Tony Soprano
Played By James Gandolfini

"All due respect, you got no idea what it's like to be number one. Every decision you make affects every facet of every other thing. It's too much to deal with almost. And in the end you're completely alone with it."

The pressures of running 'the family' have taken their toll on Tony. As the acting boss of the DiMeo family, Anthony Soprano heads the most powerful criminal organization in New Jersey. A second-generation wise guy, he's the son of the late Johnny Boy Soprano, a DiMeo capo who brought his boy into his profession and showed him the ropes. After Johnny's death, Tony was mentored by his old man's closest associates, Hesh Rabkin, Jackie Aprile, and Pussy Bonpensiero, as well as Johnny's older brother, Corrado "Junior" Soprano.

Tony was born in 1959 and grew up in Newark and West Orange, New Jersey. Violence was a staple of his childhood: he once witnessed his dad and uncle viciously beating a guy for being late with a numbers payment. Another time he watched Johnny Boy amputate a debtor's finger with a meat cleaver. And though he never struck his two daughters, when Tony transgressed his father sent him flying. Tony's mother, Livia, was busy doling out emotional beatings. Depressive and paranoid, Livia was incapable of affection--she once threatened to plunge a fork into her son's eye--and constantly told Tony he'd never amount to anything. But the coup de grace came years later: when Tony put Livia into a nursing home, she conspired with Junior to have him killed.

These days Tony has his hands full, to put it mildly. he perks of being the boss come at an increasingly high price. He's already had to take out two of his closest associates: Pussy, whom he loved like a brother, when he was recruited as government informant; and Jackie Aprile's son, when he ran afoul of the organization. More recently, when his cousin Tony B. 'went into business for himself,' Tony had to make an agonizing decision: take him out or face an all out war with the New York organization.

If these pressures weren't enough, his personal life became a train wreck. His wife, Carmela, started moving forward with divorce proceedings, fed up after years of his infidelities. His college student daughter, Meadow, was barely speaking to him. And his son, Anthony, Jr., is an undisciplined student and a lackluster athlete, and Tony has doubts he will succeed in life.

It should come as no surprise then that Tony has gone back into therapy. He first went to see Dr. Jennifer Melfi for his debilitating anxiety attacks, which were similar to the ones suffered by his late father and now his son. Despite the raised eyebrows of his associates, Tony stayed in therapy for four years before calling it quits, convinced it wasn't working. After his split with Carmela, he went back to Dr. Melfi - this time to ask her out. Though he was rebuffed, he eventually got over it, returning to her in a professional capacity.

The therapy appears to be working, as Tony's managed to make some amends as of late. He patched things up with Carmela and moved back into the house. He smoothed things over with his nephew Christopher, despite sanctioning the hit on his fiancee, Adriana. And he even managed to put aside his differences with Johnny Sack, now the capo of the New York organization.

But its unlikely Tony will be done with therapy in the near future. As Dr. Melfi sees it, Tony's anxiety is rooted in anger, grief and guilt, and odds are it won't be going away anytime soon.