Michael Imperioli (Christopher Moltisanti)

Michael Imperioli will probably always be best known for his turn as "Sopranos" deuteragonist Christopher Moltisanti, though the actor is nothing like his cocky and volatile character in real life. Speaking with GQ in 2020, he revealed that he maintains a vegetarian diet and practices Buddhism. "Looking back, I feel so far away from him," Imperioli said of his "Sopranos" character. "I almost don't even recognize that guy."

Imperioli was first noticed playing bit-part character Spider in Martin Scorsese's 1990 mob classic "Goodfellas," taking part in a memorable, expletive-laden exchange with Joe Pesci's Tommy DeVito in which he stands up for himself and ends up dead.

He flitted between film and TV in the years that followed, but wouldn't land his real breakout role until the end of the decade, when HBO brought him back into the gangster fold with "The Sopranos."

Drea de Matteo (Adriana La Cerva)

Drea de Matteo became a fan favorite with her in-your-face performance as Adriana, winning an Emmy for her work as the longtime partner of "Christapha" Moltisanti. By the time the FBI got to her she was a fixture on the show, making her death at the hands of another beloved character, Silvio Dante (Steven Van Zandt), particularly shocking.

De Matteo revealed during a Reddit AMA that her killer wasn't keen on the scene. "Van Zandt was actually the most p***** off about it," she said. "He didn't want to pull me out of that car, he didn't want to call me a c-word, he didn't want to shoot me in the head."

Steven Van Zandt (Silvio Dante)

Before, during, and after "The Sopranos," Steven Van Zandt has been a guitarist in Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, which makes him one of the few cast members who are more famous for their contributions outside the show.

"I was very lucky with 'The Sopranos,'" Van Zandt told Rolling Stone, explaining the lengths that Chase would go to in making sure his touring with the E Street Band could continue unhindered by the show's production. "[David] was such a fan — he would book all my scenes on off days during a tour." Perhaps that's the reason that Dante's fate (he was left comatose after being shot in the finale) was left open-ended?

Tony Sirico (Paulie "Walnuts" Gualtieri)

What set Tony Sirico aside from his "Sopranos" castmates was that his tough guy act wasn't actually an act: he grew up in and around the notorious district of Bensonhurst, New York, a long-established mafia hotspot. Long before he was cast as wing-tipped sociopath Paulie Walnuts, Sirico took a Los Angeles Times reporter on a tour of the area, calling it a "good Italian neighborhood." Living there wasn't easy, however, as Sirico explained in full detail.