanford Mendicants, an all-male a cappella group. He graduated from Stanford with a BA in 1977 and received his MFA from the NYU Tisch School of the Arts Theater Program in 1980, where he trained under the direction of Ron Van Lieu, Olympia Dukakis and Nora Dunfee.
Siravo first made an impression with acting in the theater. His notable Broadway credits include JT Rogers’ Tony award-winning play Oslo, Gardner’s Herb Conversations with my father with Tony Shaloub and Judd Hirsch, the musical The guys from Syracuse and the Craig Lucas musical The light on the Piazza.
He played off-Broadway in Caryl Churchill’s Mad Forest and Michael Develle Winn’s Against the wind and in the regional theater, he starred in a number of Shakespearean productions, including Hamlet Anthony & Cleopatra and Othello.
In 2006 Siravo was part of the first national tour of the phenomenally successful musical Jersey guys, based on the career and music of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. He played Genovese family boss Gyp DeCarlo and stayed with the production until 2012, performing in 38 cities.
To a wider audience, Siravo will always be remembered as Johnny “Johnny Boy” Soprano from HBO’s critically acclaimed Mafia drama The SopranosSiravo took on the role of DiMeo capo of the crime family and father of Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini). In the show, he appeared in flashbacks and dream sequences in five episodes, and made his first appearance in “Down Neck”, the seventh episode in season one and his last in episode 15 of season six entitled “Remember When”.
Siravo also starred in FX’s Emmy-winning drama The People VOJ Simpson: American Crime Story, in which he gave a powerful appearance as Fred Goldman, the father of the murdered Ron Goldman.
His other television credits include For life New Amsterdam Blue blood The black list Elementary Under treatment Made in Jersey, Dirty sexy money Hack Third wait Law & Authority Witness to the mafia and Cosby.
Siravo made his big screen debut in Brian De Palma’s Carlito’s Way in 1993, in which he played Vinnie Taglialucci, the grieving son of a mob boss who seeks revenge on David Kleinfeld (Sean Penn) and Carlito Brigante (Al Pacino). While his focus was mainly on theater and television, Siravo’s included film credits as well Housemaid in Manhattan Shark storyJohn Gotti plays in The Wannabe and most recently The report Equity and Motherless in Brooklyn.
Throughout his career, Siravo was dedicated to teaching his craft, and he was a much sought-after private acting teacher as well as a member of NYU’s Grad Acting faculty led by Zelda Fichandler, where he taught speech, speech, and text. with a primary focus on Shakespeare. He was also the founder of the Shakespeare & Beyond workshop and had a long association with the Lucid Shakespeare workshop.
His production credits include the feature film Things hanging from trees.