Jennifer Melfi: Difference between revisions
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{{short description|Fictional character from The Sopranos}} |
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{{More citations needed|date=August 2008}} |
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{{All plot|date=December 2023}} |
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{{Infobox character |
{{Infobox character |
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| name = Jennifer Melfi |
| name = Jennifer Melfi |
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| series = [[The Sopranos]] |
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| image = Jennifer Melfi.jpg |
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| caption = [[Lorraine Bracco]] as Jennifer Melfi |
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| image_size = |
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| first = "[[The Sopranos (The Sopranos episode)|The Sopranos]]" (1999) |
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| last = "[[The Blue Comet]]" (2007) |
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| creator = [[David Chase]] |
| creator = [[David Chase]] |
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| portrayer = [[Lorraine Bracco]] |
| portrayer = [[Lorraine Bracco]] |
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| nickname = Jen |
| nickname = Jen |
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| occupation = [[Psychiatrist]] |
| occupation = [[Psychiatrist]] |
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| spouse = [[List of |
| spouse = [[List of The Sopranos characters#Richard LaPenna|Richard LaPenna]] (ex-husband) |
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| gender = Female |
| gender = Female |
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| title = Doctor |
| title = Doctor |
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| family = |
| family = Aida Melfi (mother)<br>Joseph Melfi (father)<br>Unnamed sister |
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| children = [[List of |
| children = [[List of The Sopranos characters#Jason LaPenna|Jason LaPenna]] (son) |
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| nationality = [[Italian Americans|Italian-American]] |
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}} |
}} |
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'''Jennifer Melfi''' is a |
'''Dr. Jennifer Melfi''' is a fictional character on the [[HBO]] TV series ''[[The Sopranos]]''. She is the [[psychiatrist]] of [[Italian-American Mafia|Mafia]] boss [[Tony Soprano]]. She is portrayed by [[Lorraine Bracco]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.hbo.com/the-sopranos/cast-and-crew/dr-jennifer-melfi | title=''The Sopranos'' Cast & Crew: Dr. Jennifer Melfi | website=HBO.com | access-date=November 21, 2018}}</ref> |
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==Character description== |
==Character description== |
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Melfi is an Italian-American, with her father's family hailing from [[Province of Caserta|Caserta]]. She is a graduate of [[Bard College]] and [[Tufts University School of Medicine]]<ref>"Pilot" (Episode 1.01)</ref> and has an upscale lifestyle, living in a three-bedroom condominium in [[Essex Fells, New Jersey]] and shopping frequently at gourmet Italian shops (as revealed in "[[Meadowlands (The Sopranos)|Meadowlands]]"). |
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At the start of the series, [[Tony Soprano]], a local mobster, was referred to Melfi, a psychiatrist, after having a panic attack. He tells her he is a waste management consultant, but Melfi knows he is a mob boss. Throughout season 1, during the power struggle between Tony and Uncle Junior over who will be boss, Junior informs [[List of The Sopranos characters#Mikey "Grab Bag" Palmice|Mikey "Grab Bag" Palmice]] that Tony is seeing a psychiatrist. This makes Junior, Mikey, and all other members of Junior's crew who were informed extremely angry and paranoid, for they fear Melfi could be potentially used as a witness to testify in court against the activities of the [[Soprano family|DiMeo crime family]]. |
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She is probably the person closest to truly understanding Tony Soprano. Over the years, Tony Soprano has been able to confide in Melfi many things that he has told no one else, not even his associates or his wife, [[Carmela Soprano|Carmela]]. However, Melfi and Soprano have an unusual, [[on-again, off-again relationship]]. He inwardly fears Melfi's prying into his life during their sessions, but he also fears the results of not dealing with the problem. As a result, she watches him go through frequent mood swings during their time together, sometimes acting playfully, other times violently — sometimes responsive, at other times cold and distant. At times Soprano also expresses frustration with the pace of his treatment, and berates Melfi with short outbursts when he feels she is not following his train of thought. |
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In the season 1 penultimate episode "[[Isabella (The Sopranos)|Isabella]]", two hit men are sent by Junior and Mikey Palmice in an attempt to assassinate Tony for supposedly giving information to Melfi. The hit fails. One assailant is inadvertently killed by the other while trying to shoot Tony in his driver's seat from the passenger side after Tony grabs the first assassin's gun. Tony throws the other hit man off onto the road, not killing, but injuring him. Tony laughs ecstatically but has taken his eyes off the road long enough to crash his SUV into a parked car, knocking him unconscious. |
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For her part, Melfi has tried hard to help Soprano as much as possible, half chalking it up to some sort of vicarious thrill of helping a gangster but also trying to resist the idea that she has romantic thoughts about the man. Nevertheless, Melfi wants to keep their relationship professional which she does for the entirety of the series. Melfi, in addition, has an ongoing battle with alcoholism. While she resists Soprano's constant advances, which have simultaneously attracted and appalled her, Soprano no longer wishes for their relationship to remain strictly professional, for he seems to see her as the one thing that he is unable to truly have and, while continuing to pursue her, also resents her for it. |
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⚫ | Tony later informs Melfi that his enemies are aware of their therapy sessions, and she must go into hiding to avoid getting killed until everything blows over. To save his own life and Melfi's, Junior's top lieutenants Mikey Palmice and [[List of The Sopranos characters#Chucky Signore|Chucky Signore]] are killed, the latter by Tony himself. Junior is only saved by being arrested by the [[FBI on The Sopranos|FBI]] on racketeering charges. In the season 2 premiere episode "[[Guy Walks into a Psychiatrist's Office...]]", Melfi is shown doing business and living in a small roadside motel in [[Wayne, New Jersey]], telling her patients her office is being remodeled. After the last troublesome member of Junior's crew, [[List of The Sopranos characters#Phillip Parisi|Philly "Spoons" Parisi]], is murdered, Tony informs Melfi that "it's over" and that she can go back to her normal life. |
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Melfi's son, [[List of characters from The Sopranos - Friends and Family#Jason LaPenna|Jason LaPenna]], has a recurring role in her life as he is her only child. Jason's father is her ex-husband, [[List of characters from The Sopranos - Friends and Family#Richard LaPenna|Richard LaPenna]]. |
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⚫ | In the season 3 episode "[[Employee of the Month (The Sopranos)|Employee of the Month]]", Melfi is walking alone through the parking garage to her car when she is attacked by a man. He grabs her from behind and after she attempts to escape and cries out for help, proceeds to drag her to the stairway of her building, where he violently [[rape]]s her. He leaves her lying helpless in the stairway, crying. At the hospital, she is visited by her ex-husband, Richard. Although her rapist is arrested, he is subsequently released because the [[chain of custody]] is lost by the police. |
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During season 1, she is seen driving both a [[Jaguar XJ]] and a [[Saab 900]]. In seasons 2 and 3, she drives a [[Volvo S70]]. |
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⚫ | This infuriates Melfi, in shock that he was released. She comments to her psychiatrist and colleague [[List of characters from The Sopranos - Friends and Family#Elliot Kupferberg|Elliot Kupferberg]], "I could have that asshole squashed like a bug," meaning that she could easily have her rapist killed by telling Tony that she was raped. She also inadvertently reveals to Kupferberg that the patient she is treating is Tony Soprano. More shock comes when Melfi is in the fast-food restaurant where the rapist works. She sees his smiling picture on the wall as [[Employee of the Month (program)|Employee of the Month]] (hence the episode title). |
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==On the run== |
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⚫ | |||
Melfi herself feels a crazed desire for revenge and knows that a word to Tony Soprano would obtain it, but, like her ex-husband, she will obey the social contract. Later, Dr. Melfi has a dream. She buys a soda from a vending machine; when she reaches into the machine to get it, her hand is trapped inside. A [[Rottweiler]] appears and terrifies her. Then the rapist advances toward her. The dog turns and mauls the rapist, who cries in agony. With Kupferberg, she understands the meaning: the dog is Tony Soprano taking revenge on her behalf. |
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==Rape== |
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⚫ | In the season 3 episode "[[Employee of the Month (The Sopranos)|Employee of the Month]]", Melfi is walking alone through the parking garage to her car when she is attacked by a man. He grabs her from behind and |
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She tells Tony and others she has been in a car accident. When he sees her, Tony is shocked and concerned by her injuries. He tells her he is now ready to see a behaviorist. She says, "No," and starts crying. He goes to her, lays his hands gently on her, and asks what is the matter. She composes herself and asks him to return to his seat. He goes back, but asks, "What? You wanna say something?" After a tense pause, she says, "No." |
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⚫ | |||
⚫ | Melfi sees Dr. Kupferberg on a regular basis. In "[[The Second Coming (The Sopranos)|The Second Coming]]", he tells her that a recent study has shown that [[talk therapy]] may only help a [[Antisocial personality disorder|sociopath]] become more sociopathic. Elliot has commented that treating Tony Soprano gives her a "vicarious thrill". Melfi tells Elliott she used to find Tony attractive at first, but no longer. She does not mention that shortly before this session, she had an erotic dream about herself and Tony. |
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==Seeking therapy== |
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⚫ | Melfi |
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Melfi attends a dinner party with Elliot and other colleagues, but the conversation turns to the recent study claiming sociopaths take advantage of [[talk therapy]]. Kupferberg angers and shocks her by revealing to all present that Tony Soprano is her patient. However, she reads the study at home and is convinced of its findings. At his next session Tony is relaxed, while her responses become sarcastic and aggressive. When she says she intends to cease treating him, he is taken aback and hurt: "We're making progress! It's been seven years!" She says, "You don't give a shit about commitments, about what I do." She waits for him to go, then closes the door on him. |
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==Relationship ends permanently== |
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Despite several failed attempts by both Melfi and Tony to end their therapy sessions, a dinner party Melfi attends with colleagues during the episode "[[The Blue Comet]]" breaks the balance. Dr. Elliot Kupferberg mentions a study that found therapy is a failure with sociopathic people, and goes on to reveal to the other guests that Melfi is treating Tony Soprano, which angers Melfi. Following the discussion, Melfi reads the article, which states that therapy can sometimes justify the criminal acts of a sociopath or criminal. She begins to realize that perhaps treating Tony has been useless and has aided his criminal lifestyle. |
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==Character origins== |
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At the next therapy session, Melfi scolds Tony, for she has seen him ripping out a page from a magazine in her waiting room. Melfi then proceeds to attack Tony throughout their session, mainly firing [[sarcastic]] comments while he discusses his recent problems. As the session continues, she offers to refer Tony to another doctor, leaving him somewhat confused. Finally, Melfi tells Tony that she cannot help him, saying that, due to his current family crisis, she does not want to waste his time. Tony gets up and leaves the room as Melfi follows him back to the waiting room. Tony then takes out the folded-up steak recipe page out of his pocket, unfolds it, and gently and sarcastically places it back inside the magazine from which it came. Melfi then shuts the door, ending her professional relationship with Tony Soprano once and for all. |
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[[David Chase]] modeled the character of Jennifer Melfi after his own psychiatrist.<ref name="chaseRS">{{cite magazine |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/9448169/sopranos_creator_shoots_straight |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081108023127/http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/9448169/sopranos_creator_shoots_straight |archive-date=November 8, 2008 |title="Sopranos" Creator Shoots Straight |last=Dana |first=Will |date=March 10, 2006 |magazine=Rolling Stone |url-status=dead |access-date=December 6, 2013}}</ref> Bracco played the wife of a mobster in ''[[Goodfellas]]'' (1990) and she was originally asked to play the role of [[Carmela Soprano]]. She took the role of Jennifer Melfi instead because she wanted to try something different and felt that the part of the highly educated Dr. Melfi would be more of a challenge for her.<ref name="vanityfair">{{cite magazine |url=http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2012/04/sopranos-oral-history |title=The Family Hour: An Oral History of ''The Sopranos'' |magazine=Vanity Fair |first=Sam |last=Kashner |date=April 2012 |access-date=December 6, 2013 |page=2}}</ref> |
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==References== |
==References== |
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[[Category: |
[[Category:American female characters in television]] |
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[[Category:Fictional |
[[Category:Fictional alcohol abusers]] |
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[[Category:Fictional characters from New Jersey]] |
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[[Category:Fictional female doctors]] |
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[[Category:Fictional psychiatrists]] |
[[Category:Fictional psychiatrists]] |
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[[Category:Fictional victims of sexual assault]] |
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[[Category:The Sopranos characters]] |
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[[Category:Television characters introduced in 1999]] |
[[Category:Television characters introduced in 1999]] |
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[[Category:Fictional |
[[Category:Fictional characters based on real people]] |
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[[Category:Fictional |
[[Category:Fictional Italian people]] |
Latest revision as of 22:07, 30 September 2024
This article consists almost entirely of a plot summary. (December 2023) |
Jennifer Melfi | |
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The Sopranos character | |
First appearance | "The Sopranos" (1999) |
Last appearance | "The Blue Comet" (2007) |
Created by | David Chase |
Portrayed by | Lorraine Bracco |
In-universe information | |
Full name | Jennifer Melfi |
Nickname | Jen |
Gender | Female |
Title | Doctor |
Occupation | Psychiatrist |
Family | Aida Melfi (mother) Joseph Melfi (father) Unnamed sister |
Spouse | Richard LaPenna (ex-husband) |
Children | Jason LaPenna (son) |
Nationality | Italian-American |
Dr. Jennifer Melfi is a fictional character on the HBO TV series The Sopranos. She is the psychiatrist of Mafia boss Tony Soprano. She is portrayed by Lorraine Bracco.[1]
Character description
[edit]Melfi is an Italian-American, with her father's family hailing from Caserta. She is a graduate of Bard College and Tufts University School of Medicine[2] and has an upscale lifestyle, living in a three-bedroom condominium in Essex Fells, New Jersey and shopping frequently at gourmet Italian shops (as revealed in "Meadowlands").
At the start of the series, Tony Soprano, a local mobster, was referred to Melfi, a psychiatrist, after having a panic attack. He tells her he is a waste management consultant, but Melfi knows he is a mob boss. Throughout season 1, during the power struggle between Tony and Uncle Junior over who will be boss, Junior informs Mikey "Grab Bag" Palmice that Tony is seeing a psychiatrist. This makes Junior, Mikey, and all other members of Junior's crew who were informed extremely angry and paranoid, for they fear Melfi could be potentially used as a witness to testify in court against the activities of the DiMeo crime family.
In the season 1 penultimate episode "Isabella", two hit men are sent by Junior and Mikey Palmice in an attempt to assassinate Tony for supposedly giving information to Melfi. The hit fails. One assailant is inadvertently killed by the other while trying to shoot Tony in his driver's seat from the passenger side after Tony grabs the first assassin's gun. Tony throws the other hit man off onto the road, not killing, but injuring him. Tony laughs ecstatically but has taken his eyes off the road long enough to crash his SUV into a parked car, knocking him unconscious.
Tony later informs Melfi that his enemies are aware of their therapy sessions, and she must go into hiding to avoid getting killed until everything blows over. To save his own life and Melfi's, Junior's top lieutenants Mikey Palmice and Chucky Signore are killed, the latter by Tony himself. Junior is only saved by being arrested by the FBI on racketeering charges. In the season 2 premiere episode "Guy Walks into a Psychiatrist's Office...", Melfi is shown doing business and living in a small roadside motel in Wayne, New Jersey, telling her patients her office is being remodeled. After the last troublesome member of Junior's crew, Philly "Spoons" Parisi, is murdered, Tony informs Melfi that "it's over" and that she can go back to her normal life.
In the season 3 episode "Employee of the Month", Melfi is walking alone through the parking garage to her car when she is attacked by a man. He grabs her from behind and after she attempts to escape and cries out for help, proceeds to drag her to the stairway of her building, where he violently rapes her. He leaves her lying helpless in the stairway, crying. At the hospital, she is visited by her ex-husband, Richard. Although her rapist is arrested, he is subsequently released because the chain of custody is lost by the police.
This infuriates Melfi, in shock that he was released. She comments to her psychiatrist and colleague Elliot Kupferberg, "I could have that asshole squashed like a bug," meaning that she could easily have her rapist killed by telling Tony that she was raped. She also inadvertently reveals to Kupferberg that the patient she is treating is Tony Soprano. More shock comes when Melfi is in the fast-food restaurant where the rapist works. She sees his smiling picture on the wall as Employee of the Month (hence the episode title).
Melfi herself feels a crazed desire for revenge and knows that a word to Tony Soprano would obtain it, but, like her ex-husband, she will obey the social contract. Later, Dr. Melfi has a dream. She buys a soda from a vending machine; when she reaches into the machine to get it, her hand is trapped inside. A Rottweiler appears and terrifies her. Then the rapist advances toward her. The dog turns and mauls the rapist, who cries in agony. With Kupferberg, she understands the meaning: the dog is Tony Soprano taking revenge on her behalf.
She tells Tony and others she has been in a car accident. When he sees her, Tony is shocked and concerned by her injuries. He tells her he is now ready to see a behaviorist. She says, "No," and starts crying. He goes to her, lays his hands gently on her, and asks what is the matter. She composes herself and asks him to return to his seat. He goes back, but asks, "What? You wanna say something?" After a tense pause, she says, "No."
Melfi sees Dr. Kupferberg on a regular basis. In "The Second Coming", he tells her that a recent study has shown that talk therapy may only help a sociopath become more sociopathic. Elliot has commented that treating Tony Soprano gives her a "vicarious thrill". Melfi tells Elliott she used to find Tony attractive at first, but no longer. She does not mention that shortly before this session, she had an erotic dream about herself and Tony.
Melfi attends a dinner party with Elliot and other colleagues, but the conversation turns to the recent study claiming sociopaths take advantage of talk therapy. Kupferberg angers and shocks her by revealing to all present that Tony Soprano is her patient. However, she reads the study at home and is convinced of its findings. At his next session Tony is relaxed, while her responses become sarcastic and aggressive. When she says she intends to cease treating him, he is taken aback and hurt: "We're making progress! It's been seven years!" She says, "You don't give a shit about commitments, about what I do." She waits for him to go, then closes the door on him.
Character origins
[edit]David Chase modeled the character of Jennifer Melfi after his own psychiatrist.[3] Bracco played the wife of a mobster in Goodfellas (1990) and she was originally asked to play the role of Carmela Soprano. She took the role of Jennifer Melfi instead because she wanted to try something different and felt that the part of the highly educated Dr. Melfi would be more of a challenge for her.[4]
References
[edit]- ^ "The Sopranos Cast & Crew: Dr. Jennifer Melfi". HBO.com. Retrieved November 21, 2018.
- ^ "Pilot" (Episode 1.01)
- ^ Dana, Will (March 10, 2006). ""Sopranos" Creator Shoots Straight". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on November 8, 2008. Retrieved December 6, 2013.
- ^ Kashner, Sam (April 2012). "The Family Hour: An Oral History of The Sopranos". Vanity Fair. p. 2. Retrieved December 6, 2013.
External links
[edit]- American female characters in television
- Fictional alcohol abusers
- Fictional characters from New Jersey
- Fictional female doctors
- Fictional psychiatrists
- Fictional victims of sexual assault
- The Sopranos characters
- Television characters introduced in 1999
- Fictional characters based on real people
- Fictional Italian people