Alessandro Nivola

We're catching Alessandro Nivola at a very interesting moment in his career. A day before our talk, he was awarded Best Supporting Actor at the British Independent Film Awards for his incredible performance in “Disobedience,” and a few days before that it was announced that he will star in David Chase's “Sopranos” prequel “The Many Saints of Newark.” He talks about the benefits of having time to prepare for the role of Rabbi Dovid Kuperman and facing the challenge of delivering that important climatic speech. And how, for him, inhabiting a character often starts with the voice. Plus he confesses he stopped auditioning because he was “too scared,” and self-tape changed his career.