With 2018’s A Star Is Born, Lady Gaga — AKA Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta — made a critically-acclaimed crossover from popstardom to the silver screen. She blew away the Oscars with a glorious rendition of “Shallow”, and the film gained Gaga a nomination for Best Actress and a win for Best Song.
Her turn as waitress and singer-songwriter Ally was far from the singer’s first time in front of the camera though. Back in the day, when she was a student at NYU, she briefly appeared on the prank reality TV show Boiling Points, which placed her in the role of an unsuspecting customer served a salad covered in rubbish. Then, there was that time that no one knew who she was in The Hills – a pre-gig Monster Monster is seen in her first true iteration with the severe blonde fringe and a latex outfit, or as boss and iconic PR Kelly Cutrone refers to her, “some girl named Lady Gaga who apparently is their new big signing”.
Right now, though, we’re looking back to 2001, 17 years before her feature film debut, when a pre-fame, 15-year-old Gaga made a brief cameo in an episode of the hit HBO mafia crime series The Sopranos.
Specifically, Gaga appears in an episode from season three of the show, titled “The Telltale Moozadell”. She portrays one of a group of schoolgirls (namely, ‘Girl at Swimming Pool #2’ as cited in the credits) knocking back bottles of Coca Cola and smoking while they watch Tony Soprano’s son AJ racing his friends at the school pool, before they proceed to trash the place.
When we say it’s a brief cameo, we mean it. Following the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it appearance, Gaga’s character is never seen nor heard from again, though some of the other kids have to face the consequences of their actions. Little did they know that they were in the presence of greatness.
Gaga would go on to release her debut single, “Just Dance”, seven years later, kicking off an ever-evolving career that’s seen her return to acting with A Star Is Born and a role in Ryan Murphy’s American Horror Story anthology as the vampiric Countess. This year, she’s also taken on roles in David Leitch’s upcoming assassin thriller, Bullet Train, and Ridley Scott’s Gucci murder film, House of Gucci.
Watch Lady Gaga’s cameo in The Sopranos below.
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