Dylan McDermott, the sexy star of The Practice, is making waves as a tough cop on season 2 of TNT's series Dark Blue with new co-star, Tricia Helfer. The actor was surprised to be tapped by producer Jerry Bruckheimer (CSI: New York, Without a Trace) for the job. “Well, Jerry thought of me initially for the role, so I thank him dearly for that," McDermott told Uinterview. "You know, I had known Jerry over the years, and it was his idea to bring me in for the show.”
McDermott's early life was marked by adversity. His mother was shot dead when he was only five, and as a teenager began taking trips to visit his father in New York City’s Greenwich Village. In New York, he decided to model himself after his favorite actors. His father’s third wife, the playwright Eve Ensler (The Vagina Monologues), encouraged him to become an actor. She legally adopted him when he was 15, having since divorced his father. When she had suffered a miscarriage, McDermott took on the name Dylan — the name that was meant for Ensler’s unborn child.
Starring alongside him is Helfer, who plays the love interest for McDermott’s character, Carter, the actor has found a worthy foil. “I think that she's going to challenge [Carter] in ways that I don't think he was actually prepared for,” he told Uinterview. “He’s been — in season one, he was sort of closed down and not willing, and we find him in season two in a garden, which is really a metaphor for him that he is attempting to change, and he is attempting grow, and she is a big part of that.”