Michael Imperioli shared a touching message to his The Sopranos co-star James Gandolfini on the 11th anniversary of his death.
"Dear Jim, thinking of you today as now you’ve been gone 11 years. And your absence feels as strange, sudden and not real as it did on that terrible day 11 years ago," he wrote on Instagram alongside a picture of them together. "Today I was thinking about when I came backstage after seeing you on Broadway in God of Carnage. This was 2 years after The Sopranos ended. You were so happy doing a play again after so many years away from the stage. You told me 'I feel like a real actor again.' Now I know what you meant by that as the show I’m doing approaches its 130th performance! Wish you could see it."
Imperioli and Gandolfini starred opposite each other in all six seasons of HBO's iconic gangster drama series. Prior to his acting career in various TV shows and movies, Gandolfini got his start in theatre with roles in stage adaptations of A Streetcar Named Desire and On the Waterfront. His last play was God of Carnage in 2009, four years before he died of a heart attack at the age of 51. Imperioli, meanwhile, just made his stage debut this year with An Enemy of the People on Broadway.
"As the years go by I grow more proud of the work we did together," Imperioli continued. "And the memories of all the fun we had and all the laughs grow more and more precious. Wish we could make another run. Perhaps we will. Thank you again dear friend. Miss you. Love Michael."
Galdolfini died of a heart attack in 2013 while vacationing in Italy.
Last year, Imperioli made headlines after he mocked the Supreme Court's decision to defend the right of a web designer who refused to do a website for a gay wedding.
"I've decided to forbid bigots and homophobes from watching The Sopranos, The White Lotus, Goodfellas, or any movie or TV show I've been in," the Emmy winner wrote. "Thank you, Supreme Court, for allowing me to discriminate and exclude those who I don't agree with and am opposed to. USA! USA!"
