David Chase was born on the 22nd August 1945, in Mount Vernon, New York State USA, and is a film and television producer, screenwriter and director best known to the world for creating the cult TV series “The Sopranos”, aired on HBO from 1999 until 2007. David has been an active member of the entertainment industry since the mid- 1970s.
Have you ever wondered how rich David Chase is, as of late 2016? According to authoritative sources, it has been estimated that David`s net worth is as high as $80 million, an amount earned through his successful career in the entertainment industry.
David Chase Net Worth $80 Million
David is of Italian ancestry, since his parents were Italian Americans who were form a working class group of families. David`s childhood was tough, as his parents were hard on him; his father was condescending towards David, while his mother was often nervous about little things, and was never satisfied with David. This led to David being depressed, and having panic attacks while in his teens, a problem he deals with even today, but managing to stay calm. Following high school matriculation, he enrolled at Wake Forest University, located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, but two years later he transferred to New York University, and also attended Stanford University`s School of Film.
His first credit in the entertainment industry came in 1971, as the writer of an episode of the TV series “The Bold Ones: The Lawyers”, while in 1972 he wrote the screenplay for the film “Grave of the Vampire”, which was based on his novel “The Still Life”. Through the 1970s he worked on such TV series as “The Magician” (1974), “Kolchak: The Night Stalker” (1974-1975), and “The Rockford Files” (1976-1979), which certainly increased his net worth, but also launched him further into Hollywood. He wrote his first film – “Off the Minnesota Strip” – in 1980, which won him a Primetime Emmy Award in the category Outstanding Writing in a Limited Series or a Special. Two years later, his next film came out – “Moonlight”, which received positive reviews. In 1988 he created his first series on his own “Almost Grown”, which aired for 10 episodes before it was cancelled. Regardless, his net worth was rising.
The 1990s were quite productive for him, writing two “The Rockford Files”, films “Godfather Knows Best” and “Punishment and Crime”, both in 1996, while in 1999 his “The Sopranos” began airing. The show had 86 episodes in total, and was aired until 2007. For quite some time the show was David`s only engagement, however, after the end he returned to writing, and in 2012 out came his debut feature film “Not Fade Away”, on which he worked as a writer, director and producer as well, which increased his net worth by a large margin.
Currently, David is concentrated on developing a TV Mini-Series – “A Ribbon of Dreams”, which will be aired on HBO, however, the series is still in the process of writing.
Thanks to his skills, David has received several prestigious awards, including six Primetime Emmy Awards, four for “The Sopranos”, one for “The Rockford Files”. Furthermore, he received Writers Guild of America Award, also for “The Sopranos”, while he has four PGA Awards too, including the Lifetime Achievement award.
When it comes to his personal life, David has been married to his high school sweetheart Denise Kelly since 1968; the couple has one child together, actress Michele DeCesare.
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series, Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series, Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series, Movie, or Dramatic Special, Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Dramatic Series, Directors Guild of Americ...
Nominations
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series, Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Episodic Drama, Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album, Edgar Award for Best Television Episode Teleplay, TCA Award for Individual Achievement in Drama
Movies
Not Fade Away, The Rockford Files: Punishment and Crime, Off The Minnesota Strip
[on the final scene of The Sopranos (1999)] He [Tony Soprano] can never be sure that any enemy is completely gone. He always has to have eyes behind his head. He stood more of a chance of getting shot by a rival gang . . . than you or I do because he put himself in that situation. All I know is the end is coming for all of us. That's what I wanted people to believe. That life ends and death comes, but don't stop believing.
2
Network television at that time was nothing but a world of certainties. The Sopranos (1999) was ambiguous to the point where, to this day, I'm not really sure whether it was a drama or a comedy. It can be both, but people like to reduce it to one or the other. I know there are the two masks, Comedy and Drama, hanging together, but that's not the way American audiences seem to break things down.
3
[on James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano] His eyes are very expressive. There's something about him that's very caring, which you see in him no matter what he's doing. There's a sadness there. As cynical, bullying, vulgar and overbearing as he could be, there's still a little boy in there. He did a lot of mean things, and he enjoyed vengeance, but he didn't seem mean. Somewhere he believed that people are good. There were some roads he was not going to go down, because there was no coming back.
4
[on having to eliminate certain characters during The Sopranos (1999) run] I'd call them into my office and tell them how grateful I was for all the work they'd done, and that this was very painful for the show but that the story had to be served. and this is where the story has taken us--rightly or wrongly--for myself and the other writers. And that the writers had thought about it a lot. We didn't do this easily or cheaply. We never fired anyone for dereliction of duty or for being difficult. It was a hard thing to do, but at the same time, I thought to myself, "Well, I'm writing about a guy who's the boss of a Mafia family, and he has to do these things, too".
5
I was picturing Anne Bancroft as Livia, Tony's mother. We must have read 200 women or more. Then somebody suggested Nancy Marchand. She came up the stairs; she was very out of breath. She sat down and did it, and she was channeling--that character is based on my mother, her mannerisms--she was channeling it. She just got it. The other people were playing this Italian mama who was crazy. She was playing some person who's only hearing what's going on in her head--that was the key.
6
[on the conception of The Sopranos (1999)] When I got over there, they asked, "Would you be interested in doing The Godfather (1972) for TV?" I said, "No, it's already been done". But then I started thinking about this idea that I'd had for a feature film, about a mobster in therapy. I told them about it, they sparked to it, and Fox bought it. When I wrote the pilot script for Fox, I had a feeling that this whole thing wasn't going to happen. I knew what network television is like, and this didn't have that feeling. Sure enough, they passed.
7
It's a cold universe, and I don't mean that metaphorically. If you go out into space, it's cold. It's really cold and we don't know what's up there. We happen to be in this little pocket where there's a sun. What have we got except love and each other to guard against all that isolation and loneliness?
8
I wrote many, many, many a script and they never got made. I could not get arrested, as they say. Nothing started to click movie-wise for me. All the scripts were either too dark or too this or that. Their appetite for me didn't get whetted until The Sopranos (1999), and once they see you are someone who can make a billion dollars, they let you do anything. That's all it comes down to.
9
I guess Tony Soprano has his roots in film noir, but the American gangster picture goes back a lot further than that. But in those films there was a moral accounting. In The Sopranos (1999) there is not. I guess what's essential about it is you are still portraying a hero. In American film, the hero is always the smartest guy in the room, he's always got the answer or the plan. We don't make movies about stumble-bums and slackers or lost souls.
10
[on a perceived change in the traditional view of men as heroes] There are people that will tell you the white American male is clinging to, and nostalgic for, his place at the top of the food chain. Maybe it isn't true anymore and that's what we're seeing.
11
Network dramas have not been personal. I don't know very many writers who have been cops, doctors, judges, presidents, or any of that--and, yet, that's what everybody writes about: institutions. The courthouse, the schoolhouse, the precinct house, the White House. Even though it's a Mob show, The Sopranos (1999) is based on members of my family. It's about as personal as you can get.
12
It wasn't something I was really dying to hear, because my response in my head was: I don't give a fuck - I hate television. But I wasn't used to being talked to that way. - on his reaction to Brad Grey's desire to sign him to a television deal.
13
I felt I was out of step with everything. I remember seeing Pretty Woman (1990) on an airplane. Everybody was laughing their heads off. "Ho-ho-ho!" It wasn't funny to me, it wasn't dramatic--it wasn't anything. I thought, "Why don't I just open the door and jump out?"
14
Network television is all talk. I think there should be visuals on a show, some sense of mystery to it, connections that don't add up. I think there should be dreams and music and dead air and stuff that goes nowhere. There should be, God forgive me, a little bit of poetry.
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Fact
1
Livia Soprano's frequently used line "Oh poor You" was something Chase's mother used to say.
2
Based Tony Soprano's experience in psychotherapy for depression and anxiety on his own.
3
Chase named the 'College" episode of _ "The Sopranos (1999)_ as his favorite because of its "self-contained nature". Co-stars James Gandolfini and Jamie-Lynn Sigler agreed it was perhaps their favorite episode as well.
4
Has suffered from severe depression and panic attacks since his teens. His depression was so severe in his first year of college that he often slept for 18 hours a day.
5
He originally wanted to be a professional musician.
6
The character of Livia Soprano is based on his own mother, Norma.
7
Attended Wake Forest University in the mid-'60s. A few of The Sopranos (1999) episodes included references to both Wake Forest's basketball team as well as its location, Winston-Salem, NC.
$80 Million
