Edie Falco says acting with James Gandolfini on 'The Sopranos' was like 'two kids playing in the sandbox'

• Edie Falco said acting opposite James Gandolfini was like "two kids playing in the sandbox."
• Falco played Carmela, the wife of Gandolfini's character Tony, on HBO's "The Sopranos."

Edie Falco said acting with her "Sopranos" costar James Gandolfini was like "two kids playing in the sandbox."

During her recent interview with The New Yorker, Falco said that she and Gandolfini, who died in 2013, came from similar backgrounds.

"I don't know how to explain this. We were just really regular middle-class, suburban kids that were never supposed to become famous actors," the "Nurse Jackie" star said.

"My interpretation is that the whole time, he was, like, 'What the hell is going on?,'" Falco recalled. "I remember, when we got picked up for the second season, he said to me, 'Yeah, well, I just have no idea what the hell we did, but we've got to try to do it again.' And I said, 'I hear you. I don't know. We'll figure something out.'"

The award-winning actress had nothing but praise for her former costar Gandolfini, and even called him her acting "soul mate."

"He was totally un-actor-y, and was incredibly self-deprecating, and he was a real soul mate in that regard," she said.

"We did not spend a lot of time talking about the scripts," Falco added. "It was like when you see two kids playing in the sandbox, completely immersed in their imaginary world. That's what it felt like acting opposite Jim [Gandolfini]."

Gandolfini's most famous role was as Tony on HBO's "The Sopranos." Falco starred as his long-suffering wife, Carmela.

Following the success of "The Sopranos," Falco went on to star on "Nurse Jackie," about a talented ER nurse dealing with addiction. She received her fourth Emmy award in 2010 for her role on the dark comedy.

Gandolfini's son Michael recently reprised his late father's role in "The Many Saints of Newark," the "Sopranos" prequel film currently streaming on HBO Max.