Lady Gaga has made one of the most successful musician-to-actress transitions ever. She’s won 12 Grammys, sold tens of millions of albums worldwide, and released five Billboard Hot 100-topping singles, and she’s also won an Oscar (Best Original Song for “Shallow”) and been nominated for another (Best Actress). But back in 2001, Lady Gaga wasn’t Lady Gaga; she was Girl at Swimming Pool #2 on The Sopranos.
Gaga, born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, makes an uncredited appearance as one of AJ’s dirtbag friends in “The Telltale Moozadell,” a season three episode of the HBO series. “When I look back on that scene I can see exactly what I did wrong in that scene,” Gaga told Entertainment Weekly. “I didn’t know how to listen in a scene! I was supposed to laugh, and it was sort of like, cue, laugh… I see it and I go, oh, that’s not a real laugh!” The House of Gucci star said that she’s “grown a lot as an actor” since then (even if her Italian accent could maybe use some work).
The Sopranos isn’t the only “wait, is that Lady Gaga…?” cameo, either. She appeared in the MTV reality show Boiling Points (featuring the world’s most obnoxiously mid-2000s voiceover guy) and she was also on The Hills, where she’s memorably referred to as “some girl named Lady Gaga.” Now she’s winning Oscars and Grammys.
Here’s The Sopranos clip:
(Via Entertainment Weekly)