The lure of the greasepaint, however, was too strong and Sorvino eventually resumed acting, first in commercials and then in movies. He made his film debut in the riotous comedy "Where's Poppa?" (1970). After achieving notice and garnering a Tony nomination for his turn as the successful businessman Phil Romano in the original Broadway cast of Jason Miller's "That Championship Season" (a role he recreated in the 1982 film version), Sorvino went on to headline several TV series including the CBS sitcom "We'll Get By" (1974-75) and the cop dramas "Bert D'Angelo/Superstar" (ABC, 1976) and "The Oldest Rookie" (CBS, 1987-88). He offered a strong turn as a hearing-impaired, court-appointed attorney hired to defend an illiterate black youth (LeVar Burton) accused of murder in the superior TV drama "Dummy" (CBS, 1979).

Viewers of quality TV will recall the actor as Det. Phil Cerreta on NBC's "Law & Order" during the 1991-1992 season. Sorvino was vocal about how disgruntled he was over the show's grueling schedule and asked to be released, in part to make period appearances at opera companies throughout the USA. In 1997, he portrayed the New York Yankees manager in the Showtime biopic "Joe Torre: Curveballs Along the Way". Sorvino made his TV directing debut with "That Championship Season", a 1999 Showtime film in which he undertook the role of the Coach. The actor continued his association with the network playing Philadelphia mayor Frank Rizzo in the 2000 fact-based drama "The Thin Blue Lie". He returned to series work in the fall of 2000, playing the blue-collar father of a thirty-something woman who returns to college in the CBS drama "That's Life".

In features, Sorvino has usually been cast in ethnic, blue-collar roles and has turned in dependable performances in a number of fine productions, including "Panic in Needle Park" (1971) and "Reds" (1981). He had a rare lead as a newspaper columnist who romances a dying ballerina in "Slow Dancing in the Big City" (1978) and offered perhaps one of his finest turns as mob boss Paul Cicero in Martin Scorsese's acclaimed "GoodFellas" (1990). Sorvino also won acclaim for his dead-on portrayal of Henry Kissinger in Oliver Stone's "Nixon" (1995), as Claire Danes' tyrannical father in "William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet" (1996), and as a platinum-haired lobbyist in "Bulworth" (1998).

Always in demand, Sorvino's career continued apace, with the actor turning in exceptional performances in a wide variety of projects, most notably as the doomed, over-the-hill lounge crooner Buddy Stafford in the much-admired indie comedy-drama "The Cooler" (2003). His other works included the Showtime high school exam scandal telepic "Cheaters" (2000), the familial drama "The Amati Girls" (2000), the obnoxious comedy "See Spot Run" (2001), the generational drama "Ciao America" (2002), the mob-minded telepic "Mafia Doctor" (2003), and the Bernie Mac baseball comedy "Mr. 3000" (2004).