Irina Peltsin

Irina is Tony Soprano's mistress, a young, volatile Russian woman living in North Caldwell, prone to emotional extremes and jealous rages. She wants more from Tony than he's willing to give — steadiness, exclusivity, acknowledgment — and when she doesn't get it, her feelings come out loud, messy, and sometimes armed.

Oksana Lada plays Irina at full emotional volume, which is exactly the point: she's the chaos Tony can't manage the way he manages everyone else. One scene with her turns from farce to genuine danger in seconds, and that whiplash — comic instability sliding into real menace — is very much the show's signature move, delivered here almost entirely through her.