Edie Falco

A versatile performer, celebrity speaker Edie Falco is the second actress to ever win an Emmy for her roles in both a drama and a comedy series. Despite her current success, Falco did not begin her career as an award-winning actress; she actually started her journey making guest appearances on shows such as Law and Order and Homicide: Life on the Street. Falco finally reached her big break in Woody Allen’s 1994 film Bullets Over Broadway, leading her towards roles in other movies such as Judy Berlin in 1999 and 3 Backyards in 2010.

With more experience under her belt, Falco eventually obtained a regular role on the HBO show Oz in 1997 as the prison officer Diane Whittlesey. In addition to her HBO show, Falco is probably best known for her role as Carmela Soprano in The Sopranos, for which she achieved many distinctions during her time in the part. From 1999 to 2007, she won four Emmys for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, two Golden Globe awards for Best Actress in a Television Series Drama, as well as five Screen Actor Guild Awards for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series. With so many honors to her name, it is no surprise that she is one of four actresses to ever have received an Emmy, a Golden Globe, and a Screen Actors Guild Award in the same year, alongside the likes of actresses such as Tina Fey and America Ferrera.

Falco currently stars in the Showtime series Nurse Jackie, for which she won an Emmy in 2010 for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy series. More recently in the film industry, Falco has acted in movies such as Random Hearts and Sunshine State, in which she was given the Los Angeles Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Capable of both filmed acting and live performances, Falco has appeared in plays such as the Tony-Award winning show Side Man, as well as revivals of Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune. She even received a Tony nomination for her impressive performance in the Broadway revival play House of Blue Leaves in 2011.

Amongst her busy career, Falco was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2003. Despite her diagnosis, Falco continued filming The Sopranos during treatment and eventually became cancer-free. Having survived, Falco realized her dreams of being a mother and decided to adopt her son Anderson in 2005, and her daughter Macy in 2008. She is also an advocate of the Alcoholics Anonymous 12-step program, in which she found so much help in and often speaks in support of.