Actor Who Played Gay Man on ’Sopranos’ Commits Suicideby Steve WeinsteinEDGE Editor-In-ChiefThursday Dec 25, 2008
The Brooklyn actor who played Johnny Cakes, a gay fireman who was also the lover of a mob capo on "The Sopranos," apprently killed himself. John Costelloe appears to be the victim of a suicide in his home in the blue-collar Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn. The incident reportedly happened sometime around Dec. 16, according to unofficial police reports.Costelloe had himself served in real life in the New York Fire Department before becoming an actor. A friend told the Post, "I saw him three weeks ago when he stopped by, and he seemed to be in good spirits."Costelloe appeared in four episodes of "The Sopranos" in 2006. He played a short-order cook named Jim "Johnny Cakes" Witowski, who was in loved with Vito Spatafore--played Joseph Gannascoli, real-life friend of Costelloe’s. On the show, Vito is killed by homophobic mobsters. "It still hasn’t really sunk in," Gannascoli told the Post. "I never detected anything troubling about him. I enjoyed all the time I ever spent with him.""Sopranos" actor Steve Buscemi attended the funeral at a local Catholic Church. Buscemi was also a longtime friend of Costelloe’s.Costelloe had been apperaing in an off-off-Broadway play called "Gang of Seven." The show’s playwright told the paper he suspected the actor was bothered by something, but he never explained what it was.EDGE Editor-in-Chief Steve Weinstein has been a regular correspondent for the International Herald Tribune, the Advocate, the Village Voice and Out. He has been covering the AIDS crisis since the early ’80s, when he began his career. He is the author of "The Q Guide to Fire Island" (Alyson, 2007).
The Brooklyn actor who played Johnny Cakes, a gay fireman who was also the lover of a mob capo on "The Sopranos," apprently killed himself. John Costelloe appears to be the victim of a suicide in his home in the blue-collar Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn. The incident reportedly happened sometime around Dec. 16, according to unofficial police reports.Costelloe had himself served in real life in the New York Fire Department before becoming an actor. A friend told the Post, "I saw him three weeks ago when he stopped by, and he seemed to be in good spirits."Costelloe appeared in four episodes of "The Sopranos" in 2006. He played a short-order cook named Jim "Johnny Cakes" Witowski, who was in loved with Vito Spatafore--played Joseph Gannascoli, real-life friend of Costelloe’s. On the show, Vito is killed by homophobic mobsters. "It still hasn’t really sunk in," Gannascoli told the Post. "I never detected anything troubling about him. I enjoyed all the time I ever spent with him.""Sopranos" actor Steve Buscemi attended the funeral at a local Catholic Church. Buscemi was also a longtime friend of Costelloe’s.Costelloe had been apperaing in an off-off-Broadway play called "Gang of Seven." The show’s playwright told the paper he suspected the actor was bothered by something, but he never explained what it was.EDGE Editor-in-Chief Steve Weinstein has been a regular correspondent for the International Herald Tribune, the Advocate, the Village Voice and Out. He has been covering the AIDS crisis since the early ’80s, when he began his career. He is the author of "The Q Guide to Fire Island" (Alyson, 2007).
