Eugene Pontecorvo

Eugene Pontecorvo is a soldier in Tony Soprano's crew, a quiet, dependable earner who has done his time without complaint. He is married with kids, has money put away, and starts to want something most of these men never let themselves want: out. He is not flashy, just tired.

The Sopranos usually shows the mob's pull through its stars; Eugene shows it through a minor player, which is what makes it land. Funaro plays him with a beaten-down decency, a man doing the math on his own life in real time, and the show uses him to demonstrate exactly why nobody gets to just leave.