Aida Turturro is well known for her role as Tony Soprano Baccalieri’s hot-headed and foul-mouthed sister Janice Soprano Baccalieri in The Sopranos, has joined Cameo. Turturro was introduced to Cameo by her co-star Jamie-Lynn Sigler right before filming began in March 2020. Turturro is now in Connecticut, working on a nun part in Phyllis Nagy’s next film Call Jane, but she felt she needed something to do while in quarantine. She told Vulture that being on Cameo helped her “put on some lipstick and look at my screenplay.”
Cameo is an internet business where fans may pay “anything from $5 to hundreds of dollars for a customized video greeting from over 40,000 celebrities” for the occasion. Turturro costs $90 for each Cameo and claims to have created over 450 messages for her followers. The eccentric actress said that she had several requests to “Do Janice,” particularly from younger fans who binge-watched the program for the first time during the lockdown.
HBO stated last year that since stay-at-home limitations went into force, viewership for The Sopranos had increased by 179 percent. In April 2020, the channel also made many of its most popular programs available for free viewing, and the show was the most-watched free series of all time. Turturro commented on the show’s comeback and her role on Cameo, saying, “It’s strange at times. But this is life – it’s a cyclical process.”
The 58-year-old revealed she is hesitant to return to Janice and has not been able to rewatch the program since the loss of co-star James Gandolfini in 2013 after a heart attack. “It was maybe too soon after Jimmy’s death. When you observe yourself, you may recall so many memories. It’s been [explicitly] 20 years! I’m not going to be Janice in two minutes!”
Her Life Away from the Show
Turturro was born in New York and hailed from an acting family that includes renowned relatives John and Nicholas Turturro. She made her screen debut in True Love in 1989, 10 years before she featured on The Sopranos. However, Turturro was also active on Broadway, where she co-starred with Gandolfini in A Streetcar Named Desire in 1992. Onset, the pair was exceedingly amicable but competitive, often fighting like brother and sister.
Because of this previous connection, she could portray Tony Soprano’s older sister years later. The actress, who considers herself “unbelievably attractive,” has remained unmarried throughout her career. She is not on social media and does not have a significant other, yet she is open to the notion of marriage and having a spouse one day. Turturro has had serious medical issues throughout her life. She was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis at the age of 12, which meant she couldn’t walk without tremendous agony.
Turturro became a national spokeswoman for a rheumatoid arthritis awareness campaign after obtaining treatment and overcoming her ailment. In 2001, she was also diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Despite getting a diagnosis, Turturro was in denial for many years before truly comprehending the gravity of her disease. She worked hard to educate herself and, with the aid of a nutritionist, could regulate her diet. The actress also came up about her diabetes and weight reduction struggles, and she eventually participated in multiple national public education programs sponsored by her medication provider, Sanofi-Aventis.
