Background and career
David Stephen Caruso (born January 7, 1956) is a retired American actor and producer, best known for his roles as Detective John Kelly on the ABC crime drama NYPD Blue (1993–1994) and Lieutenant Horatio Caine on the CBS series CSI: Miami (2002–2012). Caruso appeared in the feature films An Officer and a Gentleman (1982), First Blood (1982, the first film in the Rambo franchise), Twins (1988), King of New York (1990), Hudson Hawk (1991), Kiss of Death (1995), and Proof of Life (2000).
David Stephen Caruso was born on January 7, 1956, in Forest Hills, 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 & Neapolitan) descent. Charles left the family when David was two years old, resulting in him "end[ing] up fathering myself." Raised as a Roman Catholic, Caruso attended Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Catholic School in Forest Hills, then Archbishop Molloy High School in nearby Briarwood, graduating in 1974.
Caruso worked as a cinema usher, where he claimed to have seen up to 80 movies a week. Caruso said that he and his co-workers would act out scenes from some of these movies while they were at the back of the theater. In this job, Caruso 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 consider the real scum of the earth."
Caruso's first movie appearance was in the 1980 film Getting Wasted as Danny. He credits his role as Topper Daniels, "the cadet who nearly drowned", in An Officer and a Gentleman (1982) as what got him noticed. In First Blood (1982), the first installment of the Rambo franchise, Caruso played Deputy Mitch Rogers, the youngest and only sympathetic member of Sheriff Teasle's (Brian Dennehy) department, who protests the abuse of John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) but is unable to prevent it and is later wounded by Rambo during the forest pursuit. Caruso spent the rest of the decade in supporting roles in films including Blue City (1986), China Girl (1987) and Twins (1988). On television, Caruso had a recurring role as Tommy Mann, leader of the street gang The Shamrocks, in seven episodes of the NBC police drama series Hill Street Blues (1981–83). He portrayed U.S. Olympian James Brendan Connolly in the 1984 miniseries, The First Olympics: Athens 1896, and also appeared in two episodes of the series Crime Story. Caruso featured in the music video for the song "Voyage, voyage" by the French singer Desireless, released in 1986.
Caruso had supporting roles as a police officer in the crime films King of New York (1990) and Mad Dog and Glory (1993). While filming 1991's Hudson Hawk, he employed method acting, refusing to talk to anyone on set because his character, Kit-Kat, was mute, having had his tongue bitten off. In 1993, Caruso landed his first major role as Detective John Kelly in the police procedural series NYPD Blue, for which he won a Golden Globe Award. TV Guide named Caruso as one of the six new stars to watch in the 1993–1994 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. Caruso's decision to leave the series would later be listed in a 2010 issue of TV Guide as #6 on a list of TV's 10 biggest "blunders". Caruso was unable to establish himself as a leading man in films. His appearances in the 1995 thrillers Kiss of Death and Jade were met with a negative reception from critics, with both films receiving mixed reviews and poor box-office takings, and Caruso was nominated for the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst New Star for these two roles. 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.
Caruso returned to film with a supporting role as Russell Crowe's mercenary associate in Proof of Life (2000). In 2001, Caruso had a lead role in the cult psychological horror film Session 9, directed by Brad Anderson. Dave Kehr, writing in The New York Times, praises his performance, stating that "it is good to see David Caruso back in action, with a little more technique and a little less ego."
