Denise Borino-Quinn

Raised in a close knit Italian family, in Roseland, NJ, Borino was the oldest of three children and graduated from West Essex High School (the same high school as David Chase). In 2000, the full-figured, New Jersey native was a part-time manicurist when she attended a "Sopranos" open casting call in Harrison, NJ. But the crowd of 14,000 overwhelmed the local police department and they shut the event down before Borino could audition. Undeterred, she mailed her headshots to "The Sopranos" casting agents. The show's creator, David Chase, just happened to be looking for a plus-size Italian woman with a pretty face to play the role of Ginny. Borino fit the bill, and appeared in more than a dozen episodes of the iconic show. Though she had a recurring role on one of the biggest hits in television history, she kept her day job, continuing to work full-time as an office manager in a New Jersey law firm. She lost 175 pounds after the show went off the air by using stomach stapling surgery, but was still recognized by fans. The 46-year-old actress passed away unexpectedly from liver cancer on Oct. 27, 2010, only seven months after her husband Luke Quinn, Jr. passed away.