No one man or woman ushered in the golden age of television, but James Gandolfini was the poster boy for that change.
As Tony Soprano, Gandolfini, 51, who died Wednesday in Rome, transformed into a pug-faced sociopath who was both protagonist and antagonist for HBO's award-winning Mafia drama, "The Sopranos."
His sudden and shocking passing is a call to reflect on his portrayal of a role that changed television forever and for better.
As an Italian-American, watching "The Sopranos" was infused with a layer of familiarity I could touch. I knew these people. I knew "gabbagool" was a distorted pronunciation of the meat many Americans know as capicola. The pressure on Soprano's son, A.J., for confirmation in the Catholic faith rang true.
Gandolfini's Soprano had qualities I could see in my Italian father — intimidating, loyal and uproarious, a man who drank juice out of the carton and loved classic rock.
"The Sopranos" legitimized television as a story-telling medium. Earlier shows hinted at in-depth narrative, but the David Chase-created program was the first to burrow into the psyches of the characters and make them full, rich, three-dimensional creatures.
Gandolfini didn't portray television's first anti-hero, but he made the audience question rooting for him. In the series' brilliant and controversial final scene, Chase left viewers with a taste of what it was like to be the made man they followed for seven seasons, a life seen through a veil of paranoia and a sense of impending doom.
We made this journey in large part because of the work of Gandolfini, who sanded off the rough edges of Soprano and made him relatable, a character who audiences saw assault, blackmail and murder, just to name a few crimes.
Gandolfini raked in awards as Soprano from the American Film Institute, the Golden Globes, the Screen Actors Guild and multiple Emmy Awards.
It wasn't his only celebrated role. He was nominated for a Tony Award for his work in the 2009 Broadway production of "God of Carnage" and received strong critical reviews for appearances in pictures such as "True Romance," "Get Shorty," "The Mexican" and "Where the Wild Things Are."
But we'll remember him for Tony Soprano.
While Soprano was no one to imitate, as a teenager, I saw qualities of the kind of man I hoped to be in Gandolfini's interviews.
"I'm an actor," he once told a reporter. "I do a job and I go home. Why are you interested in me? You don't ask a truck driver about his job."
That humble perspective stayed with me. He enjoyed playing blue-collar characters because he wanted to show their fight, their struggle and their lives.
That may have infused his post-"Sopranos" direction, when Gandolfini focused his creative efforts on the effect of war. Gandolfini produced the documentaries "Alive Day: Home From Iraq" and "Wartorn: 1861-2010" about the physical and emotional tolls of battle.
He made multiple trips to Iraq and Afghanistan with actor Tony Sirico, who played Paulie "Walnuts" Gualtieri on "Sopranos."
"We visited base camps, field hospitals, talked to the troops," Sirico told the New York Daily News Wednesday. "Jimmy would tell the soldiers he wanted their autographs, that they were the heroes. They were the stars."
Though Gandolfini carried himself well, some took issue with Soprano. Some Italian-Americans felt "Sopranos" perpetrated stereotypes about our culture, underestimating the intelligence of others in the worry that because Soprano was a ruthless mob boss, so were all Italian-Americans.
The blowback made it onto the show itself with a dollop of derision, such as one character's work in an anti-defamation league as well as an ill-advised defense of Christopher Columbus.
Simply by being a mobster on screen, Soprano did reinforce certain stereotypes. However, he also showed the psychological toll of being a wise guy.
Furthermore, "Sopranos" served as a platform to show Italian-Americans who weren't Tony Soprano. It brought us people who were humble, proud, loyal, hard-working, law-abiding people.
In short, it showed us people like James Gandolfini.
No one would've made the journey of "The Sopranos" without his unforgettable work.
As an actor, a character and a man, Gandolfini helped bring a better understanding about Italian-Americans as well as about ourselves as people.
With a legacy like that, there was plenty of reason to ask him about his job instead of asking the truck driver.
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