Feeling Lucky
Meet Boardwalk Empire star Vincent Piazza.
By Elizabeth Thompson
Photographed by Andrea Chu
Woe is the actor who plays a villain on a hit TV show -- some fans will always have it out for you. And possibly want to punch you in a restaurant. "I was out to dinner and felt a shadow cross over my table," says Vincent Piazza, who stars as mob man Lucky Luciano on Boardwalk Empire, HBO's drama about prohibition-era Atlantic City. "There was this huge guy standing there. He was like, 'Lucky?'" Piazza mimics in a thick Bronx accent. "I wanna punch you in your fucking face." The actor made it through the encounter just fine -- though Piazza says the man refused his offer to buy him a drink.
With the show now in its second season, Piazza says audiences will see his character "trying to maintain his dignity while trying to get ahead" as a scheme to take down corrupt Atlantic City treasurer, Nucky Thompson (Steve Buscemi), unfolds. "There's a very large coup in effect," he says, "and it's all going to come to a boil."
For the Queens native, who followers of celebrity gossip might also recognize as Ashlee Simpson's boyfriend (a topic he politely declines to discuss), acting wasn't the initial plan. Piazza was a Division 1-AA ice hockey player at Villanova, but an injury re-routed him into a career in banking where he used office culture to nurture his inner performer. "I could do a spot-on impression of our boss, who was very Michael Douglas in Wall Street, he says. "I would call people in the office pretending to be him all of the time and fire them."
Luciano is one of the few true historical characters on the series, and Piazza has clearly done his homework, citing obscure details about the gangster, down to the name of the prostitute he visited to purposely contract gonorrhea and avoid WWI service ("Nora"). Luciano's sexual exploits also led to one of the show's more memorable first-season scenes, in which Piazza appears fully nude. For a show that's been generous with its inclusions of female nudity, Piazza's evened things out a bit. "I initially only signed an ass waiver," he laughs, "but I'm happy to have tipped the scale."
Boardwalk Empire premieres Sunday, September 25th, at 9 p.m.
With the show now in its second season, Piazza says audiences will see his character "trying to maintain his dignity while trying to get ahead" as a scheme to take down corrupt Atlantic City treasurer, Nucky Thompson (Steve Buscemi), unfolds. "There's a very large coup in effect," he says, "and it's all going to come to a boil."
For the Queens native, who followers of celebrity gossip might also recognize as Ashlee Simpson's boyfriend (a topic he politely declines to discuss), acting wasn't the initial plan. Piazza was a Division 1-AA ice hockey player at Villanova, but an injury re-routed him into a career in banking where he used office culture to nurture his inner performer. "I could do a spot-on impression of our boss, who was very Michael Douglas in Wall Street, he says. "I would call people in the office pretending to be him all of the time and fire them."
Luciano is one of the few true historical characters on the series, and Piazza has clearly done his homework, citing obscure details about the gangster, down to the name of the prostitute he visited to purposely contract gonorrhea and avoid WWI service ("Nora"). Luciano's sexual exploits also led to one of the show's more memorable first-season scenes, in which Piazza appears fully nude. For a show that's been generous with its inclusions of female nudity, Piazza's evened things out a bit. "I initially only signed an ass waiver," he laughs, "but I'm happy to have tipped the scale."
Boardwalk Empire premieres Sunday, September 25th, at 9 p.m.
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