She may have gone into the scene wondering how on earth it would work — but Sarah Shahi has admitted that kissing the late James Gandolfini on the set of The Sopranos turned out to be rather unforgettable.
The Sex/Life actress, 46, appeared on The Bossticks podcast this week and spoke candidly about her 2007 guest role in the Emmy award-winning episode "Kennedy and Heidi", in which she played a character named Sonya who shares an intimate scene with Gandolfini's iconic Tony Soprano.
"One of the best, I have to say, kisses I've ever had," Shahi told hosts Lauryn and Michael Bosstick. "They would call 'cut' and we're still f---ing making out."
Her honesty about the experience is both charming and poignant, given that Gandolfini — beloved by generations of television fans — died of a heart attack in Rome in June 2013 at just 51 years old, six years after The Sopranos wrapped its celebrated run on HBO.
"How Is This Going to Work for Me?"
Shahi made no secret of her initial hesitation going into the scene. "I remember thinking to myself, like, how am I going to get turned on by this 47-year-old large balding man? Like, there's nothing. How is this going to work for me?" she recalled with characteristic frankness.
The answer, it turned out, was very easily. She described being instructed to sit on Gandolfini's lap for the intimate sequence — and when the director called cut, neither of them stopped. "We did it three, four times, and every time, they would call 'cut' and we're still making out," she said. The raw magnetism that made Tony Soprano one of the most compelling characters in television history, it seems, was entirely real.
Roses, Apologies and a Very Specific Shoe Request
The chemistry, however, didn't come without its complications. Shahi revealed that Gandolfini — who struggled with well-documented issues with alcohol and drug addiction throughout his life — failed to turn up on set on their first day of shooting together. Rather than a standard apology, what followed was pure Gandolfini.
He sent a dozen roses to her hotel room with a handwritten note reading: "Sorry about today. Don't be nervous because I suck. Love, the fat man." When Shahi finally met him, she told the podcast she found him "larger than life" — and decided to match his energy with a quip of her own, telling him she would have preferred "Jimmy Choo shoes, size seven" to flowers.
By that evening, a pair of Jimmy Choos in exactly her size had arrived at her hotel room door.
"A Very Troubled Man" the Crew Adored
Beyond the playful anecdotes, Shahi's reflections paint a fuller, more tender picture of an actor who was as complex off screen as the character he played on it. "He was incredible. He was a very troubled man, but the crew loved him," she said.
Gandolfini died on 19 June 2013, while travelling in Rome with his wife Deborah Lin and their children. His son Michael, then just 13 years old, was the one who first alerted hotel staff to the medical emergency. He was staying at the five-star Boscolo Exedra hotel when he suffered the fatal heart attack.
More than a decade on, Gandolfini's legacy in entertainment remains as towering as ever — and Shahi's recollections, warm and unfiltered, are a reminder of why he left such a lasting impression on everyone who worked with him. Even those who were only on set for a single episode.
Shahi is currently single following her split from Sex/Life co-star Adam Demos earlier this year.
