10 Times Actors Broke Character In TV Shows
3. Dominic Chianese - The Sopranos
A subtle character break now but a character break nonetheless. In The Sopranos' legendary third season episode "Pine Barrens," Tony (James Gandolfini) heads to Uncle Junior's (Dominic Chianese) house to pick up Bobby (Steve Schirripa), who emerges dressed up in hunting gear which causes Tony to bust up into uproarious laughter.
In an interview about the scene, Steve Schirripa revealed that James Gandolfini's fit of laughter was genuine, and a result of Schirripa walking into the kitchen while wearing a strap-on dildo, in an attempt to get an organically hysterical response from his co-star. Clearly, it worked.
What you might miss in the middle of all this, though, is a low-key character break by Dominic Chianese.
Throughout the scene Uncle Junior is supposed to completely no-sell the silliness of Bobby's hunting apparel, but during the mid-shots of Junior, you can just barely see Dominic Chianese struggling to stop himself from laughing, the edges of his mouth curling up.