Biography
Brooklyn, NY, native Vanessa Ferlito grew up amid somewhat challenging circumstances as an only child (the daughter of two Italian-American hair salon owners) whose father died before she reached the age of three. She developed acting aspirations early in life and broke into the entertainment business via television, with guest spots and recurring roles on crime-themed series programs including CSI: New York and
The Sopranos -- where her unmistakably ethnic, weathered but voluptuous look lent her time and again to effective portrayals of molls, mistresses, and other gritty urban female types. She landed her most prominent early feature roles in
Spider-Man 2 (as a co-star in Mary Jane's play) and
Quentin Tarantino's
Death Proof segment of the 2007 two-episode omnibus
Grindhouse (as one of the low-down women stalked and murdered by
Kurt Russell's psychopath Stuntman Mike). After the Tarantino project, Ferlito joined co-stars
Debra Messing and
Alfred Molina for the gentle comedy
Nothing Like the Holidays and worked with
Tyler Perry on the farce
Madea Goes to Jail (2009). ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide