David Caruso Biography

David Stephen Caruso (born January 7, 1956) is an American actor and producer. His most prominent role is the portrayal of Lieutenant Horatio Caine on the TV series CSI: Miami. He has also appeared as Detective John Kelly on the ABC crime drama NYPD Blue.

Early life

Caruso was born in Forest Hills Gardens, Queens, New York, New York, the son of Joan, a librarian, and Charles Caruso, a magazine and newspaper editor. He is of Irish and Italian (Sicilian) descent. His father left when he was two years of age, forcing him to "end up fathering myself", as he put it. Raised as a Roman Catholic, Caruso attended Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Catholic School in Forest Hills. He later attended Archbishop Molloy High School in nearby Briarwood, graduating in 1974.

Caruso worked as a cinema usher, where he would see up to eighty movies a week. He said that he and his coworkers would act out scenes from some of these movies while they were at the back of the theater. It was in this job he found his role models in Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney and Edward G Robinson. He said:

The ethics of certain actors certainly had a power over me. These guys taught me how to be what I call a stand up kind of guy.

Career

1980s

His first film appearance was in the 1980 film Getting Wasted as Danny. Caruso then spent most of the next decade in film supporting roles, appearing in such films as First Blood, An Officer and a Gentleman, Blue City, Thief of Hearts and China Girl. Caruso credits his role as Daniels, "the cadet who nearly drowned", in An Officer and a Gentleman as what got him noticed. Caruso also appeared in Twins. On television, he had a recurring role as Tommy Mann, the leader of the street gang The Shamrocks on Hill Street Blues in the early 1980s. He made a two-episode appearance on the television series Crime Story which ran from 1986 to 1988 on NBC. In 1984, Caruso portrayed U.S. Olympian James Brendan Connolly in the NBC miniseries The First Olympics: Athens, 1896.

1990s

Caruso had supporting roles in the crime films King of New York (1990) and Mad Dog and Glory (1992). While filming 1991's Hudson Hawk, Caruso employed method acting, refusing to talk to anyone on set because his character, Kit-Kat, was mute, having had his tongue bitten off.

Caruso's first major role was in 1993 as Detective John Kelly on the series NYPD Blue, for which Caruso won a Golden Globe Award. TV Guide named Caruso as one of the six new stars to watch in the 1993"94 season. He made news by leaving the highly rated show the following year (only four episodes into the second season) after failing to obtain the raise he wanted. He was unable to establish himself as a leading-man in films despite starring in the crime thriller Kiss of Death, which was critically well-received but did not perform well financially. He also appeared in Jade (1995), which flopped critically and at the box office. In a 2010 issue of TV Guide, Caruso's decision to leave NYPD Blue was ranked #6 on a list of TV's 10 biggest "blunders". In the first episode of South Park, ("Cartman Gets an Anal Probe") Kyle tells his brother Ike to "do your impersonation of David Caruso's career" to get Ike to jump out of a spaceship.

In 1997, Caruso returned to television as a New York City-based federal prosecutor in the short-lived CBS law drama series, Michael Hayes, which aired for one season.

2000s

Caruso returned to film with a supporting role as Russell Crowe's mercenary associate in the film Proof of Life in 2000. In 2001, he had a lead role in the cult psychological horror film Session 9.

From 2002 to 2012, he has starred as Lieutenant Horatio Caine in the popular CSI spin-off series CSI: Miami. He was the first actor in the franchise to appear as the same character on all three CSI programs. On CSI: Miami, Caruso is known for frequently using one-liners at the beginning of each episode. Many of these include him putting on his trademark sunglasses mid-sentence, then walking off-screen just as the main theme starts (finishing move). On an episode of the Late Show with David Letterman that aired on March 8, 2007, comedian Jim Carrey professed to being a fan of the show and went on to satirically impersonate Caruso. Carrey asked for an "intense close-up" from the camera, spoke in a deep voice and put sunglasses on. Caruso later said in an interview with CBS that he was impressed with the impersonation.

Personal life

Caruso has a daughter, Greta (born June 1, 1984), with his second wife, Rachel Ticotin. He and former girlfriend Liza Marquez have two children together: a son and daughter. In April 2009, Marquez filed papers against Caruso.

In March 2009, an Austrian woman was placed in custody in Tyrol, Austria, on charges of stalking Caruso; she had twice failed to appear in court to answer the charges before fleeing to Mexico; following her deportation from Mexico, Austrian officials took her into custody to await trial on the stalking charges.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1980	Getting Wasted	Danny
1980	Without Warning	Tom
1982	An Officer and a Gentleman	Tooper Daniels
1982	First Blood	Deputy Mitch
1984	Thief of Hearts	Buddy Calamara
1986	Blue City	Joey Rayford
1987	China Girl	Mercury
1988	Twins	Al Greco
1990	King of New York	Dennis Gilley
1990	Rainbow Drive	Larry Hammond	Television movie
1991	Hudson Hawk	Kit Kat
1991	Mission of the Shark: The Saga of the U.S.S. Indianapolis	Wilkes	Television movie
1993	Mad Dog and Glory	Mike
1995	Kiss of Death	Jimmy Kilmartin	Nominated"?Golden Raspberry Award for Worst New Star
1995	Jade	David Corelli	Nominated"?Golden Raspberry Award for Worst New Star
1998	Body Count	Hobbs
2000	Proof of Life	Dino	Nominated"?Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Supporting Actor " Suspense
2001	Session 9	Phil
2001	Black Point	John Hawkins

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1981-1983	Hill Street Blues	Shamrock Leader Tommy Mann	8 episodes
1983	T. J. Hooker	Jennings	Episode: "Requiem for a Cop"
1984	The First Olympics: Athens, 1896	James Connolly	Episode: "Part 1"
1986-1988	Crime Story	Johnny O'Donnell	2 episodes
1990	Help	Frank Sordoni	6 episodes
1993-1994	NYPD Blue	John Kelly	26 episodes Golden Globe Award for Best Actor " Television Series Drama Nominated"?Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
1997-1998	Michael Hayes	Michael Hayes	21 episodes
2002-2012	CSI: Miami	Horatio Caine	232 episodes
2002-2009	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Horatio Caine	2 episodes
2005	CSI: NY	Horatio Caine	Episode: "Manhattan Manhunt"