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| - Carmela Soprano née DeAngelis, played by Edie Falco, is a fictional character on the HBO TV series The Sopranos. She is the wife of mafia boss Tony Soprano. A remarkably complex character, she is the female lead of the series. Carmela was Tony Soprano's high school sweetheart and they married at a young age. Carmela is capable, organized and resourceful and puts her family first. Carmela tries to maintain the Soprano household while Tony is out working. At times, she seems to be the stereotypical mob boss's wife: supportive and friendly, even strong at times, while rarely asking about details of her husband's work. Tony has trusted his wife enough to confide in her, to a degree, about some of his Mafia dealings, notably the failed attempt on his life and the death of Richie Aprile. However, the years of having a husband missing at all hours, coupled with his constant infidelity, have put a serious strain on their relationship at times and they even separated for a period. Carmela is also an observant Roman Catholic and has difficulty rationalizing both her husband's profession and her subsequent separation. While generally understood as good, Carmela's character is a complicated one. She has sometimes sacrificed her children's security for the sake of a few gold watches, but has defended her children when they did something wrong. She has shown herself willing to use her mob-wife status to intimidate others, as she did in "Full Leather Jacket," where she not-too-subtly commanded her neighbor's Georgetown-alumna sister into writing a letter of recommendation for Meadow to Georgetown, so that Meadow would not go to UC Berkeley but stay closer to home. Also, she discarded a letter from Berkeley to Meadow requesting transcripts, but later retrieved it from the trash in a moment of guilt. While she is very proud of Meadow's accomplishments and ambition, she partly resents her for achieving the independence she always wanted. She constantly frets over A.J.'s troubles and inactivity, yet tends to coddle him and is unwilling to impose any real restrictions on him. She has trouble with her husband's profession but still loves him anyway. Carmela's resentment of her husband's infidelity has often driven her to the brink of breaking her marriage vows during some sexually charged moments with her priest, Father Phil Intintola, and painter-decorator Vic Musto. During the fourth season, Carmela had a mutual romantic infatuation with Furio Giunta, one of Tony's men. Carmela had reached a low point with Tony's constant string of affairs and the two had a romantically-tense but "arms-length" relationship for a period. Each confided to separate friends that they were falling for each other but Furio, fearing for his life if he loved the boss' wife, sold his house and moved back to Italy. This sent Carmela into depression, and led her to further resent Meadow for being in love with her boyfriend, Finn. By the end of the fourth season, Tony and Carmela separated after she learned of his latest indiscretion, although Tony continued to provide for her and the children. Carmela even began dating A.J.'s guidance counselor, Robert Wegler, and pursuing divorce proceedings against Tony, but was drawn back to her husband by financial concerns and difficulties in rearing A.J., as well as a difficult breakup with Wegler, who accused Carmela of manipulating him into special treatment for her son. At the end of the fifth season, Carmela agreed to reunite with Tony after he agreed to purchase a $600,000 investment property in Montville, under Carmela's name, so she could build a spec house. Despite some initial awkwardness, the two were firmly reunited after Tony was shot by his uncle, Junior Soprano, both during his coma and after his hospital release. The crisis seems to have strengthened their bond. Carmela's willingness to look the other way regarding Tony's numerous infidelities over the years, as well as her acceptance of the fruits of Tony's labor without regard to how they were earned, combined with her decision to get back together with Tony in exchange for his purchasing the investment property, have led some fans to believe that Carmela is primarily motivated by greed. She has admitted she is not sure whether she loves her husband in spite of his criminal lifestyle, or because of it, but she rationalizes it by saying that "there are far bigger crooks than my husband." Carmela's materialistic nature, however, is never far from the surface. After Tony surprised his delighted wife with a Porsche Cayenne, Carmela proceeded to flaunt her new car in front of Ginny Sacrimoni and Angie Bonpensiero. Carmela was somewhat embarrassed when Angie informed Carmela that she recently purchased a Corvette, which she paid for herself. Carmela's own efforts to become financially independent have been less successful, as Tony neglected to intervene for a long period when an inspector determined that materials used on her spec house were not up to code, thereby halting construction and straining her relationship with her father, who was building the house for her. Tony later recanted, however, and ordered Silvio Dante to lean on the inspector to change his mind. Around this time, Carmela was concerned for the whereabouts of Adriana La Cerva, who seemingly had disappeared. When she questions Tony about this, he tells her that Adriana had broken up with Christopher Moltisanti and ran off with another man. Carmela's concern intensified when she encountered Adriana's mother, Liz La Cerva, at the Feast of St. Elzear (Episode 74, The Ride). Liz tells Carmela that Christopher is responsible for Adriana’s death, going on to say the FBI told her so. The next day, Carmela confronts Tony, who dismisses her: "Let me school you on domestic violence," he says. "First and foremost, there is always a body." She didn't know that Adriana was a low-level informant for the FBI and that Christopher, who had learned the truth from Adriana, informed Tony, who in turn had her executed by Silvio. She is also unaware that Tony suffocated Christopher on his own blood after Christopher flipped the SUV they were in off the highway. Her grief for her cousin, however, is soon eclipsed by her concern for A.J. after he tries to drown himself in the family pool and is placed in the psychiatric ward at Mountainside Hospital. Carmela, along with Tony, encourages him to become part of the production team for a film written by Daniel Baldwin and financed by Little Carmine, rather than enlist in the Army. She is shown considering building plans for a beach house, and in the final scene of the series, she meets Tony at a diner for a family meal.
- Carmela Soprano, born Carmela DeAngelis, is the wife of mafia boss Tony Soprano. She is also the mother of Meadow Soprano and Anthony Soprano, Jr. Carmela's parents are Hugh and Mary DeAngelis. Throughout the show's run, Carmela is shown to be a loving mother and supportive wife. However, she is well aware of Tony's position in the Mafia, and while it is rarely talked about openly, Carmela knows where Tony's income really comes from. While she feels guilty for allowing her family to be in such a position, she accepts it for what it is. Carmela also is aware that Tony has had extra-marital affairs and while condemning those affairs, she still stays with Tony. Tony's wealth, while coming from illegal gains, provides the kind of lifestyle that Carmela wanted for her and her children. However, it is a burden on her, as she admits on several occasions. Carmela's relationship with her children is one of the typical American mother/children relationships. Carmela has confrontations with both Meadow and A.J. over issues that many families deal with. Carmela and Meadow have shared a tense relationship with issues concerning Meadow's developing independence and maturing into a grown woman. A.J. also has had some minor conflicts with his mother. Despite the occasional rocky moments she's had with her two children, Carmela always was loving and supportive of Meadow and A.J. Tony and Carmela's marriage was a complicated one, but while they had their share of fights, there were also tender moments between them. Tony would at times buy expensive gifts for Carmela, but this is shown to be Tony's usual way of keeping Carmela happy at home while he carries on with his affairs outside of the home. Tony's affairs and the impact they have on his and Carmela's marriage comes to a head in 2002. Tony slept with his ex-girlfriend Irina's cousin Svetlana, and when Irina learns of this, she becomes furious. She calls Tony's home, A.J. answers and she asks to speak to Carmela where she reveals Tony's infidelity not only with herself but also with Svetlana. Carmela initially calls her a liar, but is soon convinced of Irina's sincerity that it is the truth. Carmela has a dramatic confrontation with Tony when he arrives home and asks him to leave. Everything is laid out on the table, including Carmela's mutual infatuation with Furio Giunta. Carmela and Furio fell in love with each other, but were never physically intimate. Tony soon leaves the house and begins living separately. It is during this time that Carmela begins a brief relationship with A.J.'s guidance counselor Robert Wegler, and while their relationship is at first passionate, it quickly deteriorates. Tony never discovers that Carmela had been sleeping with Wegler. Eventually, Carmela and Tony reconcile, and Tony moves back in with Carmela. After this, Carmela and Tony's life seems to go back to normal until Tony is nearly killed by Corrado Soprano. It is at this point that Carmela's love for Tony is visibly expressed. She watches over him constantly while he is in the hospital and despite all of the negative things that she and Tony have been through together, she takes care of him and loves him despite all of that. After Tony pulls out of the coma and begins to convalesce, Carmela continues to care for him and help him through his recovery process. Her devotion to him even makes a surprising, if temporary, change in Tony: during a meeting with the attractive real estate agent Julianna Skiff at her apartment, Tony has an opportunity to sleep with her, but opts not to and walks away, something he would not have done in prior years. However, Tony is soon back to cheating on Carmela again. In the episode Chasing It, Tony becomes quite agitated about his money problems between his gambling and his debt to Hesh, and acts downright vicious towards Carmela for not investing her Spec House money to a match bet, leaving Carmela shaken.
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