From the son of Italian immigrants to high school basketball star and 'Class Flirt': James Gandolfini's early years growing up in New Jersey

By Lydia Warren

PUBLISHED: 09:46 EST, 20 June 2013 | UPDATED: 12:02 EST, 20 June 2013

Youth: James Gandolfini, who passed away on Wednesday, is pictured in his senior year in 1979

Grinning with his head on the lap of a school friend as he pulls her cheek, this is James Gandolfini in his happy teenage years - when the New Jersey native was voted 'Class Flirt' and 'Best Looking'.

This larger-than-life character smiling among the pages of the Park Ridge High School yearbook in the 1970s hints at the popular actor Gandolfini would later become.

Gandolfini, who passed away suddenly on Wednesday at the age of 51, had a childhood influenced by strong working class parents from Italy - an upbringing that went on to inspire his acting career.

'I'm playing an Italian lunatic from New Jersey, and that's basically what I am,' Gandolfini, who was famed for his portrayal of Tony Soprano in HBO series 'The Sopranos', said before his death.

The award-winning actor was traveling in Rome, Italy with his wife and two children to 'reconnect with his Italian roots' when he suffered a heart attack and passed away on Wednesday.

He was brought up in an Italian household in New jersey; His mother, Santa, was born in the U.S. but was raised in Naples, Italy before returning, while his father, James Joseph Gandolfini, Sr., was born in Borgo Val di Taro, a rural town in Northern Italy, around 100 miles south of Milan.

Popular: A teenage James Gandolfini is pictured with a friend in his senior year at Park Ridge High School, Park Ridge, New Jersey in 1979, the year he was voted 'Class Flirt'

Through the years: Gandolfini is pictured in 1976 as an underclassman at Park Ridge High School

Outgoing: Gandolfini is pictured in his senior year. The yearbook simply reads: 'Gandolfini dressed as a girl'

The couple, who were both devout Roman Catholics, moved to New Jersey and in a strange twist, Gandolfini Sr. went on to battle his birth country while fighting for the U.S. Army in World War II.

He was awarded a Purple Heart after being wounded on the front lines in France.

The Gandolfinis spoke Italian to each other in their home as they raised their three children, James, Leta and Johanna, and it was an influence Gandolfini felt until his death on Wednesday.

'He was so happy to be in Italy, to reconnect with his Italian roots,' said Mario Sesti, the artistic director for Sicily's Taormina Film Festival, which Gandolfini was due to attend this weekend.

In the spotlight: Friends said Gandolfini, right, never gave the impression he wanted to be an actor

Active: Gandolfini is pictured, left, as Jonathan Brewster in a school play, Arsenic and Old Lace, and right, playing on the varsity basketball team. The yearbook noted that he was a basketball star

Athletic: Gandolfini (top row, second from right) is pictured with his basketball team in his sophomore year

Brawn: He's pictured back center with the basketball team in his junior year at high school

His mother worked as a high school lunch lady for 20 years at the Academy of the Holy Angels in Demarest, while his father was a bricklayer and cement mason, and later the head custodian at Paramus Catholic High School in New Jersey.

He worked at the job for 40 years and would arrive at 6.30am every day, his daughter Leta said at his funeral in September 2005. He died aged 84, while his wife passed away in 1997, aged 73.

Gandolfini, who rarely held interviews, spoke about his father ahead of the release of his 2012 film 'Not Fade Away'.

Speaking to the McClatchy Tribune about his character Pasquale, an Italian-born disgruntled working class father living in New Jersey, he said: 'I knew this guy. There's a lot of my dad in him.'

All smiles: Gandolfini is pictured right as he hosts the Miss Park Ridge High School Contest

Adored: He was voted the biggest flirt and the best looking student in his senior year high school yearbook

Drama group: Gandolfini (center back) is pictured in his senior year with the cast of 'Kiss Me Kate'

Teenage years: He attended Park Ridge High School, pictured, and graduated in 1979

'I remember when I realized my dad was a man, like other men,' he said. 'He had dreams. He had a life that was completely separate from his family.

'He talked about "The War" late in life. There was so much I didn't know. You can have a vision of your father, but it can never be complete.

'He's not just the guy who drove me around when I was a kid, and yelled at me for not doing yard work. That's something I owed to my father, and it was my way of playing him.'

Gandolfini grew up in Park Ridge, in Bergen County, New Jersey, and is shown as a popular, outgoing student in his high school year books at Park Ridge High School.

Family trip: He was traveling with his wife, Deborah Lin, and son Michael (pictured in 2011) in Italy to 'reconnect with his roots' when he suffered a heart attack and passed away on Wednesday

Roots: Gandolfini's father, James Sr., was born in Borgo Val di Taro, Italy and moved to Jersey in his youth

Long way from Jersey: His mother, Santa, was brought up in Naples and later worked as a lunch lady in Jersey

Photographs show him taking part in school plays and basketball games, and serving as host during the school's talent show in his senior year.

Although he appeared in school plays, school friends said he never suggested he wanted to be an actor at the time.

When he graduated in 1979, he was voted best looking and class flirt in the school yearbook. After high school, he attended Rutgers University, graduating in 1983 with a degree in communications.

He had various jobs - driving a delivery truck, managing nightclubs and working at a bar in Manhattan - before showing an interest in acting at age 25, when a friend took him to a class.

Gandolfini's sisters still remain near home; Leta Gandolfini lost her Mantoloking, New Jersey home to Hurricane Sandy and is the president of a women's clothing firm, Sunrise Brands, in New York.

Family: He leaves behind two sisters, who still live in Jersey, Leta Gandolfini and Johanna Antonacci (pictured)

Teenage years: The Gandolfini family lived in this home in Park Ridge, New Jersey in the 1970s

Johanna Antonacci lives in Montvale, and is the manager of the Family Division of Superior Court in Hackensack.

But as his success and fame grew, he remained in touch with his Jersey roots. He attended the 20th reunion of Park Ridge High School and would drop by Paramus Catholic High School, where his father worked.

Although Gandolfini noted similarities between his upbringing and that of his character, Tony Soprano, others who knew him said he could not have been more different from the mobster.

'He's identified with The Sopranos but in real life he was much different,' James Vail, president of Paramus Catholic, where Gandolfini participated in fundraisers, told the New Jersey Record.

Loved: The outgoing teen hints at the popular actor Gandolfini (pictured in 2006) would later become

'He was very kind. He was very supportive of the school. He was a very dynamic guy and you enjoyed being in his presence.'

Among the tributes, New Jersey Governor Christie praising Gandolfini as 'a fine actor, a Rutgers alum and a true Jersey guy. I was a huge fan of his and the character he played so authentically.

'I have gotten to know Jimmy and many of the other actors in ‘The Sopranos’ cast and I can say that each of them are an individual New Jersey treasure.'