Michael Gandolfini, Son of Late Sopranos Star James Gandolfini, Attends Show’s 25th Anniversary Celebration

Michael Gandolfini, who played young Tony Soprano in ‘The Many Saints of Newark’, appeared at New York’s anniversary celebration

we celebrate The The Sopranos‘ 25th anniversary wouldn’t be complete without Michael Gandolfini, who paid tribute to the hit series with an appearance at an HBO event in New York on Wednesday.

Michael, the 24-year-old son of the late actor James Gandolfini, stepped out for the anniversary with his girlfriend Mia Healey. The pair matched in black outfits as they posed for photos together on the red carpet.

Michael also took a photo with The Sopranos alum Kathrine Narducci, who played Charmaine Bucco, wife of Artie Bucco (John Ventimiglia).

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Michael Gandolfini and Mia Healey attend the 25th anniversary celebration of HBO’s ‘The Sopranos’ in New York City on January 10.

Michael Loccisano/Getty

Michael starred in the 2021 crime drama Many Newark Saints, playing the younger version of his father’s father, Tony Soprano. The film’s cast also included Ray Liotta, Leslie Odom Jr., Jon Bernthal and Vera Farmiga, who played Tony’s mother.

When it came to playing Tony in the film, Michael explained to PEOPLE in 2021 that his goal wasn’t to “play my dad,” but instead to focus on doing justice to the iconic role. That meant mastering dad’s manners from The Soprano family.

“I look like my dad, I don’t have those gestures,” Michael said at the time. “I don’t have an accent, the way he uses his eyes. All those things are things I wanted to develop, because if I could get his physicality, maybe I could have more space to do what I want to do emotionally.”

All about James Gandolfini’s son, Michael Gandolfini

Kathrine Narducci and Michael Gandolfini at HBO’s ‘The Sopranos’ 25th Anniversary Celebration in New York City on January 10.

Dia Dipasupil/WireImage

While auditioning for the film, the actor watched The Soprano family for the first time, which caused a range of emotions, he said to WSJ. Magazine 2021 Michael essentially grew up on the set of the series that ran from 1999 to 2007 and won 21 Emmys, five Golden Globes and two Peabody Awards — thanks in large part to his father’s star-making role as the menacing but darkly funny Tony .

“Just watching for the first time. Seeing my dad and seeing how good my dad is — that made me angry in a way and made me feel so proud,” Michael said at the time. “I was so happy for him and thinking back to growing up on the set. And then I just had to clean up all the… trash. All that shit… and laugh so hard and cry. It felt so good to get it all out.”

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James Gandolfini in “The Sopranos”.

Anthony Neste/Getty

Directing Tony also allowed Michael to connect with his father, who died aged 51 of a heart attack in 2013, in a way he hadn’t before.

“I feel a connection,” he told PEOPLE in 2021. “I understand the toll he went through, the hard work he put in as an actor that I might not have known as a kid. I respect him as an actor more.”

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No matter what, “my dad will always be my best friend,” Michael added. “He will always be just my dad.”

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Source: HIS Education