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Lorraine Bracco has had her share of struggles. With three failed marriages and a custody battle that led to personal bankruptcy and depression, Bracco could have used some sessions with Dr. Jennifer Melfi, her character on “The Sopranos.” After all, in her role as psychiatrist to Tony Soprano, Bracco gives good advice. Happily for Bracco, she has faced her personal issues with determined optimism and refreshing candor. Unlike Tom Cruise — whom she likes and cheerfully says is “allowed his opinions” — Bracco teamed up with Pfizer to champion the benefits of anti-depressant therapy. Today, Bracco is beaming and, at 51, is at the top of her game. “I’m [finally] becoming the woman I really want to be,” she says. “My motto is to have more fun…I’m hoping the hardest parts of my life are over.” Bracco has good reason to smile: she is dating a younger man (former Syracuse University basketball player Jason Cipolla), shooting “The Sopranos” (which returns to HBO on March 12th), launching Bracco Wines with an Italian vineyard this month, and finishing her autobiography, tentatively titled On the Couch and due to hit bookstores this spring. Add to the mix Bracco’s successful penchant for buying real estate — she confides that McCarren Park in Brooklyn is the next hot spot — and it is little wonder that Bracco is the busiest and happiest she has ever been. Eating scrambled eggs and drinking coffee at a Chelsea café recently, Bracco went unrecognized by most patrons. Despite a career spanning more than two decades that includes an Oscar nomination for Goodfellas, Bracco is a far cry from the stereotypical movie star. For starters, she showed up without a hint of make-up and her hair casually clipped back. Then she sat and chatted casually for an hour without once answering her ringing cell phone. Given her down-to-earth demeanor, it is not surprising that Bracco feels more comfortable endorsing her new wine label than beauty items. “It suits me much more than selling make-up or hair products, the typically girly actress things… It really is more me; it is what I like to do. I am not a girl fussing in front of the mirror. If it takes more than ten minutes, it doesn’t interest me,” she says with her signature husky voice and throaty laugh. Perhaps because Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas made her a household name, Bracco gets pegged for the mafia roles. In fact, “Sopranos” creator David Chase initially envisioned Bracco as Carmela, Tony’s wife. Bracco had other ideas: “I came back and said, ‘I love the script… not only do I love the script, I would like to play the part of Dr. Melfi.’ If I had taken the Carmela role, I think it would have been [as though] the only thing I could do is [play] another mafia wife.” As for Dr. Melfi, Bracco calls her “the first educated Italian-American woman you’ve ever seen on your screen.” Although her character has seen diminished airtime, Bracco says she loves the role and promises that “some surprises” are in store. Despite often being typecast, Bracco’s Italian childhood was a little unusual. Her mother was an English war bride and ran the house: “[My mother] was nothing like an Italian mother… I grew up in a Norwegian and Armenian neighborhood [Bay Ridge], and then we moved to Long Island, in an entirely Jewish community. I think one of the reasons why Marty Scorsese gave me [the part of] Karen Hill was because, like Karen Hill, I was brought up in a Jewish neighborhood.” Bracco takes the fame this role and the others gave her in stride noting, “I’m a middle-class girl who has been very, very lucky.” So what does the future hold for this leading lady? Bracco says she isn’t worried: “I have so many things coming at me… it’s never-ending right now.” Rather, she is enjoying the moment and savoring her blessings, not the least of which are her two grown daughters, both of whom live in Manhattan. While the film and television roles are nice, Bracco calls the girls her greatest achievement. “They are an incredible blessing. I love being a mom. I’m not saying I was the greatest mom, but I enjoy watching them now making their own decisions and their own mistakes.” Having encountered some bumps along the way, Bracco is genuinely at peace — Dr. Melfi would be proud.
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