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Andrea Donna de Matteo (born January 19, 1972) is an American Emmy-winning actress, perhaps best known for her roles as Adriana La Cerva on the HBO TV series The Sopranos and as Joey Tribbiani's sister Gina on the NBC sitcom Joey. A cigarette-smoking, trash talking girl from Queens, Drea de Matteo looks the way her name sounds, hard hitting and full of Italian attitude. As a young girl, Drea (pronounced "Dray") often attended rehearsals with her playwright mother at New York City's prestigious HB Studio. But this early exposure to the world of theater served only to convince Drea that she did not want a career in acting. She kept this view through adolescence and applied to NYU's Tisch School of the Arts with the intention of becoming a director. Although Drea scored only a combined 800 on her SAT (she describes herself as "wasted out of her head" while taking them), a completed screenplay granted her admission to the elite film program. While at NYU, Drea took acting classes solely to gain perspective as a director. But she received overwhelmingly positive feedback in these classes and by the time she graduated, she had herself a manager. Besides her acting career, De Matteo maintains a clothing boutique and designs fashions. She and onetime boyfriend Michael Sportes, whom she met when he moved into her apartment as a roommate, own a rock and roll clothing store in Manhattan's East Village. The actress had been designing rhinestone t-shirts (a craze which would sweep the nation and Hollywood) and Michael had been a vintage clothes buyer when they opened Filth Mart in 1997 -- though they split as a couple, they remained business partners. De Matteo also shares her home with her former nanny, a Nicaraguan woman who helped raise De Matteo from birth. The caretaking roles reversed after Drea took the woman in after she had a heart transplant several years ago. De Matteo, an Italian American, was born in Queens, New York, the daughter of Donna, a playwright and playwriting teacher, and Albert De Matteo, a furniture manufacturer. She grew up in a Catholic family. After graduating from the prestigious Loyola School, she studied at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, originally hoping to become a director, not an actress. De Matteo's role in The Sopranos was one of her earliest, helping to launch her career. Drea had only appeared in a couple of guest spots on unmentionable TV shows when she landed the part of the hostess in David Chase's experimental, cutting-edge, modern day mob pilot, "The Sopranos" (HBO 99-). Originally, Drea was going for the role of an "Italian bimbo. " But David didn't think Drea seemed Italian enough so he stuck her in the tiny role of the hostess at the Italian restaurant frequented by the mobsters and their families. As the hostess, she performed her two lines sans the now famous gritty Jersey/New York accent. To her surprise, Drea was called back to take the role of Adriana La Cerva, the uber-moll girlfriend of young mobster Christopher Molesanti. The role was meant to not last more than a few episodes but Drea played the part with such memorable flair that she was soon written in as a fixture on the show. In the following seasons, her influence as Christopher's fiancee continued to grow. Drea also continued to gain fans and secured a bit of a cult following as the quintessential straight-talking, long-nailed tough girl. Her 5'6" lithe tattoo-covered body is a favorite for upscale male magazines as well as local auto body shops. Drea's sharp featured face and leather attire offer an appealing alternative to the wholesome blonde ingenues currently filling the screens. With an attitude to match this razor sharp image, yet a palpable soft side to her demeanor, Drea has carved out the niche of the sexy bad girl with a heart of gold. She has also appeared in several films including Swordfish, Deuces Wild, The Perfect You and the 2005 remake of John Carpenter's 1976 action film Assault on Precinct 13. She also portrayed Joey Tribbiani's sister Gina in the Friends spin-off Joey. In 2004, de Matteo won an Emmy for Best Supporting Actress (Drama) for her role as Adriana on The Sopranos. She was also nominated for a Golden Globe that same year for the same role. She was ranked #42 and #56 on the Maxim Hot 100 Women of 2001 and 2002, respectively. She lives in New York City, where she also formerly owned the now-closed Filth Mart, an East Village clothing store, with best friend and ex-boyfriend Michael Sportes. In a February, 2005 edition of the British newspaper The Daily Sport, de Matteo stated that she is bisexual, but she would not admit to ever having been with a woman. She is currently dating Shooter Jennings, son of country music legend Waylon Jennings. The couple had their first child together, a girl named Alabama Gypsy Rose, on November 28, 2007. |
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