Jerry Ferrara is cruising through the 20th anniversary of ‘Entourage.’ In an Escalade, of course

There are plenty of actors who want more than anything to leave the characters that made them famous behind, but Jerry Ferrara is not one of them.

There are plenty of actors who want more than anything to leave the characters that made them famous behind, but Jerry Ferrara is not one of them. Twenty years after the debut of “Entourage,” the man who played Salvatore “Turtle” Assante smiles as he talks to CNN about where he thinks his character – who ended the series becoming pretty successful – might be today. “Even though Turtle ended up being rich, I still think he’s driving Vince around in the Escalade,” Ferrara said. “Like, that’s just who they were. It wasn’t so much, ‘Well, now I have money, I don’t have to drive you.’ Those guys were family.” A beloved family at that. HBO aired the first episode of “Entourage” on July 18, 2004, and the story of up-and-coming actor Vincent Chase – played by Adrian Grenier – navigating new stardom in Los Angeles with the help of his crew of buddies from his native New York felt very meta, given that it shot the cast into the celebrity stratosphere. The core cast of “Entourage” – Grenier, Ferrara, Kevin Connolly, Kevin Dillon and Jeremy Piven – became part of a golden age that helped make HBO (which is owned by CNN’s parent company) a powerhouse network, with critically acclaimed series including “The Sopranos,” “The Wire,” “Six Feet Under,” “Deadwood” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” “Entourage” was loosely based on the life and career of rapper-turned-actor Mark Wahlberg, who served as one of the show’s executive producers.