Annabella Sciorra

Annabella Sciorra briefly achieved leading lady status in the early 1990s, undertaking a dangerous dalliance in Spike Lee's "Jungle Fever" (1991) and suffering the torments of psycho-nanny Rebecca De Mornay in "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle" (1992). Coming of age in Brooklyn, NY, Sciorra began earning screen parts in the late 1980s, turning in a comedic performance in the breezy comedy "True Love" (1989). She would score her big break as the working class Italian-American secretary hooking up with her African-American boss (Wesley Snipes) in Lee's examination of the social dynamics of interracial relationships In "Jungle Fever." It vaulted her to bigger parts in such films as "Whispers in the Dark" (1992) and "The Night We Never Met" (1993), but she would plateau into supporting roles and largely unheralded indie fare, often cast as put-upon paramours in a run of crime films highlighted by "Romeo is Bleeding" (1993) and "Cop Land" (1997). She veered into television in 2001 as an obsessive saleswoman involved with tough-guy Tony Soprano on "The Sopranos" (HBO, 1999-2007), and would go to short TV stints, playing a detective on "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" (NBC, 2001-07; USA, 2007-11), and a shrink on "Mental" (Fox, 2009). Throughout the 2000s, Sciorra kept her hand in off-Broadway theater, and made her Broadway debut in 2011 opposite Chris Rock in "The Motherf--ker With the Hat." A disarming beauty, Sciorra proved herself a stalwart of New York's drama scene and a captivating performer in nearly every medium in the trade.