Many people wonder if John Ventimiglia, the actor who played Artie Bucco on The Sopranos, is related to Milo Ventimiglia, the star of This Is Us and Gilmore Girls. They share the same last name, which is of Italian origin, but are they from the same family?
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The answer is no
According to various sources, John and Milo Ventimiglia are not related in real life. The two actors share the same surname but they don’t come from the same family.
Milo’s father Peter Ventimiglia has Italian and Sicilian heritage, while his mother Carol Wilson is of English-Scottish descent. The This Is Us actor was born in 1977 in Anaheim, California and grew up with two older sisters, named Leslie and Laurel.
John’s ancestry is not clear, but he was born in 1963 in Queens, New York. He has two children with his wife Melinda Ventimiglia. He is best known for his role as Artie Bucco, the chef and owner of Vesuvio restaurant on The Sopranos. He also had a recurring role as Dino Arbogast, an organized crime control Bureau Chief of the NYPD on Blue Bloods.
The coincidence of their surname
Ventimiglia is a common surname in Italy, especially in the regions of Liguria, Piedmont and Sicily. It means “from Ventimiglia”, a town on the border between Italy and France. The name derives from the Latin Vintimilium, which means “twenty thousand”, referring to the distance from Rome.
There are many other famous people with the surname Ventimiglia, such as:
- Grace Kelly’s grandfather John B. Kelly Sr., whose mother was Margaret Majer Ventimiglia
- Italian politician and journalist Claudio Scajola, whose birth name was Claudio Ventimiglia
- Italian singer-songwriter Ivano Fossati, whose mother was Anna Ventimiglia
- Italian footballer Marco Verratti, whose maternal grandmother was Maria Ventimiglia
- Italian actress Valeria Solarino, whose mother was Maria Ventimiglia
The tragedy of John Ventimiglia’s daughter
In January 2023, John Ventimiglia’s daughter Odele Cape died at the age of 25. Her mother Belinda Cape confirmed the news on Facebook and wrote: “Heartbroken to have to post our darling Odele’s funeral notice.” She added: “Her sister Lucinda and I have been overwhelmed by the messages of support and love we have received, and your remembrances of how cherished Odele was to so many. Odele was greatly loved, and leaves a huge hole in our lives.”
Odele’s funeral was held on January 26 at Brooklyn’s Old First Reformed Church. A cause of death has not been revealed to the public or media at this time.
A GoFundMe page was created for Odele’s daughter Shiloh to help with future education costs. Among those who donated were John’s former co-star Steven Van Zandt and his wife Maureen.
Tributes poured in for Odele on Twitter from Sopranos fans and the wider community. The Sopranos Club wrote: “It is so awful to read this. The Sopranos Club sends all our love to John and his family.”
Conclusion
John and Milo Ventimiglia are not related by blood or marriage. They are both successful actors who happen to share a common Italian surname. While Milo continues to star on This Is Us, John mourns the loss of his daughter Odele.