Actor Jerry Ferrara admits it was “hard to not geek out” while acting alongside Jamie-Lynn Sigler on Entourage.
“I remember the joke was like, ‘There’s no way Turtle would ever be able to get a girl like Jamie-Lynn,’” Ferrara, 44, told Us Weekly exclusively ahead of the Entourage 20-year anniversary on Thursday, July 18. “I felt like that was just a funny joke because that’s what Entourage is. It’s these extremes. Guys should not be in these circumstances.”
Ferrara played the role of Turtle, the best friend to Adrian Grenier’s Vinny Chase, for all eight seasons of Entourage, which ran on HBO from 2004 to 2011. During the show’s early years, Turtle was the gang’s comedic backbone — who always went for women way out of his league. During the show’s fifth season, Turtle sits next to Sigler on an airplane and the two hit it off. Their in-air hookup becomes a minor plot line before Turtle start’s dating Sigler. (Ferrara and Sigler also dated off camera as well.)
“I knew her a little bit from over the years. I met her in New York, and then she was living in L.A. so we weren’t like best friends,” Ferrara told Us about his relationship with Sigler. “We knew each other, so we were comfortable already. She’s such a good actress and was so down to play this heightened version of herself.”
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Entourage was famously full of celebrity cameos in each episode. Ferrara noted that the ones that “always worked well” were stars who “were willing to either poke fun at themselves or just play this ridiculous version.”
Jamie-Lynn Sigler and Jerry Ferrara in “Entourage” HBO
Sigler “was down for all of it,” he recalled. “It was awesome. Sopranos is my favorite show.”
And yes, he and Sigler are still in touch today — thanks to social media.
For Entourage fans, Turtle’s relationship with Sigler was a major turning point for the character. It also allowed viewers to learn his name for the first time. Up until season 5, Ferrara was only referred to as “Turtle” on screen. However, he disclosed to Sigler that his government name was Sal.
According to Ferarra, the show’s creator and showrunner Doug Ellin made the mystery around Turtle’s real name a “running joke” on set.
“I used to ask him right around season 2 or 3. I’m like, ‘Hey, what’s Turtle’s real name, we ever gonna say?’ And he’s like, ‘We’ll do it season 7,’ or whatever he said,” Ferrara recalled to Us. “I don’t think he thought we’d ever get to a season 7.”
When it came time for Turtle’s real name to be disclosed, Ellin did “one of the coolest things” for Ferrara.
Jerry Ferrara and Jamie-Lynn Sigler in “Entourage” HBO
“I will love the guy forever for it,” the actor told Us. “One of my best friends growing up back in Brooklyn was named Sal. He passed away at a very young age at 23 years old. … Entourage wasn’t the kind of show where you had to detach to become this other person. In my view, was playing a version of my best friend Sal.”
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Ferrara’s late friend was someone who had “this love of life,” he told Us. “He didn’t care what kind of trouble we got in as long as we had fun. That’s what I always felt like Turtle was.”
Ellin knew this about Ferrara.
“He never told me he was doing the episode [when] turtle gets a name. I just got the script one day,” the actor recalled. “I’m reading the script and I got to that part, and I froze. I dropped the script, and I lost my breath because he did that without me really asking and not even telling me. To this day. that is like the most special thing to me and my friends that we grew up with.”
This allowed for a full circle moment with the Sigler story line.
“[It was] really special that it came with her character,” he concluded. “That’s the most vulnerable thing he showed her, so I thought that was really cool.”
With reporting by Sarah Jones