Marianne Leone Cooper is a film and television actor, screenwriter, and essayist. She is best known for her longest-running recurring role as Christopher Moltisanti's mother on "The Sopranos." Leone's essays have appeared in The Boston Globe and in the anthology "Knitting Yarns: Writers on Knitting." Her first book, "Knowing Jesse: A Mother's Story of Grief, Grace, and Everyday Bliss," was published in 2010. Her second book, "Ma Speaks Up: And a First-Generation Daughter Talks Back," was published in 2017.