Michael Imperioli

Michael Imperioli (; born March 26, 1966) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Christopher Moltisanti in the HBO crime drama series The Sopranos (1999–2007), which earned him the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 2004.

In the early part of his career, Imperioli played the role of Spider in Goodfellas (1990). He went on to play many supporting roles in films such as Jungle Fever (1991), Bad Boys (1995), The Basketball Diaries (1995), Shark Tale (2004), The Lovely Bones (2009), and most recently, One Night in Miami (2020) and Song Sung Blue (2025). He also co-wrote the screenplay for Summer of Sam (1999) with Spike Lee, and wrote five episodes of The Sopranos. He made his directorial feature film debut with The Hungry Ghosts (2008), which he also wrote.

For his role as Dominic Di Grasso in the second season of The White Lotus (2022), Imperioli was nominated again for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. On stage, he made his Broadway debut in the revival of the Henrik Ibsen play An Enemy of the People (2024).

He has played crime boss Dutch since July 2025 in the Fox crime drama Memory of a Killer.

Early life and education Imperioli was born on March 26, 1966, in Mount Vernon, New York. His father, Dominic Ralph Imperioli, was a bus driver and amateur actor, and his mother, Claire Linda (née Luzzi), was a department store worker and amateur actress. His ancestors immigrated to New York City from Lazio, Sicily, and Oriolo, Cosenza, Calabria in Italy.

At age 11, Imperioli and his family moved to Brewster, New York, and in high school he began watching Broadway plays. Imperioli planned on studying pre-med at the State University of New York at Albany. The night before he was set to begin college, he confided in his parents that he sought to be an actor. At age 17, Imperioli then moved to Manhattan's East Village, where he enrolled at Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute to study acting. While there, he met John Ventimiglia, who later portrayed Artie Bucco on The Sopranos, and the two became roommates.

Career

Imperioli has been nominated for two Golden Globe Awards and five Emmy Awards for his work as Christopher Moltisanti on The Sopranos. He won one Emmy for the fifth season of The Sopranos in 2004.

In addition to his role on The Sopranos, Imperioli has appeared in a number of films, including Goodfellas, Jungle Fever, Bad Boys, Malcolm X, The Basketball Diaries, Clockers, Dead Presidents, Girl 6, My Baby's Daddy, Lean on Me, I Shot Andy Warhol, Last Man Standing, Shark Tale, High Roller: The Stu Ungar Story, and Summer of Sam, which he also co-wrote and co-produced. He also wrote five episodes for The Sopranos.

Imperioli served as artistic director of Studio Dante, an Off-Broadway theater he formed with his wife. He is an active member of The Jazz Foundation of America and co-hosted their May 2009 annual benefit concert, "A Great Night in Harlem", at the Apollo Theater, which celebrated the foundation's 20th anniversary. He was a guest on the "San Giuseppe" episode of Mario Batali's Food Network television show Molto Mario. In 2010, Imperioli signed on to play the lead in the ABC television show Detroit 1-8-7. Working with the writer Gabriele Tinti, he wrote the text "Pride" for Tinti's book New York Shots, and participated in a reading of The Way of the Cross at the Queens Museum of Art in 2011.

Imperioli won the Tournament of Stars competition on the cooking show Chopped in 2014, sending $50,000 to his designated charity the Pureland Project, an organization which builds and maintains schools in rural Tibet. In 2016, he guest starred as the angel Uriel on the Fox show Lucifer.

On March 13, 2019, Imperioli was cast in the lead role of Rick Sellitto in the NBC drama series Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector. Imperioli co-hosts a podcast with Steve Schirripa titled Talking Sopranos, which began on April 6, 2020. The two provide inside info as they follow The Sopranos series episode by episode. By September 2020, the podcast had reached over five million downloads.

On September 17, 2020, Imperioli and Schirripa signed a deal with HarperCollins book imprint William Morrow and Company to write an oral history of the show; In July 2020, he hosted a show on NTS Radio called 632 ELYSIAN FIELDS, which was inspired by A Streetcar Named Desire. In September 2020, Imperioli provided narration for The Whistleblower, a podcast about the 2007 NBA betting scandal. Imperioli is the guitarist and vocalist for the band Zopa. In 2020, Zopa released their debut album entitled La Dolce Vita. In 2021, Zopa headlined the Freakout Festival in Seattle.

Imperioli portrayed Andrew Cuomo in the Showtime limited series Escape at Dannemora (2018), Angelo Dundee in the Regina King directed One Night in Miami (2020), and served as narrator in the 2021 Sopranos prequel film, The Many Saints of Newark. In January 2022, Imperioli was cast in a lead role in the second season of the HBO dark comedy series The White Lotus. For his performance he received a nomination for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. In 2023 it was announced that Imperioli would make his Broadway debut in the 2024 Sam Gold-directed adaptation of the Henrik Ibsen play An Enemy of the People, acting alongside Jeremy Strong and Victoria Pedretti at the Circle in the Square Theatre. He acted in the Paul Schrader directed film Oh, Canada which premiered at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.

Since July 2025 he has played Dutch, the friend and boss of hitman Angelo Doyle in Fox's crime drama Memory of a Killer.

Personal life Imperioli married Victoria Chlebowski in 1996. The couple have three children: two sons and Victoria's daughter from a previous relationship whom Michael adopted and raised as his own. They now primarily live in New York City with a home on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and had another home previously in Santa Barbara, California. He and his family are avid practitioners of Taekwondo. In 2008, Imperioli became a Buddhist.

Imperioli is a fan of the animated sitcom American Dad!. He has called it his favorite TV show in several interviews and has appeared in an episode voicing the character Roger's father Fred.

Acting credits Film

Television YearTitleRoleNotes 1994 NYPD Blue Duane Rollins Episode: "Dead and Gone" 1996 Law & Order Johnny Stivers Episode: "Atonement" 1997 New York Undercover Miles Gordon Episode: "The Last Hurrah" Firehouse Lt. O'Connell Television film 1998 Witness to the Mob Louie Milito Television film 1999–2007 The Sopranos Christopher Moltisanti Main cast; also wrote five episodes 2000 Disappearing Acts Vinney Television film Hamlet Rosencrantz Television film 2001 I Love the '90s Himself Episode: "I Love 1990" 2002 VH1 Big Awards Himself/Host Main host 2004 The Five People You Meet in Heaven Captain Television film 2005–2006 Law & Order Detective Nick Falco Recurring cast (season 15), guest (season 16) 2006 The Simpsons Dante Jr. (voice) Episode: "The Mook, the Chef, the Wife and Her Homer" 2007 For One More Day Charley "Chick" Benetto Television film 2008–2009 Life on Mars Detective Ray Carling Main cast 2010 Celebrity Ghost Stories Himself Episode #2.1 Mercy Harold Pindus Episode: "We're All Adults" The Secret Life of the American Teenager Dr. Ottavi Episode: "The Sound of Silence" 2010–2011 Detroit 1-8-7 Detective Louis "Lou" Fitch Main cast 2012 Girls Powell Goldman Episode: "Leave Me Alone" Necessary Roughness Jimmy Folkes Episode: "All the King's Horses" 2013 The Office Sensei Billy Episode: "Livin' the Dream" Nicky Deuce The Doctor Television film 2014 Rake Alberto Rinaldi Episode: "Bigamist" Californication Rick Rath Recurring cast (season 7) Chopped Himself 2 episodes 2015–2016 Mad Dogs Lex Main cast 2015–2018 Hawaii Five-0 Odell Martin Recurring cast (season 5), guest (season 6 & 8) 2016–2017 Lucifer Uriel Recurring cast (season 2) 2016–2021 Blue Bloods Robert Lewis Recurring cast (season 7), guest (season 11) 2017 Dice Himself Episode: "Fingerless" 2018 Alex, Inc. Eddie Main cast Escape at Dannemora Andrew Cuomo Episode: "Part 7" 2019 Watchmen Video Testimonial Man Episode: "Little Fear of Lightning" 2019–2020 Project Blue Book Edward Rizzuto Recurring cast (season 1), guest (season 2) 2020 Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector Rick Sellitto Main cast 2022 The White Lotus Dominic Di Grasso Main cast (season 2) 2022–2023 This Fool Minister Leonard Payne Recurring cast (season 1-2) 2024 American Dad! Fred (voice) Episode: "Piece by Piece" Wise Guy: David Chase and the Sopranos Himself Episode: "Part 1 & 2" Kite Man: Hell Yeah! JoeMoe Dubelz (voice) Main role American Horror Stories Daniel Hausman-Burger Episode: "Backrooms" 2025 Krapopolis Uncle Vince (voice) Episode: "One Eye One Heart She's Stupe" The Dark Money Game Neil Clark (voice) Episode: "Ohio Confidential" 2026 Memory of a Killer Dutch Main role

Theater YearTitleRoleVenueRef. 2007 Chicken Floyd Studio Dante 2024 An Enemy of the People Peter Stockmann Circle in the Square Theatre, Broadway

Podcasts YearTitleRoleNotes 2020–2021, 2025 Talking Sopranos Self (co-host) 92 episodes; Video podcast 2022 Marvel's Wastelanders: Black Widow Stanley (voice) 10 episodes; Radio drama and podcast

Awards and nominations YearAwardCategoryProjectResultRef. 2001 Primetime Emmy Awards Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series The Sopranos (episodes: "Fortunate Son" and "Pine Barrens") 2003 Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series The Sopranos (episodes: "The Strong, Silent Type" and "Whoever Did This") 2004 Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series The Sopranos (episodes: "Irregular Around the Margins" and "Long Term Parking") 2006 Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series The Sopranos (episodes: "Luxury Lounge" and "The Ride" 2007 Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series The Sopranos (episode: "Walk Like a Man") 2023 Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series The White Lotus (episode: "That's Amore") 2002 Golden Globe Awards Best Supporting Actor – Television The Sopranos (season 3) 2004 Best Supporting Actor – Television The Sopranos (season 4) 1999 Actor Awards Outstanding Ensemble in a Drama Series The Sopranos (season 1) 2000 Outstanding Ensemble in a Drama Series The Sopranos (season 2) 2001 Outstanding Ensemble in a Drama Series The Sopranos (season 3) 2002 Outstanding Ensemble in a Drama Series The Sopranos (season 4) 2004 Outstanding Ensemble in a Drama Series The Sopranos (season 5) 2006 Outstanding Ensemble in a Drama Series The Sopranos (season 6, part 1) 2007 Outstanding Ensemble in a Drama Series The Sopranos (season 6, part 2) 2020 Outstanding Cast in a Motion Picture One Night in Miami 2022 Outstanding Ensemble in a Drama Series The White Lotus (season 2) 2003 PRISM Awards Best Performance in a Drama Series The Sopranos 2008 Monte-Carlo Television Festival Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series 2009 International Film Festival Rotterdam Tiger Award The Hungry Ghosts