By LOUISA CLEAVE
American actor Bobby Cannavale grew up among the emergency service workers in his rough New Jersey neighbourhood.
He would hang out with the firefighters, washing their trucks and playing "stick ball," but unlike most little boys did not want to be one of them when he grew up.
He wanted
to act and, as chance would have it, his latest role is portraying those boyhood mentors in a television show from the producers of ER.
Third Watch (TV2,8.30 pm) follows the work and lives of three emergency service teams - police, fire and paramedic - in New York City.
Cannavale plays Bobby Caffey, a "young and tough" paramedic devoted to his job, work mates and helping people.
"He is in love with his partner Kim (played by Kim Raver) and plays surrogate father to her children, but the conflict is he goes home by himself every night," says Cannavale, on the phone from New York.
The chatty leading man - he wants to know all about New Zealand - wanted to be an actor since he was 5 and sought refuge from his project housing neighbourhood by performing in a church theatre company.
Cannavale appeared in Kevin Costner's The Postman, and with Sharon Stone in the movie Gloria, but Third Watch has given him his big break in television.
He was attracted to the show because of the ER connection through award-winning producers John Wells and Christopher Chulack.
"When I read the script I thought it had all the elements of ER, but I liked it even better because it takes place outside on the streets," he says.
But childhood memories weren't enough to prepare Cannavale for the role, so he went out on duty with the real New York City paramedics.
He was impressed by their dedication and got a first-hand feel for the importance of the job during a call-out to an elderly patient who thought he was having a heart attack.
"We go to the apartment - up 10 flights of stairs - and you could see him relax when he saw us.
"His was so happy to see [the paramedics] his blood pressure went back to normal."
Cannavale admires their tireless work and believes it is well reflected in Third Watch.
"These are guys who don't take the job for the money. They want to be in their neighbourhood, they don't come from around the country to work in New York for the city authority. They work to contribute to their neighbourhood."
Paramedics, usually the least recognised of the three major services, have been impressed with the profile Cannavale and Third Watch have brought, the actor says.
"There has been a lot of cop shows but paramedics haven't gotten this kind of attention for a long time, especially in this city."
Which means Cannavale has to worry less about hailing a taxi.
"Here I was on a corner trying to get a taxi and this ambulance comes along and gives me a ride," he laughs. "It has happened about four or five times."
By LOUISA CLEAVE
American actor Bobby Cannavale grew up among the emergency service workers in his rough New Jersey neighbourhood.
He would hang out with the firefighters, washing their trucks and playing "stick ball," but unlike most little boys did not want to be one of them when he grew up.
He wanted
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