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Shepherd was born Suzanne Stern on October 31, 1934, and began her acting career with stage roles. Shepherd wouldn’t make her film debut until 1988’s Mystic Pizza, in which she played Aunt Tweedy, the aunt of Julia Robert’s character. In 1990, she went on to play Karen Hill, the mother of Lorraine Bracco’s Karen in Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas. She also appeared in 1997’s Lolita and 2000’s Requiem for a Dream with her last noted film role being that of Tess in 2023’s The Performance.
Shepherd also had a notable television career as well, making appearances on Law & Order and Blue Bloods among many other credits. Her most notable television role was that of Mary DeAngelis on The Sopranos. Shepherd appeared in 20 episodes of the series between 2000 and 2007. Her The Sopranos co-star Ray Abruzzo, who played Little Carmine Lupertazzi, took to Instagram to remember Shepherd as a “force of nature”.
“Sad to hear of the passing of Suzanne Shepherd,” he wrote. “A force of nature. Actress, teacher. Played Carmella’s mother on Sopranos and Karen’s mother in Goodfellas.”
In addition to her acting roles, Shepherd was also an acting coach in New York for more than four decades and also directed at theaters nationwide. She has an upcoming documentary, A Gift of Fire, about her work teaching.
