Michael Imperioli was born in Mount Vernon, New York on 26th March 1966. His work on film began in the late 80s - an early part that brought him recognition was in Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas (1990), as Spider, a local kid who works for the gangsters and has a run-in with the psychopathic mob soldier played by Joe Pesci. He worked throughout the 90s in the New York independent film industry, especially as a regular in Spike Lee's movies, appearing in Jungle Fever (1991), Malcolm X (1992), Clockers (1995), Girl 6 (1996) and Summer of Sam (1999), generally playing working-class Italian-Americans from the "outer boroughs." While rooted in the New York movie scene, Imperioli also worked in Hollywood in the mid-90s, in the formulaic movies Bad Boys (1995) and _Last Man Standing (1996)_ .In 1999 Imperioli was cast in "The Sopranos" (1999) as Christopher Moltisanti, a low-ranking soldier in the Soprano crime organization whose family connections to street boss Tony Soprano move him up the ladder in the organization. Imperioli's multi-layered portrayal of such an unappealing character is a real highlight of the series and earned him an Emmy and a SAG award.Imperioli has long been active in the New York theater scene as well, having written, directed, produced or starred in numerous plays. He was a founder, along with Lili Taylor (his then-girlfriend and co-star in Household Saints (1993)) of the downtown theater company, Machine Full. He has also written several episodes of "The Sopranos" and was a writer on Lee's "Summer of Sam," which he also executive-produced.Although most famous for his prominent part in "The Sopranos," Imperioli has worked on other television programs as well, including "Law & Order" (1990), "New York Undercover" (1994) and "NYPD Blue" (1993). He is married and has three children.