If you thought that Tony Sirico always made a pretty convincing wiseguy, that’s because… well, he used to be one. Born in Brooklyn in 1942, Sirico spent much of his youth involved in a life of crime and was rumoured to be a mob associate of the Colombo crime family. He served time in prison for robbery and felony weapons possession, but during his last term in Sing Sing, he was visited by an acting troupe comprised of ex-cons and encouraged to give it a try. Sirico decided to pursue an acting career and has stayed out of trouble ever since. He went to make a living as a character actor and had roles (usually as a gangster) in such films as Fingers, Goodfellas, Romeo is Bleeding, Bullets Over Broadway, Dead Presidents, Cop Land and Mickey Blue Eyes. However, Sirico would finally attain stardom and become a pop culture icon when he was cast as hotheaded mobster Paulie “Walnuts” Gualtieri on The Sopranos. Virtually every Paulie Walnuts line on the show is a quotable one and his adventures with Christopher Moltisanti on the greatest Sopranos episode of all time, “Pine Barrens”, made for the some of the best television ever produced. Tony Sirico turns 70 today.