Edie Falco ’84

Award-winning actress Edie Falco ’84 is known for her roles as Diane Whittlesey in the HBO series Oz (1997–2000), Carmela Soprano on the HBO series The Sopranos (1999–2007), the title character of the Showtime series Nurse Jackie (2009–15), and Sylvia Wittel on the Louis C.K. web series, Horace and Pete (2016).

She recently appeared as General Ardmore in Avatar: The Way of Water (2022). In 2021, she played Hillary Clinton in the FX series American Crime Story. And in 2018, she starred as Leslie Abramson in the docudrama series Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders, for which she received a Primetime Emmy nomination.

And she also played opposite Oona Roche ’17 in comedian Pete Davidson’s series BUPKIS on NBC’s Peacock.

Her work receives critical acclaim and her award nominations surpass 70, winning two Golden Globe Awards, four Primetime Emmy Awards, and five Screen Actors Guild Awards.

In a 2017 interview with Edie Falco, the actress talked about her career and how her Purchase connections got her started.

“I was at college with Hal Hartley, a filmmaker. I did a bunch of his movies when I first got out of college. One of the people who worked on Hal’s movies was Nick Gomez, who is now a television director. Nick said, “I’m going to make a movie. Would you do this with me?” It was called Laws of Gravity.

It made the festival rounds, and Tom Fontana saw it. He decided that he liked me, and from that moment on he has been an angel, continually putting me in his stuff. Homicide was the first, and from there came Oz.”

In an interview with The Guardian (April 11, 2018), Falco talks about her film, Outside In, and credits a college professor whose words made a significant difference in her ability to believe in herself.