Lorraine Bracco is an American actress whose standout features are her husky voice and her Brooklyn accent since she was born in New York. Bracco launched her acting career in the 1980s, and since then, she has appeared in a host of well-loved films, earning her lots of fans and lots of awards.
Her major film and TV credits include “The Goodfellas”, “The Sopranos”, “Law & Order: Trial by Jury”, “Someone to Watch Over Me”, “Switch”, “Riding in Cars with Boys”, “The Basketball Diaries”, “Medicine Man”, “Radio Flyer”, “Hackers”, and more.
She has been nominated for an Academy Award, four Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, and three Screen Actors Guild Awards. Bracco has been through quite a lot during the course of her life and career, mostly from her personal relationships.
Top 10 facts about Lorraine Bracco
- Lorraine Bracco was born on 2 October 1954, and she turns 67 years old in 2021.
- She worked as a radio jockey and as a fashion model earlier in her life.
- Bracco has Italian and French roots, thanks to her parents.
- Lorraine Bracco height has been reported as 170 cm or 5 feet and 7 inches.
- When she was in the sixth grade in high school, she was voted the ugliest girl.
- Bracco owns a winery named Bracco Wines, which was featured in season one of “Top Chef”.
- She was embroiled in a lengthy custody battle with her former partner Harvey Keitel over their daughter Stella Keitel.
- Lorraine Bracco is well versed in the art of Shotokan Karate.
- She is both an environmentalist and a spokesperson against depression, which she suffered for one year after her legal battle.
- Bracco has been nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress twice.
Related article: Is Elisa Gayle Ritter the same person as Reba McEntire? See pictures and facts.
Early life
Lorraine Bracco was born on 2 October 1954 in Bay Bridge, Brooklyn, New York, to Eileen and Salvatore Bracco. She has French and Italian roots, courtesy of her parents. Her mother was born in England but had French roots, while her father was Italian. The two met during the second world war, and returned to America together, with Bracco’s mother returning as a war bride.
Lorraine Bracco has two siblings, Elizabeth Bracco and Salvatore Bracco jr, and they all grew up in Hicksville, New York. Bracco attended and graduated from Hicksville High School, where she was voted the ugliest girl during her sixth grade.
Thanks to her parents, Bracco is fluent in French and Italian in addition to the English language. Sadly, however, the actress lost both of her parents within nine days of each other in 2010.
In the pursuit of her acting career, this gifted actress attended the Stella Adler Studio of Acting, an action that definitely paid off and turned her career around.
Personal life
Lorraine Bracco has had quite an interesting personal life and has been married and divorced twice in her lifetime.
In 1979, she married the Frenchman Daniel Guerard, and before their divorce in 1982, the couple had one daughter named Margaux Guerard.
After her divorce, she entered a relationship with actor Harvey Keitel, whom she met while living in Paris. In 1985, the couple welcomed a daughter, Stella Keitel. Their relationship lasted for 12 years and ended tumultuously. After their separation, their daughter became the subject of a lengthy legal battle between Keitel and Bracco.
This legal battle caused several problems in Bracco’s life at the time, causing her to suffer from depression, lose acting roles, and part with 2 million dollars in legal fees. Unfortunately, during the legal battle, Stella was diagnosed with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, and Bracco was granted sole custody.
See also: What happened to Tamar Braxton? – See her complete biography and suicide attempt
After this episode, Bracco got married again, this time to actor Edward James Olmos, in 1994. Their marriage lasted only eight years, though, and the couple divorced in 2002.
In 2006, Bracco published a memoir titled “On The Couch”, which details her personal and professional experiences. She has also published a self-help book titled “To the Fullest: The Clean Up Your Act Plan to Lose Weight, Rejuvenate, and Be the Best You Can Be”.
Where is Lorraine Bracco now? The actress currently lives in New York with both of her daughters while still making occasional appearances in films and TV shows. Let’s look at how far she has come.
Lorraine Bracco career – Movies and TV shows
Lorraine Bracco’s career started in a not-so-ordinary way. In 1974, she moved to France to become a fashion model for the celebrated designer Jean-Paul Gaultier, and she lived there for almost a decade. While she was still modelling, Bracco was approached by Mark Camoletti, who offered her a part in one of his stage plays titled “Duos Sur canapé” in 1979.
She did not like the experience, finding the filming process boring, and she thought her performance was terrible, but she went on to appear in two other films. After one of her friends suggested that she might enjoy acting more if she got some training, she took some classes with John Strasberg.
Sometime later, she detoured into radio jockeying for Radio Luxembourg. Bracco also appeared as a hostage in the “Crime Story” episode “Hide and Go Thief”. Eventually, Italian novelist and director Lina Wertmuller cast Bracco in the film “Camorra”.
Bracco told Daniel Simone during a 2007 interview about the experience, “She dressed me up like an Italian woman of no means. A street woman clad in disheveled clothes, hair unkempt and all that, and threw me on the set. She was so creative.
“I mean, Lina accentuated my eyes with dark make-up, the way Sophia Loren used to appear in those epic roles in the ’60s. And talk about talent. She’s so bright and perceptive. I mean, she’s just fantastic. And yes, I learned a lot from her. She’s a master of her profession, and I’ve been blessed not only with her, but also with so many masters.”
She said that her role in “Camorra” inspired her to take acting more seriously.
Bracco has also appeared in several films including, “Someone to Watch Over Me”, “Switch”, “Riding in Cars with Boys”, “The Basketball Diaries”, “Medicine Man”, “Radio Flyer”, and “Hackers”. She was one of the actresses considered for a role in “Batman Returns”, but she turned it down.
Her breakthrough role came in the 1990 Martin Scorsese film “Goodfellas”, where she played Karen Hill. The film earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress and a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture. She also won the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress and the Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the film.
When she auditioned for a role on “The Sopranos”, she was meant to read for the lead role, Carmela Soprano, but she was more drawn to the role of psychiatrist Jennifer Melfi. She played Dr Melfi the psychologist so well that she earned three consecutive nominations for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series at 1999, 2000, and 2001 Emmy Awards. She also earned three consecutive nominations at the Golden Globe awards for Best TV Actress in a Drama in 2000, 2001, and 2002.
In 2016, she appeared on the comedy series “Dice”. Between 2017 and 2018, she had recurring roles on the show “Blue Bloods”.
Beginning in 2020, Bracco has starred in the HGTV series “My Big Italian Adventure”, which follows Bracco as she renovates her 200-year-old €1 house at Via Guglielmo Marconi in Sambuca, Sicily.
Read also: Is Katie McGrath Morgana actress a lesbian? See facts about hot Supergirl Lena Luthor.
Since the start of her career, Bracco has been in a host of movies and TV shows. Below is a comprehensive list of Lorraine Bracco’s films and TV shows, the year the film was released, and the role that she acted in the production.
Films
- “Duos sur canapé” (1979) – Bubble
- “What Did I Ever Do to the Good Lord to Deserve a Wife Who Drinks in Cafes with Men?” (1980) – Barbara
- “Traces of Red” (1992) – Ellen Schofield
- “Radio Flyer” (1992) – Mary
- “Even Cowgirls Get the Blues” (1993) – Delores Del Ruby
- “Being Human” (1994) – Anna
- “The Basketball Diaries” (1995) – Mrs. Carroll
- “Hackers” (1995) – Margo Wallace
- “Les menteurs” (1996) – Helene Miller
- “Reckoning” (1996) – Kits Maitland
- “Getting Gotti” (1994) – Diane Giacalone
- “Silent Cradle” (1997) – Helen Greg
- “The Taking of Pelham One Two Three” (1998) – Det. Ray
- “Ladies Room” (1999) – Gemma
- “Custody of the Heart” (2000) – Claire Raphael
- “Tangled” (2001) – Det. Anne Andersle
- “Riding in Cars with Boys” (2001) – Teresa Donofrio
- “Crazy for Love” (2005) – Sheila
- “Snowglobe” (2007) – Rose Moreno
- “Long Island Confidential” (2008) – Norah Larkin
- “Son of Morning” (2011) – Leda
- “Monday Nights at Seven” (2016) – Damian Robertson
Television shows
- “Commissaire Moulin” (1980) – Jenny
- “Crime Story” (1986) – Hostage
- “The Sopranos” (1999-2007) – Jennifer Melfi
- “Law & Order: Trial by Jury” (2005) – Karla Grizano
- “Lipstick Jungle” (2008) – Janice Lasher
- “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” (2010) – Halfway House Matron
- “I Married a Mobster” (2011) – Narrator
- “Rizzoli & Isles” (2010-2016) – Angela Rizzoli
- “Mulaney” (2014) – Vaughn
- “BoJack Horseman” (2016) – Dr. Janet (voice)
- “Blue Bloods” (2017-2018) – Mayor Margaret Dutton
- “Summer Camp Island” (2018) – The Werewolf Queen (voice)
- “AJ and the Queen” (2020) – Herself
- “My Big Italian Adventure” (2020) – Herself/host
Net worth
The bulk of Lorraine Bracco’s income comes from her acting roles. She has also made some from the books that she has published. Additionally, this talented actress is a wine connoisseur, and she owns Bracco Wines. As previously mentioned, her wine brand featured on the first season of “Top Chef”, and it undoubtedly gave her brand a lot of visibility.
These exploits have all contributed to earning Lorraine Bracco a healthy net worth of 24 million dollars ($24 million), according to Celebrity Net Worth.
Lorraine Bracco social media
Lorraine Bracco has a number of social media pages including, a Facebook page, an Instagram page, and a Twitter page. Fans can follow her on Twitter through her verified handle, @lorraine_bracco, which has 56.1 thousand followers.
On Instagram, she shares clips from her life, the projects that she is working on, and the most relatable quotes you can find on the internet. Follow her on Instagram @braccoabroad, where she has 27.1 thousand followers.
Lorraine Bracco is also very popular on Facebook, where her Facebook page has almost 36 thousand likes and just as many followers.
Conclusion
Lorraine Bracco is one of the great Hollywood actresses of the ’90s, but after she ran into some trouble, she, unfortunately, lost her momentum and lost many good acting roles. She bounced back and is still very much active today.
Bracco has achieved a lot, though, gaining far more than she lost. Even though she did not like acting at first, she eventually fell in love with it, proving that anyone can be anything and you just need to be open-minded.
You may also like to read our latest article, What happened to Tamar Braxton? – See her complete biography and suicide attempt.
Interesting
Never give up.