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Meadow Mariangela Soprano
First appearance	The Sopranos (episode 1.01)
Information
Gender	Female
Age	24
Occupation	Law intern
Family	Tony Soprano (father) Carmela Soprano (mother) Anthony Soprano, Jr. (brother) Johnny Boy Soprano (paternal grandfather) Livia Soprano (paternal grandmother) Hugh De Angelis (maternal grandfather) Mary De Angelis (maternal grandmother) Janice Soprano (aunt) Barbara Soprano Giglione (aunt) Christopher Moltisanti (cousin)
Relationships	Finn DeTrolio (fiancee)
Portrayed by	Jamie-Lynn Sigler
Created by	David Chase

Meadow Mariangela Soprano is a fictional character in the American HBO TV series, The Sopranos. She is played by Jamie-Lynn Sigler.

Meadow is the first-born child of Tony and Carmela Soprano. A highly intelligent, attractive and spirited woman, she attended Columbia University, performed well in her classes and volunteered regularly at the South Bronx Law Center. Since her graduation, Meadow is deciding between a professional career in either law or medicine (either of which would doubtlessly be of use to her father), to her parents' pride.

On the other hand, Meadow is often resentful of her lineage, stemming from a string of failed relationships; first with Noah Tannenbaum, a fellow student of mixed race who met with Tony's racist disapproval, only to leave after his own father seemed concerned with the Soprano family heritage. This was followed by a romance with Jackie Aprile, Jr., the son of Tony's deceased friend and fellow mobster, Jackie Aprile, Sr.. Jackie Junior was no saint; he cheated on Meadow and shot a made man during a botched robbery.

After this incident, Ralph Cifaretto sent hitman Vito Spatafore to get rid of Jackie Jr. As Jackie Jr. was exiting his hiding place, Vito came up behind him and shot him through the back of the head, killing him instantly. This hit was publicized as a drug deal gone bad, a story which Meadow saw through, but has since come to accept, probably for the sake of her close relationship with her family.

Just before his death, Meadow came to realize that Jackie was boorish and unfaithful; nevertheless, she was very distressed by his death, initially blaming Tony for Jackie's involvement with crime and Carmela for standing by and supporting Tony. The irony is that Tony did everything he could to discourage Jackie's criminal aspirations, having promised Jackie Sr. on his deathbed to see that Jackie Jr. stayed away from the mob life.

During her teens, Meadow was both very aware and resentful of her father's criminal enterprise, and her family's complicity in it. However, Meadow has since reconciled herself with them and her attitude now strongly mirrors Tony's own; publicly, she cites her father's position as a 'waste management consultant', and in closer circles rationalises Cosa Nostra as a cultural tradition borne out of discrimination against her ancestors' social and national origins. Her life seems further stabilised by her engagement to a Columbia dental student, Finn DeTrolio, which her father approves.

Meadow is arguably the only "straight" character in the series- she is intelligent, successful, and perceptive like Tony, yet moralistic and compassionate. Unlike her mother and brother, she is independent and not dysfunctional. She is perhaps the only character whose fate isn't dependent and attached to that of the DiMeo Family.

• Sigler was an aspiring singer and only applied for her role in The Sopranos because she believed the show was a musical.

• HBO Profile: Meadow Soprano