The Only Major Actors Still Alive From Goodfellas
Martin Scorsese's "Goodfellas" turns 34 this year. The movie itself spans more than three decades, chronicling Henry Hill's (Ray Liotta) life as an associate in the New York mob — Hill's life story was first told to the public by the nonfiction book "Wiseguy" by Nicholas Pileggi, who co-wrote the "Goodfellas" script with Scorsese.
"Goodfellas" is a cinematic shot of adrenaline, cut with vivacious energy by Thelma Schoonmaker and scored with classic rock to reflect the anti-authority glamour of mid-20th century gangsters. No matter if you watch it in all its sprawling glory or just sample clips, it's enjoyable — nay, irresistible.
Since "Goodfellas" packs so many years into two-and-a-half hours, it has a huge cast. So much time has passed since "Goodfellas" premiered in theaters and left its mark on crime cinema that not all of these actors are still with us. Miraculously, though, quite a few of them are still around and remain working to this day.
Robert De Niro (Jimmy Conway)
Jimmy Conway, as played by Robert De Niro, is not the main character of "Goodfellas," but De Niro gets the center place on the poster. He's the biggest star in the cast, after all, and was already the king of gangster movies after playing a young Vito Corleone in "The Godfather Part II." "Jimmy The Gent" is one of De Niro's scariest roles, even if he spends a lot of his screen time smiling. The actor had previously played the Devil himself (oh, I'm sorry, Louis Cyphre) in "Angel Heart," but nothing in that can beat the cold evil emanating from Jimmy's subtly shifting face during the "Sunshine of Your Love" pull-in shot of "Goodfellas."
The real Conway (James Burke) died in 1996 while still incarcerated. De Niro, though, is still with us and enjoyed a great decade following "Goodfellas." He reteamed with his old pal Marty for "Cape Fear" and "Casino," directed himself in "A Bronx Tale," and appeared in other '90s crime movie masterworks like "Heat" and "Jackie Brown."
De Niro took a hiatus from working with Scorsese after "Casino" and, let's be honest, the 2000s were not his finest decade (though his against-type performance as a cross-dressing pirate captain in "Stardust" is applause-worthy). However, he closed out the 2010s by appearing in Scorsese's "The Irishman," a sad coda to the gangster movies they'd made together, and also appeared in last year's "Killers of the Flower Moon."
Robert De Niro turned 80 in 2023, with hopefully many more years ahead of him.
Joe Pesci (Tommy DeVito)
The only "Goodfellas" alum who went home with an Oscar was Joe Pesci, who played the short-fused psychopath Tommy DeVito and won Best Supporting Actor for it. His famously short and humble acceptance speech ("It's my privilege, thank you") is the opposite of his screen persona — a persona created in large part through Tommy.
In "Goodfellas," Tommy is the only one of the main trio to die onscreen, whacked as revenge for murdering made man Billy Batts (the late Frank Vincent, Pesci's former creative partner). Pesci, though? He's still with us. He reteamed with Scorsese and De Niro for "Casino," playing Nicky Santoro as a variation on Tommy. He also tried his hand at comedy in "Home Alone" and "My Cousin Vinny."
In the 21st century, Pesci has remained semi-retired from acting; he's only appeared in five films made since 2000. However, one of them was another reunion with Scorsese and De Niro, "The Irishman." Haggled into accepting the part of Russell Bufalino, "The Irishman" saw Pesci finally get to play the boss.
Lorraine Bracco (Karen Hill)
27 actors who appeared in "Goodfellas" later appeared in "The Sopranos." The one with the biggest roles in both is probably Lorraine Bracco, who first played Henry's unhappy-and-unafraid-to-show-it wife Karen Hill (né Friedman); her Brooklyn-accented and cacophonic voice is the main instrument in most of the movie's screaming matches.
Besides Henry, Karen is the only other character whose narration we hear, and from her words, it's clear why she fell for him. She likes her men dangerous and needs someone who can match her spitfire energy (that energy is the reason Henry fell for her — that and her self-evident good looks). The Hills stay together through the end, despite tribulations from pointing loaded guns at each other to witness protection.
On "The Sopranos," Bracco played psychiatrist Dr. Jennifer Melfi. She pointedly chose that role over Carmela Soprano because acting as a mob wife would just be playing Karen Hill again.
Some of Bracco's post-Melfi roles include Angela Rizzoli on "Rizzoli & Isles," Margaret Dutton on "Blue Bloods," and Sofia the Seagull in "Disney's Pinocchio" (no, I don't get it either). She also narrated the 2011 Discovery series "I Married A Mobster" (her characters can relate, after all) and recently appeared in a supporting role in "Jacir," an indie drama about a Syrian refugee living in the U.S.
Debi Mazar (Sandy)
To Karen's chagrin, she's far from the only woman in Henry's life. One of his paramours is Sandy (Debi Mazar); she also becomes Henry's business associate when he starts dealing cocaine and puts her in charge of packing it. There's a memorable shot of her mixing the powder with a pair of playing cards as the Rolling Stones' "Gimme Shelter" plays. Of course, it all comes crashing down for Henry and Sandy in the third act. They snort their own product and become addicts; the resulting sloppiness means that their drug business finally gets the heat on their tails.
Since "Goodfellas," Mazar has worked with some other great directors, such as Spike Lee ("Jungle Fever," "Malcolm X"), Joel Schumacher ("Batman Forever" as Two-Face's henchwoman Spice opposite Drew Barrymore as Sugar), and Michael Mann ("The Insider," "Collateral"). However, these are all small, supporting roles. She's mostly a TV actor; her most prominent role in recent years is definitely Maggie Amato on the sitcom/Hilary Duff vehicle "Younger," which ran for seven seasons from 2015 to 2021.
Michael Imperioli (Spider)
Speaking of dual "Goodfellas" and "The Sopranos" alumni — a baby-faced Michael Imperioli has a small role in the former as Spider. Too young to even be a mob associate, Spider serves the gangsters drinks at their card games. One night, he's too slow and has the misfortune to get on Tommy's bad side. The first time he gets a bullet in the foot, the next time he gets several in the chest. The famous (and improvised) "Funny how?" scene shows how unstable Tommy can be, but Spider's death is a reminder his bite is much worse than his bark.
Imperioli went on to play Christopher Moltisanti, Tony Soprano's protégé/nephew, on "The Sopranos." Christopher was one of the violent gangsters Spider only dreamt of being, but in both "Goodfellas" and "The Sopranos," the highs of gangster life don't cushion you for the lows.
While Christopher is his most famous role, Imperioli is a prolific actor in both film and TV; his recent role as Dominic Di Grasso in "The White Lotus" season 2 netted him an Emmy nomination. He's also a writer, co-penning Spike Lee's 1999 "Summer of Sam" and five "Sopranos" episodes. This year, he'll be appearing on Broadway in "An Enemy of the People" with Jeremy Strong and Victoria Pedretti.
Samuel L. Jackson (Stacks Edwards)
"Major actor" doesn't necessarily mean "major role," because sometimes stars have to begin at the bottom. Samuel L. Jackson was, in 1990, still a few years out from his big break, so in "Goodfellas," he has only a minor role as Stacks Edwards. Stacks is an associate who partakes in the Lufthansa heist — and then he's whacked by Tommy (in his own bedroom) because he didn't dispose of the getaway truck properly.
Jackson went on to appear in many of the biggest films of the 1990s: "Jurassic Park," "Pulp Fiction," "A Time to Kill," and more. The 21st century didn't slow his workload; he's appeared in many more films by his go-to directors Quentin Tarantino and Spike Lee. On the blockbuster side, he was Mace Windu in "Star Wars" and Nick Fury in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. By one count, Jackson is the highest-grossing actor of all time. Jackson is so prolific (with more than 25 great performances), and a living icon, that taking his talent for granted is an easily made mistake. This might be one reason why in 2022, when he finally won an Oscar, it wasn't for any specific role but his contributions to film as a whole.
Illeana Douglas (Rosie)
Shortly after Karen's wedding to Henry, there's a scene of her hanging out with the other mob wives, quietly observing their sharp-tongued gossip and cheap makeup. One of them is Rosie, played by Illena Douglas. At the time, Douglas was dating Martin Scorsese and they remained involved until 1997. Unsurprisingly, she appeared in Marty's next film, the 1991 remake of "Cape Fear." Douglas' character Lori ends up being assaulted by the vicious Max Cady (De Niro).
Douglas continued to have supporting roles in movies including "To Die For" and "Ghost World," and since the 1990s has been a guest star on several TV shows: "Six Feet Under," "Entourage," "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," you name it.
Douglas' career doesn't stop with acting; she's also a published author of nonfiction books. Her 2015 memoir was "I Blame Dennis Hopper: And Other Stories from a Life Lived In and Out of the Movies" (the title comes from how formative "Easy Rider" was for her). In 2023, she published "Connecticut in the Movies: From Dream Houses to Dark Suburbia," highlighting films set in the Nutmeg State. She clearly shares her former partner's passion for film history.
Frank Sivero (Frankie Carbone)
Robert De Niro isn't the only "Godfather" alum who shows up in "Goodfellas." In "Part 2," during the flashbacks to Vito Corleone's youth, his best friend in the U.S. is Genco Abbandando (Frank Sivero). Vito works at the Abbandando family grocery store and when he breaks bad, Genco becomes his consigliere.
In "Goodfellas," Sivero has a small role as the wise guy Frankie Carbone, who is mostly a background presence in several scenes (he's Tommy's backup when he whacks Sacks). However, after the Lufthansa heist, Jimmy decides to kill everyone else to keep the score for himself. Carbone ends up frozen in a meat truck, hanging on a hook.
Sivero doesn't have much of a filmography after this, but hey, appearing in two of the best American films ever made isn't nothing. In 2014, he filed a lawsuit against Fox Television Studios, claiming mobster character Louie on "The Simpsons" infringes on his likeness. Sivero's case was dismissed the next year.
Kevin Corrigan (Michael Hill)
During the opening "Goodfellas" scenes set in Henry's childhood, we see how his little brother Michael is disabled and uses a wheelchair. The Hill family doesn't show up for much of the movie — Henry is too focused on his new "family" in La Cosa Nostra — but an adult Michael Hill (Kevin Corrigan) comes in during the third act. The day that Henry's life crashes and burns, he's dealing with a coke-fueled burnout and is extra-stressed by a long to-do list; one of his errands is picking up Michael from the airport.
"Goodfellas" was one of Corrigan's first film roles; he worked with Scorsese again for a small role in 2006's "The Departed." However, he's generally more known for his comedy roles, not his gangster movies. He played Uncle Eddie on the early aughts sitcom "Grounded for Life" and has appeared in movies like "Pineapple Express," "Superbad," and "The King of Staten Island."
Tony Darrow (Sonny Bunz)
"Goodfellas" shows, not tells, how dirty the mob is; after all, the primary perspective is a man who thinks the gangster life is paradise on Earth. One moment that shows gangsters stepping on ordinary joes is the "bust out," where Paulie (the late Paul Sorvino) and his crew leech all the money off the Bamboo Lounge, a restaurant owned by Sonny Bunz (Tony Darrow, stage name of Anthony Borgese). Bunz naively asks to join their protection racket, but then they're draining him dry and using his credit to buy and then fence goods in bulk. When he's near bankruptcy, the mob torches his business for the insurance money.
Darrow is yet another "Goodfellas" actor who later joined "The Sopranos." As the Capo Larry Barese, he was on the opposite end of mob exploitation. Chillingly, there are rumors that Darrow is not just an onscreen gangster but a genuinely connected guy in real life. In 2009, he was charged with extortion alongside a Gambino crime family member and sentenced to six months' house arrest.
The minor characters
A handful of extras in "Goodfellas" went on to greater success. It's hard to talk about their parts in the film since they're miniscule, but it also felt wrong to leave them off the list.
Tobin Bell, who had a late-career blossom as John Kramer/Jigsaw in "Saw," has a two-line part as Jimmy's parole officer. He shows up almost exactly 90 minutes into "Goodfellas," calling out his parolee's name and asking for his pay stubs as proof he's earning an honest living (spoiler: Jimmy isn't).
Isiah Whitlock Jr. appears in the third act as a doctor who looks over Michael Hill. Whitlock went on to appear on "The Wire" as Maryland State Senator Clay Davis. He's also appeared in several Spike Lee films, from "25th Hour" to "Da 5 Bloods." If you can't place his name, you might know his catchphrase: "Sheeeeeeeeeit."
Vincent Pastore has the oh-so-important part of "Man with Coat Rack" in "Goodfellas." He got a bigger part on "The Sopranos" as the mafioso Salvatore "Sal" Bonpensiero (aka Big Pussy, not to be confused with Little Pussy Malanga).
Vincent Gallo briefly appears as one of Henry's crew in the 1970s segments of "Goodfellas." He went on to have brief success as an indie auteur in the late 1990s to early 2000s (he starred in and directed "Buffalo '66" and "The Brown Bunny"). Gallo, whose parents are Sicilian, had a childhood similar to Henry Hill's. He fortunately got on the right path and continues to act.
Christopher Serrone (Young Henry Hill)
Ray Liotta, who charmed the audience of "Goodfellas" with the voiceover laying bare the soul of a scumbag, sadly passed away in 2022. Remember, though, he's not the only actor who played Henry Hill; there's also Christopher Serrone, who played Henry in the movie's opening 1950s-set segments. Serrone was 12 years old at the time and is still with us.
We meet Henry, as played by Liotta, in media ras — but once he kicks off his voiceover with, "As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster," the film travels back as far as Henry can remember. We meet the mob and its world through the eyes of a young Henry (Serrone). Henry's adult self only returns 15 minutes into the movie, though we keep hearing his voice so it feels like he never left.
As for Serrone? He had plans to keep acting, but his career never really took off. "Goodfellas" is still the most successful project he's worked on. The movie didn't make him famous, but notorious; peers started fights with him and real mobsters tried to recruit him (he credits his father with keeping him straight). However, Serrone doesn't regret being part of the movie and continues to broadcast his association with it. For instance, his Instagram handle is urgoodfella and his bio mentions his role as young Henry.