Nicholas Turturro was born on January 29, 1962, in Queens, New York, to Italian-American parents, Katherine (Incerella),a jazz singer, and Nicholas Turturro, a construction worker and carpenter.
He is the youngest of three boys, including famous older brother John Turturro, and grew up in the Rosedale section of Queens.
Turturro attended various Catholic schools and later majored in theater at Adelphi University for two years before leaving to marry Jami Biunno and help raise their child, Erica.
The couple later divorced, and Turturro began working as a doorman at the St. Moritz Hotel in New York City, where he was discovered by Spike Lee and landed a role in his film Do the Right Thing (1989).
Turturro's breakthrough role came when he played a featured role in Lee's Mo' Better Blues (1990),alongside his brother John, and he went on to appear in several more films and TV shows, including NYPD Blue (1993),Law & Order (1990),and The Twilight Zone (1985).
He has also appeared in a number of mob dramas, playing a young Al Capone in one guest appearance and assorted mobster types in other TV-movies.
Turturro has continued to work steadily in film and television, appearing in a range of projects including comedies, dramas, and action thrillers.
On stage, he has appeared in several productions, including "Wild Goose", "The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui" (with John),"Lusting After Popino's Wife", and "Siddown: Conversations With the Mob".
Turturro has been married several times and has a child, Erica, with his first wife Jami Biunno.