David Stephen Caruso is an American actor and producer.
His most prominent role is the portrayal of Lieutenant Horatio Caine on the TV series
CSI: Miami and as Detective John Kelly on the ABC crime drama NYPD Blue.
He also appeared in movies such as First Blood, Kiss of Death, Jade and Proof of Life.
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 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 as police officers
in the crime films King of New York and Mad Dog and Glory.
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 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, 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, 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 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.
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 is founder of DavidCarusoTelevision.tv
and LexiconDigital.tv, as well as co-owner of Steam on Sunset, a clothing store in South
Miami.
Caruso has a daughter, Greta with his second wife, Rachel Ticotin.
He and former girlfriend Liza Marquez have two children together: a son and a daughter.
In April 2009, Marquez filed papers against Caruso for fraud, breach of their settlement
agreement and emotional distress.
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.
Awards and nominations In 1994 Caruso won Golden Globe Award for
starring in NYPD Blue as Detective John Kelly,for which he was also nominated for a Primetime
Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series.In 2001 he was nominated for
Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Supporting Actor – Suspense for starring
in 2000 film Proof of Life as Dino.
Filmography Film
Television See also
List of people from Miami References
External links David Caruso at the Internet Movie Database
David Caruso at AllMovie David Caruso Bio at CBS - CSI: Miami
Caruso on Twitter