Bobby "Bacala" Baccalieri

Big, soft-spoken, and easy to underestimate, Bobby is Junior Soprano's loyal caretaker and one of the gentler presences in Tony's crew. He loves trains, model kits, and his family, and hasn't yet had to prove himself the way the life eventually demands. He'd rather avoid trouble than make it.

Schirripa plays him with a sweetness that never curdles into naivety, which is what makes Bobby's slow, reluctant hardening so quietly devastating to watch. The writing uses his decency as a measuring stick for everyone around him, and his scenes with Junior have a tenderness the show rarely allows itself elsewhere.