Vincent Pastore during The Museum of Television and Radio Presents “The Whacked Sopranos” at Museum of Television & Radio in New York City, New York, United States. (Photo by Brian Ach/WireImage)
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Vincent Pastore, a prolific actor best known for his role opposite James Gandolfini on the HBO mob drama The Sopranos, has died.
Pastore was found dead by a neighbor after the actor was not heard from in three days, Deadline reported on Saturday. He was 80.
Pastore played Salvatore “Big Pussy” Bonpensiero in all six seasons of creator David Chase’s The Sopranos, from 1999 to 2007. An enforcer for Gandolfini’s Tony Soprano, Pastore’s character was featured in 30 episodes over the run of the series, even though his character was killed off in The Sopranos’ Season 2 finale.
Bonpensiero was whacked in Episode 13 of Season 2 in 2000 for being an FBI informant by Tony, Paulie Walnuts (Tony Sirico) and Silvio (Steven Van Zandt). Pastore told Howard Stern in a 2000 interview that he knew his character’s days were limited.
“I don’t exactly know when and how we were going to do it,” Pastore told Stern. “We didn’t get that script until four days before [we shot it]. David said it was hard for him to write.”
Pastore along with his fellow cast members from The Sopranos won an an Actor Award (then known as a Screen Actors Guild Award) for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series in 2000. The cast was nominated for the honor again in 2001.
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374553 01: Exploring The Life Of A Modern-Day Mob Boss, The Exclusive New Series The Sopranos Combines Drama And Comic Irony, Debuting Hour-Long Episodes Sundays (9:00-10:00 P.M. Et) On Hbo. Pictured: Tony Sirico, Steve Van Zandt, James Gandolfini, Michael Imperioli And Vincent Pastore. (Photo By Getty Images)
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Vincent Pastore Appeared In More Than 180 Screen Projects
Born July 14, 1946, in the Bronx, New York, Vincent Pastore’s screen debut was in a supporting role in the 1988 horror thriller Black Roses.
Over the next dozen years, Pastore appeared in supporting or bit roles in several films and TV shows, including the Martin Scorsese mob classic Goodfellas and Robin Williams and Robert De Niro’s medical drama Awakenings, both in 1990.
Pastore’s profile was raised considerable after he was cast as Salvatore “Big Pussy” Bonpensiero in 1999, and as a result he landed such roles as Tony in Chris Kattan’s comedy Corky Romano in 2001 and the voice of Luca in the animated hit Shark Tale in 2003.
The actor’s last appearance came in a guest voice role in the hit Paramount+ series Yellowjackets in 2025.