Gannascoli received his "big break" in acting from
Benicio del Toro, whom he met on the set on
Money for Nothing. After appearing in
Ed Wood, Del Toro later cast Gannascoli in his directorial debut,
Submission. He also introduced him to Sheila Jaffe and
Georgianne Walken, who did casting work for the HBO TV series
The Sopranos. Gannascoli appeared in films including
Mickey Blue Eyes and television shows including
Law & Order before appearing on
The Sopranos as a pastry shop patron named "Gino" in the season one episode "
The Legend of Tennessee Moltisanti". He later secured a recurring role as the nephew of
Richie Aprile,
Vito Spatafore, in the season two episode "
The Happy Wanderer". Along with
Dan Grimaldi playing identical twins
Patsy and
Phillip "Philly Spoons" Parisi and
Saundra Santiago playing identical twins
Jeannie and
Joannie Cusamano, it was one of the three times that the show used a single actor for separate roles. Prior to the start of Season 6, Gannascoli was promoted to series regular. Gannascoli brought the idea to the writers of making his character gay from a true story of the
Gambino crime family, in a book called
Murder Machine. Gannascoli's other film roles include
Men in Black III and the 2015 movie
An Act of War. In 2019, he appeared on an episode of the cannabis-themed competition cooking show,
Bong Appétit: Cook Off. He appeared with
Vincent Pastore on ''
Gordon Ramsay's 24 Hours to Hell and Back'' on January 21, 2020. Gannascoli appeared in the pilot episode of
Bring on the Dancing Horses with
Kate Bosworth.
Novel In January 2006, Gannascoli published a
crime novel called
A Meal to Die For: A Culinary Novel of Crime. ==Filmography==