‘Sopranos’ Star Lorraine Bracco at 70: What I Know Now

Lorraine Bracco made a belated American film debut at age 33 in The Pick-up Artist in 1987. More film roles followed for the English-Italian actress, and she broke through three years later, as a melodramatic mob wife in Martin Scorsese’s iconic Goodfellas. The role earned her Oscar and Golden Globe nods; her husky voice became her signature quirk. Steady work followed in Medicine Man and Radio Flyer (1992), Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1993), The Basketball Diaries and Hackers (1995), during which Bracco fought a highly publicized custody battle for daughter, Stella, with longtime beau, actor Harvey Keitel, that left her bankrupt and clinically depressed. (She also has a daughter, Margaux, with first husband, Daniel Guerard.)

In 1999, Bracco would find astounding success again as psychiatrist Jennifer Melfi in one of the most influential TV series of all time, HBO’s The Sopranos — she was nominated for four Emmys and three Golden Globes during the show’s six-season run.

More small-screen success arrived in 2010 as the mom in the long-running TNT crime drama Rizzoli & Isles, after which Bracco trekked to Italy to renovate a dilapidated home and document the travails for HGTV in My Big Italian Adventure.

Now, Bracco, 70, takes her Italian genes to the little screen again in the Netflix comedy Nonnas, based on a true story about a bunch of Italian grandmas cooking in a restaurant in New York City. Bracco recently spoke to AARP for the April/May issue of AARP The Magazine.

Eye of beholder

I was voted Ugliest Girl on the school bus in sixth grade. It was painful. I went home sobbing and said to my parents, “I’m never going to school again.” My father sat me on his lap, picked up my chin and said, “You’re the most beautiful girl in the world to me.” It helped … a little.

Go for it

My father always pushed me to try. When I was 19 and wanted to go to Paris and model, my mother was hesitant. But my father was like, “Here’s some money! Here’s your return ticket!” There’s no harm in trying, he taught me. So I did.

Embrace Paris

Paris in the ‘70’s was an amazing time, exploding with talent, humor, movies, comedians, singers, and of course … fashion. It was when Jean Paul Gaultier, Claude Montana, Thierry Mugler, KENZO and Saint Laurent exploded onto the scene. It was magnificent!

Ray Liotta and Lorraine Bracco in "Goodfellas" in 1990. It was a breakout film for both actors.

Courtesy Everett Collection

Couture advice

The best style advice I learned in Paris was: Don’t overindulge. Have one great bag. Have a great pair of rain shoes, because it rains a lot, one great raincoat, a trench coat. A pair of boots. That is the French way, but it’s good advice for everyone, all over the world.

Mangia, mangia

My parents married when my father was in England — Mom was English and my father was Italian. My mother was a war bride. She learned how to make meatballs, spaghetti, sauce, from my father’s mom and grandmother. Growing up, my siblings and I would chuckle because we never knew: Are we having meatballs or are we having tea? I’m always up for a good meatball.