Lin-Manuel Miranda has admitted that he was “scared s***less” over his appearance in The Sopranos in 2007.
At the time, the Pulitzer Prize winner was a struggling actor and had a minor role as a bellhop in season six episode “Remember When”.
Opening up about his first credited screen performance in Judd Apatow’s new book Sicker in the Head: More Conversations About Life and Comedy, Miranda talked about how the show’s star James Gandolfini calmed his nerves.
“My one story about Gandolfini was that he stayed and did his sides even though it was the end of the night,” remembered Miranda. “He had no need to do that, He stayed and did the scene for the scared s***less Puerto Rican kid in the bellhop outfit.”
Miranda also said that Gandolfini would always be out on set and never locked in his trailer: “He was just out, and people would talk to him.”
The Hamilton creator also discussed the show as being his first performance of note and his days as a struggling actor: “I went on lots of voiceover auditions and acting auditions, and the only thing I booked was The Sopranos as a bellboy. I’m so green you can see me look down at my mark. Watch it if you get a chance, because now people are like, ‘Lin-Manuel’s cameo on The Sopranos!’ It wasn’t a cameo. I wasn’t even in the union yet.”
A pre-fame Lady Gaga also had a background appearance in HBO’s seminal crime drama. Reflecting on her performance in the show last year, the House of Gucci star said: “I didn’t know how to listen in a scene! I was supposed to laugh, and it was sort of like, cue, laugh…. I see it and I go, ‘oh, that’s not a real laugh!’”
She also said: “When I look back on that scene I can see exactly what I did wrong in that scene.”
