Annabella Sciorra

After making her professional acting debut with a supporting role in the 1988 television miniseries The Fortunate Pilgrim, where she appeared alongside Sophia Loren, Sciorra made her feature film debut playing the character of Donna in the 1989 romantic comedy-drama True Love. Her performance was praised by critics, with Janet Maslin of The New York Times commenting, "Ms. Sciorra, with her gentle beauty and hard-as-nails negotiating style, perfectly captures the mood of the film, and makes Donna fully and touchingly drawn".[8] The part earned Sciorra a nomination for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead the following year.[9]

Various film roles came next, including the Richard Gere thriller Internal Affairs, the Robin Williams comedy Cadillac Man, and the acclaimed drama Reversal of Fortune, in which she co-starred with Glenn Close and Jeremy Irons (all 1990). The latter received three Academy Award nominations.[10]

In 1991, after her supporting role alongside Michael J. Fox, James Woods and Stephen Lang in the American buddy cop comedy film The Hard Way directed by John Badham and released at the beginning of the year, Sciorra encountered widespread attention with her co-lead role as Angie Tucci—opposite Wesley Snipes—in the acclaimed Spike Lee drama Jungle Fever,[11] which was shortlisted for the Palme d'Or at that year's Cannes Film Festival.[12] In his review for the Los Angeles Times, Kenneth Turan wrote that Sciorra was "possessed of considerable presence, assurance and vulnerability".[13] The following year, she starred alongside Rebecca De Mornay in Curtis Hanson's successful psychological thriller The Hand That Rocks The Cradle (1992), which held the top position at the North American box office for four consecutive weeks.[14] Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly felt that, with her portrayal of Claire Bartel, Sciorrra "brings her eye-of-the-storm serenity to the role of a passionately ordinary middle-class woman", giving an "accomplished performance",[15] while Variety said in their review: "A totally deglamorized Sciorra becomes unglued subtly and slowly, eliciting sympathy without begging for it".[16] In subsequent years the film has been regarded as one of the quintessential examples of 1990s genre filmmaking.[17][18]

Sciorra continued to work steadily throughout the decade. Film parts included the romantic lead—opposite Matthew Broderick—in The Night We Never Met; neo-noir crime thriller Romeo Is Bleeding, with Gary Oldman; Mr. Wonderful, with Matt Dillon (all 1993); cult filmmaker Abel Ferrara's The Addiction (1995) and The Funeral (1996); James Mangold's box office hit Cop Land (1997),[19] with Sylvester Stallone and Robert De Niro; and the fantasy drama What Dreams May Come (1998), in which she co-starred for a second time with Robin Williams. Film critic Roger Ebert described her portrayal of Annie Nielsen in the latter as "heartbreakingly effective".[20]

In 2001, Sciorra received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination in the category of Outstanding Guest Actress for her portrayal of Gloria Trillo on HBO's acclaimed crime drama The Sopranos, a part—described as "career changing" by Entertainment Weekly[21]—she played intermittently until 2004.

In 2006, she co-starred with Vin Diesel in Find Me Guilty, directed by Sidney Lumet. The film, based on the true story of the longest Mafia trial in American history, was described as "gripping" by Stephen Holden of The New York Times, who also called Sciorra's performance "excellent".[22]

Subsequent credits included starring roles in the CBS courtroom drama series Queens Supreme (2003) and the Fox medical drama Mental (2009), a main role as Detective Carolyn Barek on Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2005–2006), and guest appearances on shows such as The L Word, ER, The Good Wife, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, and GLOW.

In 2018, Sciorra played the guest role of Rosalie Carbone on the second season of Netflix's Luke Cage. Of Sciorra's casting, executive producer Cheo Hodari Coker said: "I've been a huge fan of hers since Jungle Fever, and [she's] no joke as Rosalie Carbone. You haven't seen her this gangster since [...] The Sopranos. I'm thrilled her introduction to the Marvel Universe will be [this show]".[23][24] Later that year, she reprised the role of Carbone for two episodes of Netflix's Daredevil.[25]

Between 2019 and 2020, Sciorra played the role of Erin Buhrman in seven episodes of the Apple TV+ series Truth Be Told.