NEED TO KNOW
Jerry Ferrara is revealing the heartwarming reason his Entourage character Turtle’s real name was Salvatore Assante.
In an Instagram post shared on Tuesday, June 24, Ferrara, 45, wrote, “Ever wonder why in Entourage Turtles real name was Salvatore Assante??? That was the name of one of my great friends growing up in Brooklyn.”
The actor then revealed, “He passed away far too young at 23. He was the best. He for sure influenced the way I played turtle. I’m a lot more shy than the character.”
Jerry Ferrara/Instagram
He recounted memories of time he spent with his childhood friend. “But my friend Sal was never shy and always the life of the party,” Ferrara shared. “He never cared if we got in trouble as long as we had fun and laughed. And he had the best laugh ever.”
Jerry Ferrara/Instagram
To conclude, Ferrara quipped, “I think about him all the time and I hope he’s up in heaven laughing that somehow I got @mrdougellin to name a HBO character after him. Love you Sally Bots.”
Entourage aired on HBO from 2004 to 2011. The show followed a group of childhood friends from Queens, N.Y., as they moved to Los Angeles to support the burgeoning career of their movie star friend Vincent “Vince” Chase (Adrien Grenier).
Emmanuelle Chriqui, who played Sloan McQuewick, the on-and-off girlfriend of Vince’s manager Eric Murphy (Kevin Connolly), left a sweet comment on Ferrara’s post. “Awww wow.. I didn’t know this. What a great way to honor your friend Jer ❤️🙏🏽,” the actress, 49, wrote.
The Sopranos alum Jamie-Lynn Sigler commented two heart emojis in support of Ferrara sharing the late Assante’s story.
Another Instagram user wrote, “That’s beautiful. If he inspired that character he was a Lovelace guy with a forever chill and friendly personality. He totally deserved a great tv character in his honor and you nailed it.”
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Speaking exclusively with PEOPLE in 2024, Ferrara and Kevin Dillon, who played Johnny “Drama” Chase in Entourage, teased a reboot of the show. “Hell yeah, I would,” Dillon said. “I love that show so much. It was so much fun to do. The characters were so fun. I mean, we’ve been talking about doing a reboot for a long time and I know everyone would love to do it.”
“It just hasn’t happened for some reason and hopefully someday, maybe it can happen, you know,” he continued. Dillon added that a spinoff is “not a bad call,” either, but he would “really love to see a reboot.”
Ferrara agreed and said, “It’s one of those things where, especially now being a little older you say yes, because of the fun of it all and the nostalgia of it all too.”
