Bracco, Lorraine 1955-

PERSONAL:

Born October 2, 1955, in Brooklyn, NY; married Daniel Guerard (a salon owner), 1979 (divorced, 1982), married Edward James Olmos (an actor), January 28, 1994 (divorced March 4, 2002); children: Margaux, Stella. Education: Studied at the Actors Studio.

ADDRESSES:

Home—New York, NY.

CAREER:

Actor. Worked as a fashion model in France for Wilhelmina Agency and Jean-Paul Gaultier, 1970s; also worked as a disc jockey for Radio Luxembourg. Actor in films, including Duo sur canapé (film debut), 1979, Someone to Watch Over Me (American debut), 1987, The Pick-Up Artist, 1987, Goodfellas, 1990, Switch, 1991, Radio Flyer, 1992, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, 1993, The Basketball Diaries, 1995, Hackers, 1995, Riding in Cars with Boys, 2001, Death of a Dynasty, 2003, Max and Grace, 2004, and My Suicidal Sweetheart, 2005. Actor in television movies, including Scam, 1993, Getting Gotti, 1996, Lifeline, 1996, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, 1998, Custody of the Heart, 2000, and Sex in our Century, 2001. Actress in television series, including Crime Story, 1986, The Sopranos, 1999-, and Law & Order: Trial by Jury, 2005. Actor in plays, including The Graduate (Broadway debut), 2002.

MEMBER:

Riverkeeper (member of board of directors).

AWARDS, HONORS:

Academy Award nomination for best actress in a supporting role, 1991, for Goodfellas; Golden Globe Award nomination for best supporting actress, 1991, for Goodfellas, and for best performance by an actress in a TV-series-drama, 2000, 2001, and 2002, all for The Sopranos; Emmy Award nomination for outstanding lead actress in a drama series, 1999, 2000, and 2001, all for The Sopranos; Screen Actors Guild Award for outstanding performance by an ensemble in a drama series, 2000, The Sopranos.

WRITINGS:

On the Couch (memoir), Putnam (New York, NY), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS:

Best known for her role as Dr. Jennifer Melfi in the critically acclaimed television series The Sopranos, actress Lorraine Bracco is the author of On the Couch, a memoir in which she details her bout with clinical depression. Bracco, a former Wilhelmina model in Paris, made her film debut in 1979 and later earned an Academy Award nomination for her performance in the Martin Scorsese film Goodfellas. Bracco's personal life, however, was less successful. Her tumultuous relationship with actor Harvey Keitel ended after she admitted to having an affair with Edward James Olmos, whom she later married, and she endured a bitter six-year custody battle with Keitel for their daughter, Stella, who then became ill with systemic juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. According to Sherryl Connelly, writing in the New York Daily News, Bracco "emerged from it all divorced, owing 2 million dollars, with virtually no career. And depressed, of course." As Bracco stated, "I kept saying, ‘I'm not depressed. I'm going to be fine. I'm just tired.’ But I lost a year telling myself that." Bracco credits therapy and medication for her recovery, and she went public with her depression by appearing in commercials for Zoloft, an antidepressant. In On the Couch, according to Dallas Morning News contributor Darla Atlas, Bracco is "refreshingly candid about the problems that contributed to her bout with the disease—and why she doesn't think antidepressants should be shameful." Bracco's memoir "is a self-deprecating, all-too candid, and quick read," Lynette Rice noted in Entertainment Weekly.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Bracco, Lorraine, On the Couch, Putnam (New York, NY), 2006.

PERIODICALS

Dallas Morning News, December 14, 2006, Darla Atlas, "Lorraine Bracco's Victory over Depression."

Entertainment Weekly, June 16, 2006, Lynette Rice, review of On the Couch, p. 79.

New York Daily News, June 14, 2006, Sherryl Connelly, "Lorraine Bracco Is No Shrinking Violet."

New York Times Magazine, June 4, 2006, Deborah Solomon, "The Doctor Is In," p. 21.

People, March 21, 2005, "Her Secret Struggle: The Sopranos' Lorraine Bracco Speaks Out for the First Time about Her Battle with Depression," p. 139.

UPI NewsTrack, June 2, 2006, "Bracco Recalls Depression in Memoir."

[Sketch reviewed by assistant, Monica Castellanos.]