Jamie-Lynn Sigler was a high-school kid with a knack for musicals who figured anything called "The Sopranos" would be just her speed. She learned better when she got to the audition. "I was so young, I don't even remember doing most of the pilot," he says.
"I do remember having a great time, but I was wishing I was in camp. It was going to be the first summer I could go to camp, and all my friends were there" It was summer 1997. A few months later, "The Sopranos" got a series pickup from HBO.
Premiering in January 1999, it became an instant sensation. Then during its spectacular run, the actors who had won the roles of Meadow and A.J.
- progeny of mob boss Tony Soprano (played by James Gandolfini) - would grow to adulthood, friends all the way. At first, their friendship was out of sheer necessity. "We had to be a team," Sigler explains.
"We were the only young cast members." Now in their early 20s, Sigler and Iler need little prodding to wax nostalgic about their "Sopranos"
It wasn't something very farfetched for me to play." Iler instantly established A.J.
as a spoiled brat. Marking his 13th birthday on the pilot, he memorably pitched a fit that his party would be missing his grandmother's ziti. "You've gotten quite a bit more handsome since then," Sigler teases.
Through the seasons, the "Sopranos" siblings faced obstacles and made mistakes. Likewise, the actors who played them dealt with real-life growing pains. Sigler fought, and overcame, an eating disorder.
In 2001, Iler was arrested and charged with robbery and possession of marijuana. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of petty larceny and got three years of probation. "You get in trouble, you have to evaluate: Is it worth getting into trouble again?
" says Iler, explaining his hard-learned lesson. "I didn't want to mess up what I had. This show has been a great and amazing experience.
" "I'll never be on another show like this," Sigler chimes in. "And now, it's like graduating from high school. We're getting ready to enter into the unknown.
" "But though people worry about typecasting," Iler says, "thanks to our roles on this show, I don't think it's gonna be a problem. I think for our next job, both of us will be looked at as adults from the start."
"
News RSS