Alvin Soprano, born Alvin Soprano Romanov on May 16, 1994, in Istanbul, Turkey, is a multidisciplinary artist working in machinima filmmaking, writing, directing, producing, acting, and modeling. Raised between Istanbul, Rome, and Moscow, she grew up immersed in a diverse cultural environment shaped by her mother Nourshen — of Mongolian Armenian heritage — and her father Egor, who is of Russian Italian descent. This blend of influences is reflected in the varied styles and themes present throughout her work.
Her earliest connection to horror came at the age of five, when she first encountered the television series Freddy’s Nightmares. The character of Freddy Krueger, with his mix of menace and sardonic humor, left a lasting impression that became central to her creative direction. Over the years, Soprano developed a distinct style in machinima that combines horror with absurdism, often featuring deliberately awkward animations, surreal character interactions, and unconventional humor.
Soprano’s creative process is largely intuitive, favoring organic development over rigid planning. Projects may remain in development for extended periods before she feels they are ready to be produced. She places emphasis on narrative writing and scene visualization, while also taking an active role in transforming her scripts into animated form through game engines such as The Sims, Fallout, Saints Row, and Grand Theft Auto.
Her machinima career began on March 27, 2007, with the launch of her first YouTube channel, Soprano Productions. Over the following years, she produced 17 machinima films before deleting the channel on September 28, 2013. She returned to YouTube on June 28, 2017, with a collaborative channel alongside Aylin Baykal, where they created eight machinimas before the channel was deleted by the duo on October 3, 2018. Soprano launched her current YouTube channel on December 4, 2019. After removing her content on March 21, 2021, she returned on December 13, 2024, and has been active since.
Over the years, she has collaborated with close friends including music composer Jakob Chambers and film co-editor Matthew Gordon, connections formed through Aylin Baykal. The group’s shared background in early internet horror and gaming communities informed much of their collaborative work.
Beyond machinima, Soprano maintained a horror-focused vlog from 2007 to 2011 and again from 2014 to 2019, producing over two hundred videos featuring creepypasta readings and online horror analysis. She also created several live-action short films during her time in film school, occasionally appearing as an actress. Since 2009, she has worked as a professional petite model in both runway and print campaigns, a career she keeps distinct from her filmmaking.
In addition to her film and modeling work, Soprano engages in photography, sketching, and traditional painting, incorporating elements of these practices into her visual storytelling. She continues to explore the machinima medium while advocating for its recognition as a complex and legitimate form of filmmaking.