An up and coming cousin of famed brothers John and Nicholas Turturro, Brooklyn-born actress Aida Turturro paid her dues with dozens of small but memorable character roles for over a decade before landing the breakthrough role of Janice on HBO's popular series "The Sopranos" in 2000. Raised on Manhattan's Lower East Side, the striking full-figured performer discovered her gift as a young teen in an improvisational showcase. From there she went on to study drama at SUNY New Paltz and began her big screen work a few years after graduation with a turn in Nancy Savoca's 1989 feature "True Love" and three years later was featured in John Turturro's directorial debut "Mac". Olive-complected with flowing curly brown hair, Italian-American Turturro was often cast in ethnic-specific roles, convincingly playing everything from Italian to Greek to Latina. The actress displayed a unique spark and a warm, vibrant screen presence that brought her to the fore although she was most often relegated to supporting status. Her "best friend" turns in 1992's "Jersey Girl" and 1994's "Angie" showcased her power, albeit to a somewhat limited audience.

Both her vivacity and versatility were displayed with roles in films as divergent as "Manhattan Murder Mystery" (1993) and "Money Train" (1995), and Turturro took center stage (with several others) as part of the ensemble of the acclaimed independent "Denise Calls Up" (1995), in which she played a failed party planner with a note-perfect turn. She got to play zany in "The Search for One-Eye Jimmy" (1996) with a role as skewed seer Madame Esther, and also took the fortune teller route in Woody Allen's "Celebrity" (1998) and the East Village-set "Too Tired to Die" (1998, released theatrically in the USA in 2000). Also in 1998, Turturro reteamed with helmers Savoca and John Turturro respectively with memorable co-starring turns in "The 24 Hour Woman" and "Illuminata". A role as the fun-loving communications engineer for an underwater oceanographic laboratory came in Renny Harlin's shark-infested "Deep Blue Sea" (1999), and she had similarly colorful supporting parts in that year's "Play It to the Bone" and "Bringing Out the Dead". Also in 1999, Turturro co-starred as the spunky, down-to-earth sister of a man who asks Santa for his dream lover in the independent comedy "24 Nights".

A lifelong New Yorker who supported herself as a cleaning lady between acting jobs, Turturro did numerous television projects based in her hometown. Her debut TV guest role was that of a potential witness on an episode of the NYC-lensed series "Law & Order" in 1990, and she returned to the series for episodes in 1994 and 1997. In 1995, she was a regular on the bicoastal production "The Wright Verdicts" (CBS), starring as the with-it assistant of the somewhat scattered titular British attorney. Guest stints on the network's short-lived dramas "New York News" (1995) and "Dellaventura" (1997) kept her in the city as well.

In 2000, Turturro won a well-deserved regular role on the hit HBO drama "The Sopranos". Joining the phenomenal series led to a skyrocket in popularity and visibility for the actress, who played Janice Soprano, the sister of troubled Mafia capo Tony (James Gandolfini) and daughter of maniacal matriarch Livia (Nancy Marchand). Janet, an aging New Ager newly christened Pavarti after a Hindi goddess, was initially presented as a spiritually in-touch woman seeking to separate herself from the crime family, but quickly showed her true colors with opportunistic manipulation and explosive violence. Turturro and Gandolfini made a compelling onscreen team, battling with sibling rivalries and contrasting lifestyle issues but ultimately coming together in times of crisis and uniting even as adults against an abusive mother. Their chemistry was not too surprising, as the two actors had worked together before. In addition to each having credits in the films "Angie" and "Fallen" (1998), Turturro and Gandolfini played opposite halves of the battling neighbors the Hubbells in the 1992 Broadway revival of "A Streetcar Named Desire" starring Alec Baldwin and Jessica Lange.

Although her virtual ubiquity on screens big and small make it seem all but impossible, Turturro racked up theater credits in addition to "A Streetcar Named Desire". Off-Broadway, she played a jilted bridesmaid on the prowl for a new date in the unusual, audience-interactive comedy "Tony 'n' Tina's Wedding" and appeared in "Cavalleria Rusticana" at New York's Westbeth Theater. Her regional credits include productions of "The Threepenny Opera" and "Cabaret". 

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