(born '''David DeCesare'''—although some sources list his birth name as '''David Del Cesare'''—
August 22 ,
1945 ) is an
American Screenwriter ,
Director , and
Producer best known as the creator and head writer of the highly acclaimed
HBO series ''
The Sopranos .''
An only-child, David Chase was born to Henry and Norma DeCesare in ,
2007 . Chase claims his father was an angry man who belittled him constantly as a child and his mother was a "passive-aggressive drama queen" and "a nervous woman who dominated any situation she was in by being so needy and always on the verge of hysteria. One of his characters on the
HBO original series
The Sopranos ,
Livia Soprano is based on his own mother. You walked on eggshells." Chase struggled with depression as a teenager. He graduated from high school in 1964 and attended
Wake Forest University in
Winston-Salem, North Carolina , where his depression worsened. "I slept 18 hours a day," Chase later stated. He described his problems as "what's come to be known as normal, nagging, clinical depression. It was awful." He also worked as
Drummer during this period, and held aspirations of being a professional musician. After two years, he transferred to
New York University (NYU), where he announced his decision to pursue a career in film, a decision which was not well-received by his parents.
Before creating and developing ''The Sopranos'', Chase produced episodes of '',
1999 , accessed
May 8 ,
2007 . In a recent interview Chase stated that he experienced frustration for a long period with being unable to break out of the TV genre and into film over this time. In 2005, Chase received a Special
Edgar Award from the
Mystery Writers Of America for his entire body of work.
His first original created series was '' (November 12, 2000) ''Pipline.'' Section: TV Journal; Page 32.
After graduating from NYU in 1968 Chase moved to
California and married his high school sweetheart
Denise Kelly . Their daughter Michele DeCesare plays the character Hunter Scangarelo on ''The Sopranos''.
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