This actor’s favorite role? Houston Cougars fanatic

Lou Martini Jr. won’t be in Indianapolis for the Final Four on Saturday when Houston takes on Baylor. He returned home to Brooklyn after the Elite Eight for a rehearsal Saturday and a walk-through Monday.

He begins shooting a sitcom pilot in Stamford on Tuesday, along with Jason Mewes. It’s called “The Undesirables,” about people stuck in purgatory. Martini plays St. Peter. From purgatory or Brooklyn or wherever, you can bet he will be watching the Final Four.

“I’ll give you a little trivia,” Martini said. “I’m the only actor to have a speaking part in ‘The Godfather’ and ‘The ‘Sopranos.’ ”

Dominic Chianese did play Johnny Ola in “The Godfather: Part II” and Junior Soprano, but, yes, Lou made a brief appearance as Tom Hagen’s son Frank running past the wedding cake saying some kid stuff during the open

ing scenes of “The Godfather.”

My wife and brother-inlaw Ed have known Lou since they were 5 and 6 growing up in Sunnyside, Queens. They call him Louie. We were in Ed’s wedding party. I call him a force of nature.

How many people do you know that was a Houston Astros batboy, fought 14 amateur boxing matches, was fired from the set of “Funny Girl” for poking fun at Barbra Streisand and, at last count, appeared in 17 episodes as a dozen different characters in the Law & Order family of shows? This year he has settled in as defense lawyer Ron Freddo. And, oh yeah, had the recurring role of an optometrist that Tony Soprano called “The Lord of the Lenses.”

Lou Martini Jr.? He likes to be known as a University of Houston fanatic. This week he is basking in the Cougars’ first Final Four since 1984.

I needed to talk to him. Not to get a message to Johnny Sacrimoni in prison. Because UConn fans always seem to be dumping on the American Athletic Conference and its member schools and he might have a message for them.

“UConn? They’re OK,” Martini said. “The women’s basketball team really carries the school. Nice to see the men’s team is better. They had a down period.” Nicely understated, Lou. Phi Slama Jama poster, football helmets, Martini’s man cave has enough Cougars stuff to fill half the Astrodome. When he was a communications major at Houston in the early ’80s, he attended two of the school’s three Final Fours. Point guard Reid Gettys was his fraternity brother.

He has been an honorary captain at a Houston football game and part of the pregame coin flip. Through the school, he threw out the first pitch at an Astros game. He knows Jim Nantz, the voice of CBS’ March

Madness and a Houston graduate. “One year ahead of me,” Lou says. He texts a picture of the two. He has become good friends with Kelvin Sampson’s daughter Lauren.

Martini was at the Houston-UConn game at the XL Center in 2019 and the one at Gampel Pavilion last year. He was at Rentschler Field in 2015 and bemoans the 20-17 upset UConn pulled to ruin an otherwise perfect season that ended with a bowl victory over Florida State.

“Greg Ward was hurt,” Lou says, “Otherwise we’re 14-0.”

So it was no surprise Martini was at Lucas Oil Stadium on Monday for the Elite Eight win over Oregon State.

“It was awesome,” Martini said. “But it was really strange with the building being so big and so empty. Cavernous, man. We did have 600-700 (Houston people) there.

“I thought our team last year and the year before was the hardest-working basketball team I’ve ever seen. This team again will run through a wall for Coach Sampson. They LOVE to play defense. They love to rebound. Shooting comes third. When we do hit shots, when Quentin Grimes and (Marcus) Sasser are both on, that’s when we blow teams out.”

Houston is a five-point underdog against Baylor.

“I like our chances. I do think Baylor is the more talented team, but if we shoot well, we’ll be in it.”

Martini was out at Shea Stadium getting autographs one night when he was a kid. Slick Johnson, promotions director for the Astros, asked him if he was an Astros fan. He was. The uniforms attracted Louie. Slick sent him a box full of baseballs and pictures. They kept in touch.

In the summer of 1976, Slick asked Lou’s mom if he could be a batboy for a couple of months. He had a blast. When it came time for college, Lou wanted to major in communications and become a sportscaster. With his own dad passed,

he had a father figure there who helped take care of him. Houston was a nobrainer, he said.

When he graduated in 1984, he had a chance to work at a radio station in Pikeville, in rural, far eastern Kentucky.

“I was like, ‘Do I want to start my broadcasting career at some 20-watt radio station or go back to New York, get my picture and résumé made up and go back into acting?’ ” he said. “I knew I’d struggle either way. At least, in New York, I had a support system with family and friends.”

He had been a child actor. He found a paycheck from 1964. He was 3. He doesn’t remember what he did. He does remember “Funny Girl” four years later.

“They were shooting a scene in a train station,” he said. “I was standing around, probably just being a kid and Barbra Streisand looked over and said, ‘Somebody shut that kid up.’ I said, ‘Oh, go fix your nose.’ I don’t know why it came out of my mouth. Next thing I knew I’m getting yelled at. My father and mom were getting yelled at. Anne Francis, a famous actress, took me aside. I was crying. I was scared. She said no matter how rude (Streisand) was, I shouldn’t say things like that. She was really nice.”

Al Pacino is his hero. He was on “Hunters,” but didn’t do a scene with him. He did get a photo together. Over the years, there have been so many roles, so many more auditions. That’s the business. He auditioned 13 times for different parts on “The Sopranos.” He came close to getting the role of Little Carmine, but it went to his friend Ray Abruzzo.

“Being on the set of ‘Sopranos’ was like being home,” Martini said. “All the Italian actors around New York knew each other from working on different projects.”

One he didn’t know was James Gandolfini. Tony Soprano. And most of his scenes were with him and Vincent Curatola, who

played his brother-in-law Johnny Sack.

“Jimmy was the most generous actor,” Martini said. “One of the first nights I worked, it’s like 9, 9:30. The crew had been there all day. They wanted to go home. It started to rain and we’re shooting outside. The last shots of the night were my closeups with Jimmy. I wasn’t really happy with what I did. I wanted to do another one or two. But being the new kid, I didn’t want to ask. He picked up in it. He turned to the director and said, ‘You know what? I want to try something.’ I got the closeup I wanted. He took the hit for me.

“He was really funny. He could be quiet, too. But when they said ‘Rolling,’ everything about him changed. His posture, his breathing pattern, his eyes would go back in his head a little. I’m not sure people appreciate what a great actor he was. People think Jimmy was Tony. Completely different person. To see that transformation right in front of me was amazing.”

“Sopranos” fans are rabid. Some know all the lines. Martini and his girlfriend, Liz, were going home from an Islanders game at Barclays Center one night. They were waiting for the train on the Atlantic Avenue platform when some guy comes up to Martini and whispers in his ear, “The coffee with the chicory.”

“We had Islanders jerseys on and hats, I’m surprised he even recognized me, let alone knew the line,” Martini said.

Martini’s character served as a back-channel contact between Tony and Johnny Sack. Anthony Infante was no gangster. He sold eyeglasses. When he visited prison and awkwardly tried to deliver a message in code from Tony (the coffee with the chicory), a baffled Johnny Sack roared, “Da (f-bomb) is that?”

It was classic.