David Proval

David Proval is an American actor born on May 20, 1942, in Brooklyn, New York, into a Jewish family. His mother, Clara Katz, was an actress originally from Bucharest, Romania.

Proval built a substantial screen career across film and television over several decades. His earliest notable film role came in 1973, when he played Tony DeVienazo in Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets. In 1977, his voice appeared in the animated film Wizards, in which he portrayed the robot assassin Necron 99. His film work continued to expand through subsequent decades, with appearances in UHF, Innocent Blood, The Monster Squad, The Phantom, Mob Queen, Bookies, and Balls of Fury, as well as cameos in The Brady Bunch Movie and Smokin' Aces. Among his most recognized film credits are the roles of Snooze in The Shawshank Redemption (1994) and Siegfried in Four Rooms (1995). In 2004, he took on the dual role of adult twin brothers James and Edward Talley in the Hallmark Channel film Murder Without Conviction.

On television, Proval is perhaps best known for portraying Richie Aprile on the HBO series The Sopranos, a role he held from 1999 to 2007. He also appeared in recurring capacities on Picket Fences, Boomtown, and Everybody Loves Raymond, and had individual appearances on Kojak, The Equalizer, Miami Vice, and Friday the 13th: The Series. He appeared in the fourteenth episode of The West Wing, "Take This Sabbath Day," as Toby Ziegler's rabbi.

On Broadway, Proval appeared in 1985 in Requiem for a Heavyweight, a credit that earned him a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play.