Drea de Matteo Biography

On the hit TV series The Sopranos, Drea de Matteo played Adriana, the loyal girlfriend/fianceé of mobster Christopher Moltisanti (actor Michael Imperioli). Born and raised in New York, de Matteo attended film school before going into acting. She began getting television roles in 1997, and in 1999 she appeared in The Sopranos. Her minor character ended up becoming a significant part of the show, and she was awarded an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in 2004. She then joined the cast of Joey, a series spun off from the long-running situation comedy Friends, which ran from 2004-06. De Matteo has also appeared in feature films, including Swordfish (2001, with Hugh Jackman), Deuces Wild (2002) and Assault on Precinct 13 (2005, starring Ja Rule and Laurence Fishburne).