Frank Vincent

Franklin Vincent Gattuso (born August 4, 1939), known professionally as Frank Vincent, is an American actor. He is best known for his role as crime boss Phil Leotardo in the HBO series The Sopranos. Also for his roles in several films for director Martin Scorsese: Raging Bull (1980), Goodfellas (1990), and Casino (1995). He has also lent his voice talents to video games, most noticeably as Salvatore Leone in the Grand Theft Auto series

Vincent, who is of Italian descent (ancestors from Sicily and Naples), was born in North Adams, Massachusetts and raised in Jersey City, New Jersey. His father, Frank Vincent Gattuso, Sr., was an iron worker and businessman. He has two brothers, Nick and Jimmy, and a half-sister, Fran.

As player of the drums, trumpet and piano, Vincent originally aspired to a career in music, but turned to acting in 1976, when he co-starred in the low-budget gangster movie The Death Collector along with Joe Pesci, where they were spotted by Robert De Niro. De Niro told Martin Scorsese about both Vincent and Pesci; Scorsese was impressed by their performances and hired Vincent to appear in a major supporting role in Raging Bull (1980), in which he once again appeared with Pesci and co-starred with De Niro. Vincent, Pesci and De Niro would go on to appear together in several other movies. In most of their films together, Vincent's character would have an antagonistic relationship with Pesci's character, and one usually ended up attacking or killing the other.

Vincent had small roles in two Spike Lee films in 1989 and 1991 respectively: Do the Right Thing and Jungle Fever. One of his most notable appearances in foreign film was in Juan José Jusid's Made in Argentina (1987), in which he played Vito (a wealthy Manhattan businessman who befriends the Argentine American substance abuse counselor who treated his son).

Vincent has often been cast as a gangster. He appeared in Scorsese's 1990 film Goodfellas, where he played Billy Batts, a made man in the Gambino crime family. He also played a role in Scorsese's 1995 film Casino as Frank Marino (based on real-life gangster Frank Cullotta), the sidekick of Pesci's character.

In 1996, Vincent appeared in the music video for rap artist Nas' song "Street Dreams" as his character Frankie Marino from Casino. In the television movie Gotti, Vincent played Robert "D.B." DiBernardo, an associate of Mafia boss John Gotti, whose life the film chronicled. In the HBO TV series The Sopranos, he had his most prominent role yet, as Phil Leotardo, a ruthless New York City gangster who, as boss of the show's fictional Lupertazzi crime family, becomes the show's chief antagonist in the final season.

Vincent also had a leading role in the heist movie This Thing of Ours in 2003. One of his more light-hearted roles was in a British television commercial for Peugeot cars. In early 2005, Frank Vincent appeared on Irish television in a series of television commercials for Irish bank Permanent TSB. In 1999, he won the Italian American Entertainer of the Year Award. Another noted performance is his appearance in the 2003 film Remedy. In 2001, Vincent voiced the character of Mafia boss Salvatore Leone in the controversial computer and video game Grand Theft Auto III. He later reprised that role in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004) and Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (2005).

In 2006, he released his first book, A Guy's Guide to Being a Man's Man to positive reviews. His idol is Dean Martin. He has also released a line of hand-rolled cigars which have his picture prominently displayed on the band.

In the summer of 2008, he played Lieutenant Marino in the independent film The Tested, directed by Russell Costanzo. In 2009, he made a cameo appearance alongside fellow Sopranos actor Steve Schirripa in the Stargate Atlantis episode "Vegas".

He starred in Chicago Overcoat in 2009 as the main protagonist.