Your character has always thought he’s the smartest man in the room. How is he doing now that Stabler has taken him down? A lot of these gangsters know they’ve got to go to jail; they know that they’re going to do time here and there along the way. So I don’t think he’s surprised. I think he looks at it as temporary, and he will be getting out and be back to business again. When Dick Wolf first approached you about playing the role, what made Richard Wheatley such a delicious character for you to want to play? Several things. I had grown up with these unsavory gangsters as a kid. My mother’s boyfriend was a bank robber, my uncles had dabbled in this and that. I had grown up with my dad in the Village, Little Italy, and had been around when JoeyGallo got killed, and PaulCastellano [was shot dead] at Sparks Steak House. I had waited on these guys as a bartender, as a waiter and as a busboy, so I knew the lay of the land. Also, growing up in New York, there’s a sense of style that you don’t really get in too many places, maybe London and Paris. But in America, New York is the center of style and fashion. I had always watched; I’ve always been a great watcher and observer. So I think that the combination of having grown up that way, the clothes, the look, I think that all fell into place for me. And, certainly, the psychosis of this character being a malignant narcissist, I think all that stuff is really appealing to me. So it was an easy yes because I knew exactly who the guy was. By the time I stepped on set, I was more than ready. The fact that you had that exposure, that makes it so realistic. Sometimes as an actor, if you understand something, you can play it. I think actors get in trouble when they don’t understand something, myself included. If you don’t understand it, you can’t play it. And I think that’s the most important thing. So I understand Richard, and I think that’s why people have responded because when you understand it, people are like, “Oh, my God, this guy.” There’s something about him because that kind of narcissistic charisma is like a virus. People are attracted to it in a strange way, I don’t know why. You think, “This guy’s a bad guy,” but then people like it. It’s so weird. The Law & Order franchise is decades old. Why do you think people keep tuning in? I think that it’s an old friend. There’s something about the ability to turn on Law & Order anywhere in the world and know what you’re going to get. There’s a beginning, middle and end, and I think that’s really comforting for most of the world. There are only a few shows like that where people really feel comforted: Friends, Law & Order and Seinfeld. There’s only a handful of shows in the world where people actually relax into it and feel like they’re at home. What’s it like doing scenes with Chris Meloni? Chris and I speak the same language. We went to the same acting school in New York, the Neighborhood Playhouse. I knew going into it that I would have to be formidable to go up against him. We would talk about the scenes, and we’d go through them beat by beat. You’re sitting out of American Horror Story season 10, but can you think back to season one, what made you say yes to creator Ryan Murphy? It was a brand-new type of show that was really risky at the time. Ryan will attest to this as well. I knew the first time I read the pilot of American Horror Story: Murder House that it was going to be a smash hit. There are only a couple times where I’ve ever had my instinct. The Practice was certainly one of them. My instinct was so huge with that show. And also American Horror Story. It’s only happened a couple times where my instinct was like, “Whoa, I have to do this.” I remember calling up my agent and saying, “Just get me a meeting with Ryan. I want to do this.” And then I sat down with Ryan and that was it. We just were like, “We’re doing this.” And look at it now, it’s 10 years later. Would you do anything he asks? Or would you still veto things? I don’t have to read it; I don’t have to know anything about it. If Ryan asked me to do something, I’ll be there. You have career longevity, which so many actors don’t achieve. Would you attribute that to the ability to reinvent yourself or is it something else? I’m glad you brought that up. There’s an interesting thing that happens and I was keenly aware of it, certainly when I was on The Practice. When you’re a successful actor, the good news is that people get to know you. And the bad news is people get to know you. When I was doing The Practice, I was like, “You know what? I’m going to have to reinvent myself after this show. I don’t know exactly how I’m going to do that, but I’m going to have to. Otherwise, I’m going to fade.” How do you go about that reinvention? I had studied so many different actors along the way and their careers. I was friends with PaulNewman when I was a young man, and I really studied him. So I knew that I had to change, otherwise I wasn’t going to make it. I had done stand-up when I was a kid in New York. I did Catch a Rising Star, I had a show at the Bitter End, and I got thrown out of the Comedy Cellar. I knew that I could be funny, so I wanted to do comedy, but I also wanted to play bad guys. So now I’m in a place where I play funny bad guys. And that’s not an easy thing to do. I found this little niche for myself that is working for me right now. I’m sure I’m going to have to reinvent myself again. But if you’re going to survive in Hollywood, you have to reinvent yourself. You can’t be that same guy over and over again. Because like I said, people get to know you, and they know all your tricks. It’s not cute after a while. I still love acting after all these years. I love the intricacies of it, the minutiae of it. I noticed your daughter Colette is following you into the business. Are you happy about that? Did you give her any advice? I want her to be happy. It’s what makes her happy. You can’t tell people what the business really is because people have to figure it out for themselves. She loves it. I was so happy that Ryan Murphy cast her in Hollywood. We got to be on set together and hang out. Whatever makes her happy, she’s going to find out for herself. It takes a lot of grit to be an actor over the years and to be able to accept rejection. That’s a really hard thing to do, to have that thick skin, like really have it. I hope that she can last the test of the time. How often do people confuse you with actor Dermot Mulroney? We actually have become friends over time. He’s such a wonderful guy. He came on LA to Vegas, and he had the best time ever. We talked about the 30 years of confusion with our careers. And we ultimately decided if we were just one person and had that combined career, we would be so successful. Coming up for you in November is King Richard, the story of Venus and Serena Williams, in which you play a fictional sports agent. I fell in love with the story. I didn’t know the complexity of how Venus and Serena grew up, their father and the passion this man had. These two young women who shook the world of tennis and the man who believed that they could be the greatest tennis players ever—it’s such a phenomenal story. What’s left for you to do? What goals do you still have for yourself? I have a lot. I’m still hungry. I’ve been hungry since I was a teenager when I started taking classes at HB Studio on Bank Street in Greenwich Village. I have that same hunger in place. I want to direct, I want to act, I wrote a script that I want to act and direct in. I want to continue to create characters, I want to continue to work with great directors and writers and do interesting shows. I think I’m going to be that actor that goes out feet-first on the set, because I just love it. It was 20 years between your Emmy nominations: first for The Practice, and then for Hollywood. What was it like to get the second nomination for Ernie, a gas station pimp? Whoa, wow, that was crazy! When you’re a young actor, you think, Oh, the awards and the nominations will just keep coming, and they don’t, and then you wake up to reality. So it was really special after all those years. Next, The 100 Best Criminal Minds Quotes of All Time
