Steven Van Zandt says he was ‘very close’ to the late James Gandolfini

TORONTO – It appears the loyal onscreen friendship actor James Gandolfini and rocker Steven Van Zandt portrayed on “The Sopranos” extended into their real lives as well.

In an interview Tuesday to promote the Toronto run of his musical theatre creation “The Rascals: Once Upon a Dream,” Van Zandt said he and the late Gandolfini — who died in June — were “very close.”

“We bonded very much. I think our personalities were similar in that we were both sort of more comfortable being the sideman and character actors and just outside the spotlight, if you will — behind the star or next to the star.

“We both found ourselves, through various times in our lives, in that starring position. And we both got good at it, but we were never quite comfortable with it, and I think that’s something we very much had in common.”

Van Zandt, a member of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, had no acting experience before signing on to the HBO series as Silvio Dante, consigliere to Tony Soprano (Gandolfini).

But Gandolfini served as a “mentor just by being so great,” said the 62-year-old, who now stars as a former gangster in the Netflix series “Lilyhammer.”

“You’d do a scene with him and you’d walk away a better actor. He wasn’t really academic about it, you just watched how he had this inner connection to the words that was just so completely natural.

“He was just one of the greatest actors of all time, and if you want any proof of that, look at any of his movies…. You’re never going to find a bad performance from him. There’s no such thing.”

“The Rascals: Once Upon a Dream” sees the original lineup of the eponymous American soul-rockers performing together for the first time in over 40 years.

The concert/theatre hybrid, which Van Zandt wrote and co-directs, recently sold out on Broadway and runs at Toronto’s Royal Alexandra Theatre from Aug. 13 to Aug. 25.

Van Zandt said he’s been a fan of the foursome behind the hits “Groovin’” and “Good Lovin’” since he saw them perform at a New Jersey roller rink in 1965.

“I didn’t realize it at the time but Bruce was at the same show, actually, and it was one of the very first rock bands either one of us had ever seen. So it was an enormously influential moment in our lives.”