NEW YOR - A 47-YEAR-OLD actor who starred as the gay firefighter-lover of a closeted mobster on the hit show 'The Sopranos' was found dead of an apparent suicide after family members were unable to reach him.

John Costelloe, who played the hunky short-order cook Johnny Cakes on four episodes of the HBO show, was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound inside his Brooklyn home on Dec 18, said police spokesman Lt John Grimpel.

Costelloe gained a measure of fame in 2006 when he was cast as Jim 'Johnny Cakes' Witowski opposite his longtime friend, actor Joseph Gannascoli, who played gay mob capo Vito Spatafore. -- AP