Vincent Pastore

Vincent Pastore
Pastore in 2017
Born	(1946-07-14) July 14, 1946 The Bronx, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1988–present
Spouse	Nancy Berke (divorced)
Children	1

Vincent Pastore (/pæˈstɔːr/; born July 14, 1946) is an American actor. Often cast as a mafioso, he is best known for his portrayal of Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero on the HBO series The Sopranos.

Early life

Pastore was born on July 14, 1946, to an Italian-American family in the Bronx, New York City, and grew up in New Rochelle, New York. Following his graduation from high school, he enlisted as a sailor in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War and then attended Pace University for three years, before eventually going into the acting industry after befriending Matt Dillon and Kevin Dillon. On June 3, 2015, during an appearance on Good Day New York, Pastore said he was in the club business for close to 30 years, and got into acting in his forties.

Career

Acting

Pastore has made a career of portraying Italian-American gangsters in film and television. He began with small parts in the 1990s, in films such as Goodfellas and Carlito's Way. In Goodfellas, he is briefly seen rolling a coat rack through the kitchen of The Bamboo Lounge and is credited as "Vinny Pastore" playing "Man with Coat Rack". In Carlito's Way, he portrays one of the friends of the Italian man that dances with Gail, whom Kleinfeld insults. He is listed in the credits as "Vinny Pastore" playing "Copa Wiseguy."

Pastore got a bigger role in the comedy/crime film The Jerky Boys: The Movie (1995) as Tony Scarboni, one of the three gangsters and Lazarro's (played by Alan Arkin) clients. In the 1996 HBO television movie Gotti, Pastore played the character of Angelo Ruggiero, alongside future Sopranos cast members Tony Sirico, Frank Vincent and Dominic Chianese.

In 1999, Pastore got his biggest role in The Sopranos, where he played the character Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero.

In addition to The Sopranos, he has appeared in Mickey Blue Eyes, Flodders in America, Two Family House (with The Sopranos cast mates Michael Rispoli, Kathrine Narducci, Matt Servitto, Michele Santopietro and Sharon Angela), Under Hellgate Bridge, Riding in Cars with Boys, Witness to the Mob, Deuces Wild, Made, Mafia!, The Hurricane, Serving Sara, American Cousins, A Tale of Two Pizzas, This Thing of Ours, Remedy, Shark Tale, Bachelor Party Vegas, The Family, Once Upon a Time in Brooklyn, Money Train, A Brooklyn State of Mind, The Deli, The Last Don II, Johnny Slade's Greatest Hits and Guy Ritchie's Revolver. He served as associate producer of the film Doughboys.

Pastore's other television credits include Grounded for Life, character Vinnie Fellachio in Son of the Beach, Law & Order (various roles from 1992 to 1996), the soap opera One Life to Live, host of Repo-Men/Stealing for a Living, Ed, Queens Supreme, Vegas, Everybody Hates Chris, The Making of the Mob: New York, Blue Bloods, The Making of the Mob: Chicago, and an uncredited voice role in the television program Aqua Teen Hunger Force as Terry.

In 2007, Pastore starred in the independent feature film P.J.: A Journey of the Heart. In 2008, he joined the cast of General Hospital as Maximus Giambetti, father of two characters on the show. He once again plays a mobster. He had roles in 2008's College Road Trip and Our Last Days As Children. He also starred in the 2008 film Dough Boys.

In 2009, Pastore starred in Pavaline Studio's debut short film, Alienated. In 2010, he starred in the award-winning indie mob-comedy Pizza With Bullets. Pastore played Mayor Avenoso in the 2012 indie feature Surviving Family. He appears in the 2013 film I'm in Love with a Church Girl.

In 2014, he appeared in the Broadway musical Bullets Over Broadway as Nick Valenti.

Reality shows

Pastore at the 2013 Wizard World New York Experience

Pastore lost 29 lbs on the fourth season of the VH1 reality show Celebrity Fit Club which ran from August 6 to October 1, 2006.

On February 20, 2007, ABC announced that Pastore would participate in the fourth season of the American version of the competitive dance series Dancing with the Stars. He withdrew from the competition after only one week. Pastore said that he found the necessary training and preparation too physically demanding. John Ratzenberger took his place in the competition.

Pastore was featured as a contestant on the January 2008 edition of Celebrity Apprentice. In the second week, he participated in raising $52,286 by selling hot dogs on a Manhattan street for The Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Research. In a task of selling Broadway show tickets, with Pastore as project manager, he led his team to raise $33,300 for charity. In the fifth week, he got into a faked, blow-out conflict with the project manager of the task, Piers Morgan, in order to see if he could get the women to let him on their team to spy on them. The episode had played out like an episode of The Sopranos with Pastore switching allegiances multiple times.

Pastore was deliberately "ratted out" to the women by Morgan in the end, to make Pastore look bad to the women. While Pastore and the men then lost their task, before Trump even lifted a finger to fire anyone that week, Pastore resigned from the show and Trump eventually accepted Pastore's resignation after trying to convince him to stay. The show ended with a sequence based on the series finale of The Sopranos, ending abruptly before Pastore could give the customary end-of-show interview in the cab. Week 6 episode begins with Pastore meeting his ex-wife Nancy in a restaurant and presenting her the check he received for being project manager for $50,000, in memory of her husband, Mitchell Burke's memorial fund with the Lustgarden Foundation.

On July 1, 2008, Pastore appeared on NBC's new show, Celebrity Family Feud, as part of a family team trying to win $50,000 for their favorite charity. He first competed, with his friends and family, against the cast of The Girls Next Door. Then Pastore's team made it to the finals against Kathie Lee Gifford's family, but did not win. However, Pastore and his team picked up a $10,000 consolation prize for their charity, which is researching a cure for pancreatic cancer.

On April 8, 2011, Pastore and a business partner appeared on Shark Tank for an investment in "Broccoli Wad", a product that holds money. All the "Sharks" wanted out, and Barbara Corcoran said that "this is one of the dumbest things I've ever seen on this show". She later had the idea of putting Pastore's face and name on the box, and labeling it "Vinnie's Wad". She offered $50,000 for a 40% stake in the company, and would give half of her ownership to Pastore in exchange for his name and face on the packaging; Pastore and his partner agreed. A year later, Pastore made an appearance on an episode of truTV's World's Smartest Inventions after his commercial for "The Broccoli Wad" aired on the show.

As of July 10, 2011 he appeared on the VH1 Marc Cronin-produced reality show Famous Food. In the show, contestants are assigned the task of opening a restaurant on the Sunset Strip.

He appeared with Joseph R. Gannascoli on Gordon Ramsay's 24 Hours to Hell and Back on January 21, 2020.

Radio and podcast

Pastore previously hosted The Wiseguy Show on Sirius Satellite Radio on the now defunct Raw Dog channel 104. Described as a "weekly three-hour celebration of Italian-American culture." Produced by Sopranos co-star Steven Van Zandt, it currently airs on Wednesdays from 6pm-9pm ET. He has also had stints as a radio host on the New Rochelle, New York station WVOX in 2004 and 2012, with guest appearances in-between.

In September 2020, Pastore started a podcast with Goumba Johnny called Fuhgeddaboudit with Vinny Pastore.

Vincent Pastore's Italian Sauce

In 2019, Pastore launched a tomato sauce business under the name of Vincent Pastore's Italian Sauce. The sauce is made with San Marzano tomatoes, is non-GMO and has no added sugar.

Personal life

Pastore is divorced. He was previously married to Nancy Berke with whom he has a daughter, Renee. He befriended Berke's subsequent husband and donated the winnings from his stint on The Apprentice to a charity in his name. He currently lives on City Island. In 2014, Pastore was diagnosed with prostate cancer.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1988	Black Roses	Tony's Dad
1989	True Love	Angelo
1990	Q & A	Man Sitting at Bar
	Tales from the Darkside: The Movie	Man in Art Gallery
	Backstreet Dreams	Fat Tony
	State of Grace	Borelli's Man
	Goodfellas	Man with Coatrack
	Men of Respect	Sammy
	Street Hunter	Romano Guard Outside Coffin Factory
	Awakenings	Ward #5 Patient #6
1992	The Bet	Nino	Short
	Flodders in America	Man without Petrol
1993	Who's the Man?	Tony 'Clams' Como
	Taking the Heat	Tommy's Man on Courthouse Steps	TV movie
	Manhattan Murder Mystery	Man in Restaurant
	The Dutch Master	Teresa's Father	Short
	Carlito's Way	Copa Wiseguy
1994	Minges Alley	Bodyguard
	The Ref	State Trooper
	Soup & the Dead	Father	Short
	Hand Gun	Earls Man Harry
	It Could Happen to You	Bowling Team Member #1
	Who Do I Gotta Kill?	Aldo "Birdman" Badamo
1995	The Basketball Diaries	Construction Worker
	The Jerky Boys: The Movie	Tony Scarboni
	Mott Street	Mott Street Boss	Short
	Italian Movie	Vinny
	No Exit	Tony Landano
	Money Train	Gambler
	Pictures of Baby Jane Doe	Dan
1996	Walking and Talking	Laura's Devil-Seeing Patient
	Sunset Park	Charlie the Super
	Joe's Apartment	Apartment Broker #2
	Gotti	Angelo Ruggiero	TV movie
	Night Falls on Manhattan	Cop #3
	West New York	Carmine Ferraro
1997	All Over Me	Don
	The Deli	Lou
	Six Ways to Sunday	Uncle Max
1998	A Brooklyn State of Mind	Vinnie "D"
	Witness to the Mob	Mikey De Batt	TV movie
	Mafia!	Gorgoni
1999	Mickey Blue Eyes	Al
	Under Hellgate Bridge	Mitch
	The Hurricane	Alfred Bello
	A Slight Case of Murder	Cabby	TV movie
	18 Shades of Dust	Matty 'The Horse' Brancato
2000	Blue Moon	Joey
	Two Family House	Angelo
	The Rochester Method	Vinnie	Short
	Growing Down in Brooklyn	Sal
2001	The Rules (For Men)	Attorney
	Made	Jimmy
	Corky Romano	Tony
	Riding in Cars with Boys	Uncle Lou
2002	This Thing of Ours	Skippy
	Deuces Wild	Father Aldo
	Serving Sara	Tony
2003	American Cousins	Tony
	A Tale of Two Pizzas	Vito Rossi
	Mail Order Bride	Tootie
2004	The Cookout	Poo Salesman
	Shark Tale	Luca (voice)
2005	Remedy	Casper Black
	Johnny Slade's Greatest Hits	Vic
	Revolver	Zach
2006	Bachelor Party Vegas	Carmine/Mr. Kidd	Video
	Last Request	Father Patton
2007	Slice	Carmine Leone	Short
	7-10 Split	Tony P.
	Lucky Man	-	Short
2008	P.J.	Burt
	College Road Trip	Freddy
	Looking for Palladin	Arnie
	Dough Boys	Mr. Conti
	The Devil's Dominoes	Big John Calabrese
	Return to Sleepaway Camp	Frank	Video
	Tricks of Love	Harry
2009	Split Ends	Tiny Provenzano
	Street Boss	Frank 'The Shank'
	Oy Vey! My Son Is Gay!!	Carmine Ferraro
	Alienated	Gino	Short
2010	Pizza with Bullets	Don Vito Perspirino
	The Word Is Love	Carmine Ferraro	Short
	Code Blue	Coach/Sergeant
2011	Joshua Tree	Sal
	The Briefcase	-
	Run Your Mouth	Boss	Short
	Spy	Dante LeClair
2012	Off Limits	Saverio	Short
	Surviving Family	Mayor Avenoso
	The Woods	Lieutenant Madden
	Saved by the Pole	Crime Boss Louie	Short
2013	Day of Redemption	Sal
	Once Upon a Time in Brooklyn	Luigi Leone
	The Family	Fat Willy
	Torture Chamber	Dr. Fiore
	I'm in Love with a Church Girl	Nick Halston
	Hypothetically	Gene	Short
2014	Tumbleweed: A True Story	Erik Rydell
2015	Thinking with Richard	Balls
	Staten Island Summer	Leo Manicucci
	Red Herring	Saffiote
2016	The Eyes	Harry
	Oiled Up	Detective James	Short
	Calico Skies	Vincenzo
	Pasquale's Magic Veal	Chef Pasquale	Short
2017	Pitching Tents	Tony
	The Uncle Gerry Show	Donnie Zizzo	TV movie
	Good n Screwed	Marco Monte	TV movie
	Blood Circus	Rocco
	The Kids Menu	Pete	Short
	The Fifth Borough	Angelo Battaglia	Short
2018	Who's Jenna...?	Thomas Roma
	Papa	Frankie Vincent
	Bully	Frankie
	Honor Amongst Men	FBI Agent Surveillance
	Black Wake	Dr. Jones
	St. Joseph	Vincent Pastore	Short
	Sarah Q	Mr. Tommy
	Against All Odds	-
	Sodfather Spagatoni	Godfather Spagatoni
2019	Clinton Road	Club Owner
	Vault	Frank
	Bottom of the 9th	Cosmo
	Bad Art	Papi
	Awakening Arlene	Ed	Short
	Duped	Rocco	Short
2020	For NYC	Himself	Short
	Booze, Broads and Blackjack	Vinny Bombayo
2021	Made in Chinatown	Amadore Condimento
	The Birthday Cake	Vito
2023	Spinning Gold	Big Joey

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1990	H.E.L.P.	Fireman	Episode: "Fire Down Below"
1992	Law & Order	Dominick	Episode: "Wedding Bliss"
1993	The Adventures of Pete & Pete	Vincent Park - Bowling Agent	Episode: "New Year's Pete"
1994	Law & Order	Jack	Episode: "Big Bang"
	New York Undercover	Goon #1	Episode: "Garbage"
1995	Law & Order	John Furini	Episode: "House Counsel"
1996	Law & Order	Jimmy Pogosian	Episode: "Deadbeat"
1997	The Last Don	Danny Fuberta	Episode: "Part II"
	Dellaventura	Mickey Ezra	Episode: "With a Vengence"
1999–07	The Sopranos	Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero	Main Cast: Seasons 1 & 2, Recurring: Season 3, Guest: Seasons 5 & 6
2000	Hollywood Squares	Himself/Panelist	Recurring Panelist
	Bull	Len Rutigliano	Recurring Cast
2000–02	Son of the Beach	Vinnie Fellachio	Guest Cast: Season 1-3
2001	For Your Love	Norm	Episode: "The Not-So-Hostile Takeover"
	Emeril	Himself	Episode: "The Sopranos Come to Dinner"
2002	Ed	Ralph Pazzuti III	Episode: "Two Days of Freedom"
	Grounded for Life	Uncle Sal	Episode: "We Are Family"
2003	Comedy Central Roast	Himself	Episode: "Comedy Central Roast of Denis Leary"
	Queens Supreme	Norm Delgado	Recurring Cast
	Less than Perfect	Bookie	Episode: "Save the Squirrel, But Bet the Over/Under"
2004	Fillmore!	Mr. Casteneda (voice)	Episode: "Code Name: Electric Haircut"
	The Practice	Lenny Pescatore	Recurring Cast: Season 8
	Cyberchase	Himself	Episode: "EcoHaven CSE"; "For Real" segment
2006	Las Vegas	Jimmy 'The Chin' Aversano	Episode: "Meatball Montecito"
2007	Everybody Hates Chris	Paulie	Episode: "Everybody Hates Gambling"
	Mad TV	Himself	Episode: "Episode #12.18"
2008	General Hospital	Maximus Giambetti	Regular Cast
2008–12	Aqua Teen Hunger Force	Terry (voice)	Guest Cast: Season 5-6 & 9
2010–12	Pair of Kings	Yamakoshi (voice)	Recurring Cast
2012	Sherman's in Sanity	-	Episode: "Part I & II"
2013	Blue Bloods	Richie Tomlin	Episode: "Inside Jobs"
2017	Animals	Big Pussy (voice)	Episode: "Cats Part I & II"
2018	Hawaii Five-0	Uncle Vito	Recurring Cast: Season 8
	The Neighborhood	Rinaldo	Episode: "The Mezuzah"
2019	Wu-Tang: An American Saga	Fat Larry	Recurring Cast: Season 1
2020	Chase Street	Sal Rindini	Recurring Cast
2021	Gravesend	Donnie 'Glasses' Sisto	Recurring Cast: Season 2
2024	The Curse	Himself	Episode: "Green Queen"

Additional voice acting

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2006	The Sopranos: Road to Respect	Sal 'Big Pussy' Bonpensiero (voice)	Video game
2021	Around the Sun	Bob (voice)	Audio Drama

Music videos

Year	Artist	Song	Notes
2001	Dave Matthews Band	"Everyday"	Himself

Awards and nominations

Year	Awards	Category	Recipient	Outcome
2000	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series	"The Sopranos"	Won
2001				Nominated

External links

• Vincent Pastore at IMDb