Steve Schirripa said that landing the role as Bobby Baccalieri on “The Sopranos” was like “hitting the lottery — twice.” Over the past few years, the actor, who was born in Brooklyn and grew up on welfare, has gone from wiseguy to good guy as a regular on the popular CBS series “Blue Bloods,” in which he plays an investigator for a district attorney. After graduating from Brooklyn College with a teaching degree, he moved to Las Vegas and worked several jobs in the service industry.

He was a bouncer at Paul Anka’s disco, Jubilation (which later became the Shark Club), and a mâitre d’ at the Riviera hotel before becoming the entertainment director there in 1986. Later, he owned his own talent agency in Las Vegas. Mr. Schirripa, 60, now lives in Manhattan with his wife, Laura, 55. They have two daughters, Bria, 26, and Ciara, 22.