Early life and education

Falco was born in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of Judith Anderson, an actress, and Frank Falco, a jazz drummer who later worked for an advertising agency. Her father was of Italian descent and her mother's ancestry was Swedish and English. Falco's siblings are Joseph, Paul, and Ruth. Her uncle is novelist, playwright, and poet Edward Falco, an English professor at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg.

From the age of four, she was raised on Long Island, moving with her family to Hicksville, followed by North Babylon, then West Islip. As a child she acted in plays at the Arena Players Repertory Theater in East Farmingdale, where her mother also performed.

Her family eventually moved to Northport, where she attended high school and played Eliza Doolittle in a production of My Fair Lady during her senior year. Falco graduated from Northport High School in 1981. She attended the acting program at SUNY Purchase, along with fellow actors Stanley Tucci and Ving Rhames. She graduated in 1986 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in acting.

Career

Early in her career, Falco made appearances on television shows like Law & Order and Homicide: Life on the Street. Tom Fontana, executive producer of Homicide, cast Falco as Eva Thormann, the wife of an injured police officer, after watching Falco's performance in Laws of Gravity, a 1992 film directed by Nick Gomez. Fontana said of her, "She's an actress who's unadorned by any embroidery. She does everything with such simplicity and honesty, it's breathtaking." A struggling actress at the time, Falco said her salary from these television episodes paid for one month's worth of rent. Based on her work on Homicide, Fontana later cast Falco as a regular character, prison officer Diane Whittlesey, in his HBO series Oz.

Her first big break in films was a small speaking role in the 1994 Woody Allen film Bullets over Broadway. Her friendship with former SUNY Purchase classmate Eric Mendelsohn, who was the assistant to Allen's costume designer, Jeffrey Kurland, helped her to be cast in the role. Mendelsohn went on to direct Falco in his feature film Judy Berlin, for which he won Best Director honors at the Sundance Film Festival. Falco went on to star in Mendelsohn's next film 3 Backyards, for which he won Best Director a second time. Mendelsohn is the only director to have won this award twice.

Falco, The X-Files star Gillian Anderson, Ugly Betty star America Ferrera, and 30 Rock's Tina Fey are the only actresses to have received a Golden Globe, an Emmy, and a SAG Award in the same year. Falco won these awards in 2003 for her performance as Carmela Soprano during the fourth season of The Sopranos.

Falco has won four Emmys, two Golden Globes and five Screen Actors Guild Awards. Falco is the second actor to have won Emmys for lead acting in both a drama and a comedy series (the first actor to do so was Carroll O'Connor).

Falco has appeared in the films Trust, Reversal of Fortune, Cop Land, Private Parts (nonspeaking part), Random Hearts, Freedomland, and John Sayles' Sunshine State, for which she received the Los Angeles Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress. On Broadway, she appeared in the Tony Award-winning Side Man and in the revivals of Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune opposite Stanley Tucci, and 'night, Mother opposite Brenda Blethyn. She has also appeared as a guest star on the television shows 30 Rock and Will & Grace.

Falco starred as the title character in the Showtime dark comedy series Nurse Jackie, which premiered in June 8, 2009 and ended on June 28, 2015.

She recently played the part of Bananas in the Broadway revival of House of Blue Leaves in New York City with Ben Stiller and Jennifer Jason Leigh, for which she received her first and only Tony Award nomination. It was announced in January 2013 that Falco would star in Liz Flahive's The Madrid off-Broadway. The limited engagement, directed by Leigh Silverman, began previews on February 5 with an official opening February 26. Along with Falco, the play starred John Ellison, Christopher Evan Welch (who has since died), Phoebe Strole, and Frances Sternhagen.

Politics

During the 2004 U.S. presidential election, Falco appeared in a 30-second television commercial on behalf of Mothers Opposing Bush in which she said, "Mothers always put their children first. Mr. Bush, can you say the same?"

Records show that she donated $1,000 to John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign, $300 to the Democratic National Committee in 2004, and two separate sums of $1,000 and $300 to Hillary Clinton in 2005.

Falco has become the spokesperson for Health Care for America Now and appeared on CNN on June 25, 2009.

Personal life

In 2003, Falco was diagnosed with breast cancer. She chose not to make the news public until the following year. Falco has had struggles with alcohol and decided to become sober sometime in the early 1990s after "one particular night of debauchery." She said in an interview that it was difficult to be around the hard-partying cast of The Sopranos; "This cast in particular, they really love to hang out and party. They make it look like fun. And it was fun for me! They spend a lot more time without me than with me, by my own choice. I'm always invited, and I'm always there for two minutes and I leave, because I can't live in that world anymore. It's too dangerous." She is an advocate of Alcoholics Anonymous' 12-step program.

Falco adopted a son, Anderson, in 2005 and a daughter, Macy, in 2008.

In 2012, Falco was the subject of an episode of Who Do You Think You Are? which focused on her matrilineal descent from the daughter of a Cornish master mariner, from Penzance, who was born at sea and died in 1840.

In 2013, Falco teamed up with PETA in a public-service message urging parents to keep their children away from the circus.

Filmography

Film

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1987	Sweet Lorraine	Karen	Credited as Edith Falco
1989	The Unbelievable Truth	Jane - The Waitress
	Sidewalk Stories	Woman in Carriage
1990	Trust	Peg Coughlin
1991	I Was on Mars	Female Cab Driver
1992	Laws of Gravity	Denise	Nominated—Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead
	Time Expired	Ginny	Short film
1993	Rift	Film Director
1994	Bullets over Broadway	Lorna
1995	The Addiction	Jean
	Backfire!	Mom
1996	Layin' Low	Angie
	The Funeral	Union Speaker
	Breathing Room	Marcy
	Childhood's End	Patty
1997	Hurricane	Joanne
	Private Parts	Alison's Friend	Uncredited
	Cop Land	Berta (Bomb Squad Agent)
	Trouble on the Corner	Vivian Stewart
	Cost of Living	Billie	AFI Fest Award for Best Actress
1998	Blind Light	Diana DiBianco
	A Price Above Rubies	Feiga
1999	Judy Berlin	Judy Berlin
	Stringer	TV Producer
	Random Hearts	Janice
2000	Death of a Dog	Mom
	Overnight Sensation	Festival Coordinator
2002	Sunshine State	Marly Temple	Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture Nominated—Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress
2004	Family of the Year
2005	The Girl from Monday	Judge
	The Great New Wonderful	Safarah Polsky	Segment: Emme's Story
	The Quiet	Olivia Deer
2006	Freedomland	Karen Colluci
2010	3 Backyards	Peggy
2013	Gods Behaving Badly	Artemis
2016	Megan Leavey	Jackie Leavey	Post-production
2017	The Comedian	Miller	Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996	The Sunshine Boys		TV movie
1993-97	Homicide: Life on the Street	Eva Thromann	Recurring role 5 episodes
1993-98	Law & Order	Sally Bell	Recurring role 4 episodes
1995-97	New York Undercover	Sgt. Kelly	Recurring role 3 episodes
1997-2000	Oz	Diane Whittlesey	Recurring role 23 episodes
1999-2007	The Sopranos	Carmela Soprano	Main role 85 episodes Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series AFI Award - Actor of the Year - Female - TV Series Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Television Series Drama Satellite Award for Best Actress - Television Series Drama Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series TCA Award for Individual Achievement in Drama Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Television Series Drama Nominated—Golden Nymph Award for Outstanding Actress - Drama Series Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actress - Television Series Drama Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series Nominated—TCA Award for Individual Achievement in Drama Nominated—Viewers for Quality Television Award for Best Actress in a Quality Drama Series
2000	The Sight	Ghost	TV movie Uncredited
2001	Jenifer	Wheelchair Saleswoman	TV movie
2004	Will & Grace	Deirdre	Episode: "East Side Story"
2007-08	30 Rock	Celeste “C. C.” Cunningham	Recurring role 4 episodes Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series
2009-15	Nurse Jackie	Jackie Peyton	Main role Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Television Series Musical or Comedy Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series Nominated—Prism Award for Female Performance in a Drama Series Multi-Episode Storyline Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actress - Television Series Drama Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actress - Television Series Musical or Comedy Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series
2016	Horace and Pete	Sylvia	Main role Web series

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1998-99	Side Man	Terry	Original play Jun 25, 1998 - Oct 31, 1999 Theatre World Award Nominated - Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play
2002-03	Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune	Frankie	Original play Aug 8, 2002 - Mar 9, 2003
2004-05	'night, Mother	Jessie Cates	Revival play Nov 14, 2004 - Jan 9, 2005
2010	This Wide Night	Lorraine	Peter Jay Sharp Theater
2011	The House of Blue Leaves	Bananas Shaughnessy	Revival play Apr 25, 2011 - Jun 25, 2011 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play Nominated—Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play

Awards and nominations

Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Edie Falco Charities

Edie Falco supports the following charitable causes: Children, ALS (amyrotrophic lateral sclerosis), Education, AIDS, Underprivileged Children, Teens, Rape/Sexual Abuse, Domestic Violence, Human Rights, Cancer, Women's Issues, Breast Cancer.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]