Sopranos star becomes Desperate

De Matteo starred in five series of The Sopranos

Former Sopranos star Drea De Matteo is to join the cast of Desperate Housewives for its sixth series.

No information has been released about her character, but EW.com reports she will play an Italian matriarch whose husband is a landscape designer.

The 37-year-old Italian-American actress also played Matt LeBlanc's sister in the Friends spin-off Joey.

De Matteo recently got engaged to country music singer Shooter Jennings. The couple have a young daughter.

Her breakout role was as Adriana La Cerva in The Sopranos.

She was a girlfriend and fiancee of Tony Soprano's protege, Christopher Moltisanti before becoming an FBI informant.

In the last series of Desperate Housewives, one of the original characters, Edie, played by Nicollette Sheridan, was killed off.