Vincent Pastore¶
At a glance¶
- Born
- July 14, 1946, New Rochelle, NY
- Role
- Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero, 1999–2000
- Before
- Nightclub owner; Goodfellas (1990)
Before¶
Pastore ran a nightclub in New Rochelle for years and fell into acting in his forties, largely through friends in the New York film scene — Matt Dillon among them, who encouraged him to try it.
He appeared in Goodfellas (1990) and is one of 27 actors who turn up in both that film and this series. Also Carlito's Way, Mickey Blue Eyes, and Serving Sara.
Big Pussy¶
The role requires a very particular thing: be genuinely lovable for two seasons so that the betrayal costs something.
Pastore is warm, enormous, and funny — the friend at every barbecue, the one who's known Tony since childhood — and then plays a man being quietly destroyed by fear across thirteen episodes while everyone around him laughs at his jokes.
His drinking increases. His stories get worse. He starts overcompensating. None of it is signposted; it accumulates.
The boat scene in "Funhouse" (S2E26) is one of the best things in the series, and it works because of how ordinary Pastore keeps it — a man admitting to something, negotiating the terms of his own death, and asking not to be shot in the face.
He has said he was told the character's fate well in advance, which was unusual on this show; Chase generally didn't tell actors until the script arrived.
After¶
He kept working steadily in character parts — Revenge of the Green Dragons, Gotti, various independent crime films — and became a fixture on the Sopranos convention and podcast circuit.
He also did a season of The Celebrity Apprentice, hosts a radio show, and has appeared on Broadway in Chicago.
Big Pussy keeps returning after the boat: in Tony's dreams, in the "Test Dream" (S5E63), and in the season six coma sequences. Pastore appears in more episodes dead than a lot of characters manage alive.