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Joseph R. Gannascoli as Vito Spatafore.

Joseph R. Gannascoli (born February 15, 1959 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American actor most notable for his portrayal of Vito Spatafore on the HBO series, The Sopranos. Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Sopranos_vito. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Sopranos_vito. ... is the 46th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1959 (MCMLIX) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... For other meanings, see Brooklyn (disambiguation). ... Actors in period costume sharing a joke whilst waiting between takes during location filming. ... Vito Spatafore, Sr. ... HBO (Home Box Office) is an American premium cable television network. ... The Sopranos is an American television drama series created by David Chase and originally broadcast on the HBO network. ...

Prior to acting, Gannascoli attended St. John's University for two years and majored in communications. He then learned culinary art and opened a restaurant, Soup As Art Restaurant in Brooklyn. He has claimed to be a "world-famous chef" in recent interviews. St. ... The term communications is used in a number of disciplines: Communications, also known as communication studies is the academic discipline which studies communication, generally seen as a mixture between media studies and linguistics. ... The word Culinary is defined as something related to, or connected with cooking or kitchens. ...

As an actor, Gannascoli has appeared in Goodfellas (a major influence on The Sopranos, where Gannascoli played his most famous role), Ed Wood, Blowfish, Mickey Blue Eyes and 976-Wish. Gannascoli's television credits include 30 episodes of The Sopranos in a guest starring capacity and one episode of Law & Order. Prior to the start of Season 6 of The Sopranos, Gannascoli was promoted to series regular. Before appearing as mobster Vito Spatafore in season two, Joseph R. Gannascoli appeared as a pastry shop patron named "Gino" in the season one episode "The Legend of Tennessee Moltisanti". Goodfellas (also spelled GoodFellas) is a 1990 Mafia film directed by Martin Scorsese, based on the book Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi, the true story of mob informer Henry Hill. ... Ed Wood is a biopic directed by Tim Burton, starring Johnny Depp as the cross-dressing cult movie maker Edward D. Wood Jr. ... The word Blowfish can mean: A kind of fish, also called a pufferfish. ... Mickey Blue Eyes is a 1999 film directed by Kelly Makin. ... The Sopranos is an American television drama series created by David Chase and originally broadcast on the HBO network. ... Law & Order is an American television police procedural and legal drama set in New York City. ... Vito Spatafore, Sr. ... The Legend of Tennessee Moltisanti is the 8th episode of the HBO original series The Sopranos. ...

Gannascoli recently participated in the weight loss reality television program, Celebrity Fit Club and lost over 32 pounds, 10.6% of his body weight. Gannasoli started Fit Club at 302 lbs. and finished the show at 270 lbs. Since leaving the show Joe has gained a significant amount of weight back, weighing in at approximately 285 lbs. This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... Reality television is a genre of television programming which presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and features ordinary people instead of professional actors. ... Celebrity Fit Club is a reality television series which follows eight overweight celebrities as they try to lose weight. ...

He has recently published a crime novel called A Meal To Die For, loosely based on his life. Sherlock Holmes, pipe-puffing hero of crime fiction, confers with his colleague Dr. Watson; together these characters popularized the genre. ...

Gannascoli is currently married to Diana Gannascoli, and markets his own original brand of marinara sauce. In recent interviews, he described himself as "psychotic," and regularly jokes about his weight. Tomato sauce is a condiment made with tomatoes, and sometimes also ham, onions, basil, salt, oil, garlic and various spices. ...

He was recently a guest on a Philadelphia sports radio talk show. Later during the day, he called the station and argued with Howard Eskin, defending that a Sopranos autograph session was not done for money purposes only. The King of Bling, Howard Eskin. ...

External links

• Joseph R. Gannascoli at the Internet Movie Database
• Gannascoli comes clean on Sopranos