Steve Schirripa

Steven Ralph Schirripa ( ; born September 3, 1957) is an American actor. He is best known for portraying Bobby Baccalieri on The Sopranos, Leo Boykewich on The Secret Life of the American Teenager, and Detective Anthony Abetemarco on Blue Bloods. Schirripa is host of two Investigation Discovery series: Karma's A B*tch! and Nothing Personal. He is the voice of Roberto in the Open Season film series. Early life Schirripa was born on September 3, 1957 in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. His father, Ralph Schirripa, was Italian-American. His grandparents, Ilario Schirripa and Maria Capacci, were from Riace, Calabria, Southern Italy. His mother, Lorraine Schirripa (née Bernstein), was of Jewish descent. Schirripa grew up in a low-income household with four siblings, went to Lafayette High School and graduated from Brooklyn College. Career Film and television Schirripa got his first taste of show business in his job as entertainment director of the Riviera Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. In the biography page of his website, Schirripa says that he had cameo appearances in comedy specials by Drew Carey and Kevin Pollak, among other comedians. That led to a role as an uncredited extra in Martin Scorsese's Casino. In the film, he portrayed a customer at the bar in the scene when Joe Pesci's character angrily stabs a man with a pen. After this, Schirripa decided that he wanted to become an actor.