When The White Lotus revealed its cast for Season 2, fans were delighted to see the return of beloved actor Michael Imperioli. Although he’s best known as the hot-headed gangster Christopher Moltesanti in The Sopranos, Imperioli had been working well before the show’s 1999 premiere, and he has continued working well after the show’s cliffhanger ending in 2007.
Since cutting his teeth in 1989, he has played gangsters, addicts, abusers, a murderer, and even a literal shark. Much like Christopher, Imperioli also has a flair for writing and producing, collaborating with such names as Spike Lee, Bruno de Almeida, and many of his Sopranos co-stars to create some truly incredible work. To celebrate a man who’s made a career playing men we love to hate and hate to love, here are Michael Imperioli’s best movies and TV Shows, ranked.
10 Summer of Sam (1999)
In Spike Lee's 1999 drama, Summer of Sam, Vinny (John Leguizamo) leads some acquaintances (Adrien Brody, Jennifer Esposito, Mia Sorvino) in the hunt for the identity of the Son of Sam. Perhaps best known for the simple "Hellow!" and tip of his cowboy hat to Ruby (Esposito) when Ritchie (Brody) introduces him, Imperioli's performance as Midnite is short, sweet, and oddly entertaining as the admittedly skeevy club owner who allows Ritchie to perform a piece in his homoerotic theater and entice the audience into purchasing his wares. In a movie about the sheer terror that is other humans, Imperioli wrote (and executed) for the audience some normalcy in a film wracked with insanity — the devil you know, et cetera. It's a film from 1999, and it shows, but it's no less enjoyable.
9 Oldboy (2013)
(Trigger warning for extreme sexual violence, gore)
In Spike Lee's reinvention of a classic thriller, Oldboy, Imperioli provides audiences a charming comfort as Chucky, a good-natured bar owner. He acts as bookends for the protagonist, Joe (a pre-Avengers Josh Brolin), the last person he sees before he's abducted and held captive for 20 years, and the first person he goes to when he's released. Joe recounts his experience and recruits Chucky's help hunting down his captors, and the audience is treated to an endearing scene wherein he teaches Joe what Google is and how to use it. The friendship is palpable, even more so when Chucky literally brings a bat to a knife fight when Joe's captors ambush him at Chucky's bar. It's clear that Chucky has never even seen a real fight as he reluctantly (but immediately) backs down — no mean feat considering all the fight scenes audiences are used to seeing Imperioli perform.
8 Goodfellas (1990)
In a one-scene role that quickly became one of the most memorable in Goodfellas, Imperioli plays Spider, a gofer who gets shot in the foot by an enraged Tommy (Joe Pesci). At the next card game, his playful yet quietly frustrated 'Why don't you go f*** yourself" after Tommy's barrage of needling insults about his foot would have been celebrated, if only it were directed at a different, more even-tempered mobster like Jimmy (Robert De Niro), who gives him a nice tip, or Henry (Ray Liotta), who roars with laughter. Unfortunately for Spider, Tommy responds...differently. With emblematic scene partners like that, it's remarkable that a young actor even managed to get noticed. It's in part due to Imperioli's precise, understated performance that that entire scene wasn't cut, despite the claims that it was too violent.
7 Bad Boys (1995)
Imperioli shines in a quick Bad Boys scene as Jojo the tire man, a "former ganja-smokin' motherf***er" with information that police officers Mike (Will Smith) and Marcus (Martin Lawrence) need. While Jojo talks a mile a minute, trying to convince Mike not to use the several guns pulled on him, Imperioli's eyes do most of the acting as they ricochet off of everything in the tire shop as he attempts to save his own life. Once he gives Mike the information he needs (in the way he wants to hear it), Smith and Imperioli collaborate beautifully as the scene's energy plummets from high stakes life or death to one friend very graciously doing another a favor. "You would do that for us, Jojo?" Mike asks, slowly removing the guns from Jojo's temple and neck at his request. "Yeah, I wanna help you guys," Jojo replies, somehow believable despite the fact that he just spent half the scene sprinting away from them, screaming obscenities, and refusing to help them find the information they need.
6 Shark Tale (2004)
For an actor as celebrated as Imperioli, it would have been understandable for him to phone in a performance as an animated shark as an easy paycheck, but he gives the wildly successful Shark Tale his all as Frankie, heir to Don Lino (Robert De Niro)'s "waste management" business. Frankie is the quintessential killing machine, following in his father's footsteps and attempting to whip his younger brother Lenny (Jack Black) into shape, despite his mild manners and unexpected vegetarianism. While he's certainly a bully, there's a surprisingly touching sentimentality to the way Frankie treats his brother. He's ruthless, insisting that Lenny get comfortable murdering innocent fish and smacking him around when he fails, but staunchly defending him to his father when he feels Don Lino pushes Lenny too far. When Frankie is taken out by protagonist Oscar (Will Smith) and a well-timed anchor to the head, the audience feels Lenny's pain as he mourns his older brother that we hate to love.
5 This Fool (2022-Present)
While audiences might not be used to Imperioli in a comedic role, you'd never know it from his performance in Hulu's new series This Fool, which has just been renewed for its second season. Imperioli plays an exhausted Minister Payne, the foul-mouthed Unitarian Universalist founder of Hugs Not Thugs, a gang rehabilitation non-profit. He enters the series with a bang, railing against "astronaut son of a bitch" Richard Branson for donating a measly ten thousand dollars while simultaneously introducing himself to new recruit Fabian (Fabian Alomar). It's extremely refreshing to see an actor who is most famous for playing a violent abuser bring his talents to a character who despises the "corrupt, for-profit prison industrial complex put in place by our racist, classist government" enough to do something about it. His heavily recurring role acts as a guiding, if volatile, counselor to Chris Estrada's protagonist Julio as he struggles with co-dependence on his family and an unshakable tendency to help everyone but himself.
4 On the Run (1999)
In the same year the iconic Sopranos premiered, Imperioli teamed up Bruno di Almeida and several actors on the series (John Ventimiglia, Sharon Angela, Joseph R. Gannascoli, Arthur J Nascarella) to create the fantastic buddy comedy, On the Run. Arthur (Imperioli) is a quiet, lonely travel agent whose life is turned upside down when his childhood friend Louie (Ventimiglia) appears at his doorstep having just escaped from prison. Chaos, of course, ensues. The film was nominated for the 2000 Gotham Awards Open Palm Award, and won the Grand Prize at the 1999 Oursense Independent Film Festival. It's a testament to Imperioli's range that he played the introverted Albert coming out of his shell the same year he began his role as the volatile Christopher Moltesanti, who could not be more different.
3 Cabaret Maxime (2018)
In a film full of brilliant performances, both cabaret and acting, Imperioli is an impeccable lead in Cabaret Maxime as Bennie, a tired yet good-natured and patient club owner and mediator between all of his employees. One of his most difficult challenges is his wife Stella (a gorgeous performance by Ana Padrao), his best performer, who struggles with severe depression and self-medicates in a number of ways. He takes her depression in stride, soothing her in exactly the ways she needs, from whispers in her ear to stroking her hair to pushing her to perform her best act at her lowest moment. At one point, he talks her off a literal ledge with a soft, sweet, perfectly delivered, "If you go, I’ll go with you, but I’m not staying here without you. So you decide." The two actors play elegantly off of each other and their costars to create a melancholic but hopeful family. After an explosive culmination of events, the film has a pure and satisfying ending with the Bennie and the performers simply having dinner, Bennie bringing together all the people who matter most to him.
2 The White Lotus (2022)
When he secured the role of Domenic Di Grasso on the second season of Mike White's hit HBO series, The White Lotus, Imperioli was thrilled to join another HBO hit. A successful Hollywood mogul and self-proclaimed feminist, Domenic is consistently challenged as he's caught between his lecherous father and extremely PC son. Imperioli brings a careful depth to a complex character that would be overly problematic, wildly unrealistic, or an unfortunate mix of both in another actor's hands. Such as it is, Imperioli has a clear image of the lines his character walks, analyzing Dominic's every action. "What I like about him is he's finally confronting himself with his addictive compulsive behaviors. What I don't like about him is that he's finally confronting himself with his addictive compulsive behaviors." Imperioli gives audiences a well-thought-out, sympathetic portrayal.
1 The Sopranos (1999-2007)
Lauded as one of the best characters on The Sopranos, Imperioli allowed the violent, desperate wiseguy Christopher Moltesanti a beautiful sympathy. Without that humanity, it's easy to imagine that the beloved Chrissy could have just been another wiseguy in Tony Soprano's empire. As it was, Imperioli transformed a bratty but hopeful young soldier not-so-gradually tiring of proving himself into a man desperate to get what's rightfully his: a happy life. Audiences must watch him take out all his frustrations on his beautiful, stunning partner Adriana (played by the unbelievable Drea de Matteo), and still, Imperioli manages to get the audience on his side. Paired with the late, iconic James Gandolfini, Imperioli played a pivotal role in theThe Sopranos' unparalleled success.
Imperioli has created an incredible family with his fellow Sopranos alum, from collaborating on movies and television to starting a Sopranos podcast in the height of quarantine. It's rare and wonderful to see an actor so passionate about his most iconic role, let alone a full cast. While Imperioli is best known for his dynamic performance as Christopher, it's abundantly clear that he pours his heart into every role he accepts.