Edie Falco Biography

Edith "Edie" Falco (born July 5, 1963) is an American television, film and stage actress, known for her roles as Diane Whittlesey in the HBO series Oz, as Carmela Soprano on the HBO series The Sopranos, and as the titular character of the Showtime series Nurse Jackie.

Early life

Falco was born in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of Judith Anderson, an actress, and Frank Falco, a jazz drummer. Her father was of Italian descent and her mother's ancestry was Swedish and English. Falco's siblings are Joseph, Paul and Ruth. Her uncle is novelist, playwright and poet Edward Falco, an English professor at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. She was raised in West Islip, on Long Island. Falco graduated from Northport High School in 1981, after playing Eliza Doolittle in a production of My Fair Lady. She attended the Acting Program at SUNY Purchase with fellow actors Stanley Tucci and Ving Rhames; she remains friends with both.

In 2012 Falco was the subject of an episode of Who Do You Think You Are? which focused on her mother's descent from the daughter, born at sea, of a Cornish master mariner, from Penzance, who died in 1840.

Career

Early in her career, Falco made appearances on television shows like Law & Order and Homicide: Life on the Street. Tom Fontana, executive director of Homicide, cast Falco as Eva Thormann, the wife of an injured police officer, after watching Falco's performance in Laws of Gravity, a 1992 film directed by Nick Gomez. Fontana said of her, "She's an actress who's unadorned by any embroidery. She does everything with such simplicity and honesty, it's breathtaking." A struggling actress at the time, Falco said her salary from these television episodes paid for one month's worth of rent. Fontana cast Falco as a regular character, prison officer Diane Whittlesey, in his HBO series Oz based on her work in the Homicide episodes "Son of a Gun" and "A Shot in the Dark".

Her first big break in films was a small speaking role in the 1994 Woody Allen film Bullets Over Broadway. Her friendship with former SUNY Purchase classmate Eric Mendelsohn, who was the assistant to Allen's costume designer, Jeffrey Kurland, helped her to be cast in the role. Mendelsohn would go on to direct Falco in his feature film Judy Berlin, for which he won "Best Director" honors at the Sundance Film Festival. Falco would go on to star in Mendelsohn's next film "3 Backyards", for which he won "Best Director" a second time. Mendelsohn is the only director to ever win this award twice.

Falco, The X-Files star Gillian Anderson, Ugly Betty star America Ferrera, and 30 Rock's Tina Fey are the only actresses to have received a Golden Globe, an Emmy and a SAG Award in the same year. Falco won these awards in 2003 for her performance as Carmela during the fourth season of The Sopranos. Edie Falco's character Carmela Soprano is praised in Kristyn Gorton's essay "Why I Love Carmela Soprano" for challenging Italian-American gender roles.

Edie has won four Emmys, two Golden Globes and five Screen Actors Guild Awards. Falco is the second actor to have won Emmys for lead acting in both a Drama and a Comedy series (the first actor to do so was Carroll O'Connor).

Falco has appeared in the films Trust, Reversal of Fortune,Cop Land, Private Parts (non-speaking part), Random Hearts, Freedomland, and John Sayles' Sunshine State, for which she received the Los Angeles Film Critics Award for "Best Supporting Actress". On Broadway, she appeared in the Tony Award-winning Side Man and in the revivals of Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune opposite Stanley Tucci, and 'night, Mother opposite Brenda Blethyn. She has also appeared as a guest star on the television shows 30 Rock and Will & Grace.

Edie stars as the title character in the Showtime dark comedy series Nurse Jackie, which premiered in June 2009.

She recently played the part of Bananas in the Broadway revival of House of Blue Leaves in New York City with Ben Stiller and Jennifer Jason Leigh, for which she received her first and only Tony Award nomination. It was announced in January that Falco would star in Liz Flahive's The Madrid Off-Broadway. The limited engagement, directed by Leigh Silverman, will begin performances February 5 with an official opening February 26. Along with Falco, the play will star John Ellison, Christopher Evan Welch, Phoebe Strole and Frances Sternhagen.

Politics

During the 2004 U.S. presidential election, Falco appeared in a 30-second television commercial on behalf of M.O.B. (Mothers Opposing Bush) in which she said "Mothers always put their children first. Mr. Bush, can you say the same?" referring to the fact that George W. Bush's daughters have no military experience in contrast to his perceived warmongering policies.

Records show that she donated $1,000 to John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign, $300 to the Democratic National Committee in 2004, and two separate sums of $1,000 and $300 to Hillary Clinton in 2005.

Edie Falco has become the spokesperson for Health Care for America Now (HCAN) and appeared on CNN on June 25, 2009.

Personal life

In 2003, Falco was diagnosed with breast cancer. She chose not to make the news public until the following year.

Falco has had problems with alcohol and decided to become sober after "one particular night of debauchery." She said in an interview that it was hard to be around the hard-partying cast of The Sopranos; "This cast in particular, they really love to hang out and party. They make it look like fun. And it was fun for me! They spend a lot more time without me than with me, by my own choice. I'm always invited, and I'm always there for two minutes and I leave, because I can't live in that world anymore. It's too dangerous." She is an advocate of Alcoholics Anonymous's 12-step program.

Falco adopted a son, Anderson, in 2005 and a daughter, Macy, in 2008.

In 2013, Falco teamed up with PETA in an ad urging parents to keep their children away from the circus.

Filmography

Film

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1987	Sweet Lorraine	Karen	Credited as Edith Falco
1989	The Unbelievable Truth	Jane - The Waitress
	Sidewalk Stories	Woman in Carriage
1990	Trust	Peg Coughlin
1991	I Was on Mars	Female Cab Driver
1992	Laws of Gravity	Denise	Nominated"?Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead
	Time Expired	Ginny	Short film
1993	Rift	Film Director
1994	Bullets Over Broadway	Lorna
1995	The Addiction	Jean
	Backfire!	Mom
1996	Layin' Low	Angie
	The Funeral	Union Speaker
	Breathing Room	Marcy
	Childhood's End	Patty
1997	Hurricane	Joanne
	Private Parts	Alison's Friend	Uncredited
	Cop Land	Berta (Bomb Squad Agent)
	Trouble on the Corner	Vivian Stewart
	Cost of Living	Billie	AFI Fest Award for Best Actress
1998	Blind Light	Diana DiBianco
	A Price Above Rubies	Feiga
1999	Judy Berlin	Judy Berlin
	Stringer	TV Producer
	Random Hearts	Janice
2000	Death of a Dog	Mom
	Overnight Sensation	Festival Coordinator
2002	Sunshine State	Marly Temple	Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress " Motion Picture Nominated"?Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated"?Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress (3rd place) Nominated"?Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress
2004	Family of the Year
2005	The Girl from Monday	Judge
	The Great New Wonderful	Safarah Polsky	Segment: Emme's Story
	The Quiet	Olivia Deer
2006	Freedomland	Karen Colluci
2010	3 Backyards	Peggy
2013	Gods Behaving Badly	Artemis	Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996	The Sunshine Boys		TV Movie
1993"1997	Homicide: Life on the Street	Eva Thromann	Recurring Role 5 Episodes
1993"1998	Law & Order	Sally Bell	Recurring Role 4 Episodes
1995"1997	New York Undercover	Sgt. Kelly	Recurring Role 3 Episodes
1997"2000	Oz	Diane Whittlesey	Recurring Role 23 Episodes
1999"2007	The Sopranos	Carmela Soprano	Main Role 85 Episodes AFI Award - Actor of the Year - Female - TV Series (2002) Golden Globe Award for Best Actress " Television Series Drama (2000, 2003) Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series (1999, 2001, 2003) Satellite Award for Best Actress " Television Series Drama (2002) Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series (1999, 2002, 2007) Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series (1999, 2007) TCA Award for Individual Achievement in Drama (2003) Nominated"?Golden Globe Award for Best Actress " Television Series Drama (2001-2002, 2005, 2007-2008) Nominated"?Golden Nymph Award for Outstanding Actress - Drama Series (2008) Nominated"?Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series (2000, 2004, 2007) Nominated"?Satellite Award for Best Actress " Television Series Drama (2000-2001) Nominated"?Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series (2000-2001, 2004, 2006) Nominated"?Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series (2000-2002, 2004, 2006) Nominated"?TCA Award for Individual Achievement in Drama (2001, 2004) Nominated"?Viewers for Quality Television Award for Best Actress in a Quality Drama Series (2000)
2000	The Sight	Ghost	TV Movie Uncredited
2001	Jenifer	Wheelchair Saleswoman	TV Movie
2004	Will & Grace	Deirdre	Episode: East Side Story
2007"2008	30 Rock	Celeste Cunningham	Recurring Role 4 Episodes Nominated - Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series
2009"present	Nurse Jackie	Jackie Peyton	Main Role Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series (2010) Nominated"?Golden Globe Award for Best Actress " Television Series Musical or Comedy (2010-2011) Nominated"?Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series (2011-2013) Nominated"?Prism Award for Female Performance in a Drama Series Multi-Episode Storyline (2010, 2012) Nominated"?Satellite Award for Best Actress " Television Series Drama (2009) Nominated"?Satellite Award for Best Actress " Television Series Musical or Comedy (2010) Nominated"?Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series (2010-2013) Nominated"?Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (2013)

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1998-1999	Side Man	Terry	Original play Jun 25, 1998 - Oct 31, 1999 Theatre World Award Nominated - Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play
2002-2003	Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune	Frankie	Original play Aug 08, 2002 - Mar 09, 2003
2004-2005	'night, Mother	Jessie Cates	Revival play Nov 14, 2004 - Jan 09, 2005
2011	The House of Blue Leaves	Bananas Shaughnessy	Revival play Apr 25, 2011 - Jun 25, 2011 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play Nominated - Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play