By ANTHONY BOTTAN
But what many don't know about Gannascoli is that he is an accomplished, self-taught chef and a french cuisine connoisseur an expectant father, and a dedicated charity fundraiser.
Gannascoli, who moved to East Rockaway four years ago, has gotten his share of accolades and praise for his role as Vito on The Sopranos a mobster turned homosexual pariah but Gannascoli has taken his fame in another direction. He is now the traveling spokesperson for Bright Steps Forward, a non-profit organization that provides funding for intensive pediatric therapy to financially disadvantaged children with neurological disorders such as cerebral palsy and autism.
He said he gets approached by a lot of charities, but this one was different. After the charity had e-mailed him several times, asking him to check out their clinic, Gannascoli decided to go. While at the clinic, he ran into five families from Italy whose children were there for treatment. After seeing the kind of work they do with kids, Gannascoli was sold. "They really make a difference in the lives of these kids," he said.
To help raise money for Bright Steps Forward, Gannascoli decided to use his culinary expertise. Gannascoli has already created his own line of pasta sauces "A Sauce to Die for" that he sells in King Kullen supermarkets, so he tried something a bit different: Kookies for Kids. Gannascoli whipped up a recipe of fudge-berry cookies, a mixture of fudge and raspberries, and hopes to sell them in King Kullen supermarkets as well. The proceeds from the cookie sales, he said, would be donated to Bright Steps Forward.
Before his brand of pasta sauces hit the supermarket shelves, and before he was Vito Spatafore on The Sopranos, Gannascoli was a college dropout from Brooklyn. After working at a Lord and Taylor, he landed a cooking gig at an upper-echelon Manhattan restaurant. He was only 20-years old. He later moved to New Orleans to cook for two-and-a-half years, but then ended up back in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. He opened up a restaurant in Bay Ridge called Night Falls, which he said was very successful.
After being offered a spot in a local play, Gannascoli found a new love besides cooking, but after he found out that acting was not the most lucrative of professions, he went back to what he knew best. A bad gambling habit soaked up Gannascoli's restaurant profits, and he was forced to close. He moved to Los Angeles and landed his first role in the 1993 movie, "Money for Nothing" with Benicio Del Toro, John Cusack and coincidentally, James Gandolfini.
When Gannascoli first auditioned for The Sopranos, it was not for the part of Vito. They later casted him in the role, and the rest is history. "It changed my life," Gannascoli said of being on The Sopranos. 'It was the turning point of my career."
Gannascoli has a few other projects on the horizon as well. He has his own brand of cigar coming out, he just finished shooting a movie with Joe Montegna, and after trying for four years with his wife, Diana, has a baby on the way. They plan to surprise each other with the gender of the baby on Christmas morning. Marrying Diana, he said, was the best move he ever made. "It was the best thing I ever did," he said. "Without her, I'd be living in one-room, smoke-filled apartment with take-out boxes everywhere."
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