Actor Anthony LaPaglia's memoir recounts abuse, addiction and Hollywood run-ins

Australian-born actor Anthony LaPaglia, known for the TV series Without a Trace and Frasier and the films Empire Records and Lantana, has published a memoir titled The Life We Choose. The Guardian describes it as unusual among celebrity memoirs for combining Hollywood gossip with personal reflection.

Childhood and addiction

LaPaglia grew up in Adelaide, South Australia, where he says he was abused by his father, Egidio. He still dislikes the city, writing that even as a schoolboy he feared he would never be happy unless he left. Before moving to the US he worked as a shoe salesman; he later built a career on Broadway and in Hollywood.

He first tried drugs in 1993 while filming in San Francisco and became addicted to cocaine. He never went to rehab, but says he eventually quit because he "couldn't live with the stupidity".

Missed roles and conflicts

In 1996, writer-producer David Chase reportedly approached him with the pilot of The Sopranos, saying he had LaPaglia in mind for Tony Soprano. LaPaglia tried to persuade then-CBS chief executive Les Moonves to take the show, but Moonves thought it too racy for network television. By the time HBO picked it up, LaPaglia had committed to the Broadway production of A View from the Bridge, and James Gandolfini got the part.

In 2011 he turned down a role in Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained because he had promised to make Underground, an Australian made-for-TV film. He says Tarantino was furious and hung up on him. Django Unchained earned $450 million worldwide.

LaPaglia also writes about a difficult shoot with director John Landis on the 1992 film Innocent Blood, and about confronting producer Harvey Weinstein after a girlfriend told him of an incident with him.

Finances

LaPaglia now lives in a rented apartment in Santa Monica. He says his properties and cars have been sold and that he is "pretty much broke" after three divorces and a failure to manage his finances.