Gandolfini’s Early Years
Before he became a household name, James Gandolfini was a regular Italian-American kid growing up in a working-class family in Westwood, New Jersey. His father was the building maintenance chief at a Catholic school, and his mother worked as a lunch lady in a high school. Childhood friend Pam Donlan remembered him as a “happy, cute little boy” who grew up to be a highly respected actor in Hollywood.
In 1979, the young Gandolfini was a senior at Park Ridge High School in New Jersey, where he stood out as one of the popular kids. He excelled in both academics and extracurricular activities, particularly theater, where he developed his skills as an actor. During these formative years, he met John Travolta, whose father owned a store where the senior Gandolfini bought tires. “My father sold tires to his father,” Travolta said after Gandolfini died. “I was his inspiration to get into the business…He would see pictures of me on the wall from movies, and he decided that he wanted to be an actor.”
