Background:

First coming to the attention of public as Shamrock Leader Tommy Mann in several episodes of “Hill Street Blues” in early 1980s, American actor David Caruso rocketed to fame for playing Detective John Kelly in the first season of the hit ABC series “NYPD Blue” (1993-1994), from which he also received a Golden Globe Award and an Emmy nomination. The red haired performer suffered setback after leaving the show, and two of his motion pictures vehicles “Kiss of Death” and “Jade” (both 1995) were both big disappointments. Caruso returned to television for a short run in “Michael Hayes” (1997), but he did not regain his star status until he was cast as Lieutenant Horatio Caine on the CBS popular show  “CSI: Miami,” a role he played throughout its 10 season run from 2002 until 2012.  

“He's not a corruptible man, and I think that we're searching for people to believe in and he is a man that has demonstrated on a very consistent basis that he will not be sidetracked, he will not be poisoned and he will not step back off the ethics that I think people need to have in our civil servants. We want to believe, that the people that represent us in the world, the glue of society, are people that are real and are as pure as possible.” David Caruso (about his character on “CSI: Miami”)    

A three time divorce man, Caruso has one daughter, Greta (born 1984), with his second wife Rachel Ticotin (together from 1984 to 1987). He began dating Liza Marquez in 2005 and had two children, Marquez Anthony and Paloma Raquel, with her before they broke up. In April 2009, Marquez filed a suit against Caruso for fraud, breach of their settlement agreement and emotional distress. Currently, Caruso lives in Sherman Oaks, California and Miami Beach, Florida and is in a relationship with a woman named Amina Islam.   


Of  Irish and Italian Descent

Childhood and Family:

 David Stephen Caruso was born on January 7, 1956, in Forest Hills, New York, to an Italian father and an Irish mother. His father Charles Caruso was a magazine and newspaper editor, while his mom Joan was a librarian. The senior Caruso abandoned the family when David was two years old. Raised as a Roman Catholic, David was educated at Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Catholic School in Forest Hills and later graduated from Archbishop Molloy High School in Briarwood in 1974. After high school graduation, he moved from Queens to Manhattan. He has a  younger sister named Joyce Caruso, who produces Fox News in New York.

David has been married three times. His first marriage to Cheri Maugans lasted from March 30, 1979 until February 21, 1984. On June 1, 1984, David welcomed his first child, daughter Greta, with his second wife Rachel Ticotin, to whom he was married between 1984 and 1987. He married third wife Margaret Buckley from May 4, 1996 to January 17, 2007. David has two children, son Marquez Anthony (born September 15, 2005) and daughter Paloma Raquel (born October 16, 2007), with ex-girlfriend Liza Marquez.


NYPD Blue

Career:

David Caruso made his professional acting debut in the mid 1970s when he appeared as a stock boy who assisted Margaret Hamilton in a Maxwell House advertisement. His first television episode job was as a bellboy in the ABC soap opera “Ryan's Hope” in 1976. Caruso, who found his role models in James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, and Edward G Robinson while he was working as a cinema usher,  headed to Los Angeles in 1978 to further pursue acting.

Caruso broke into the big screen with a small turn as Tom , one of two young teenagers who    were found dead during their vacation at a lake, in the science fiction/horror movie “Without Warning” (1980), starring Jack Palance, Martin Landau, Tarah Nutter, and Kevin Peter Hall and directed by Greydon Clark. In the following year, he made his television movie debut opposite Michael Paré and a then unknown Ray Liotta in the Emmy nominated drama “Crazy Times” (ABC).  Also in 1981, Caruso began his recurring role as an Irish gang leader, Tommy Mann, on the NBC police drama series “Hill Street Blues,” a gig he kept until 1983.

After landing guest spots in “Palmerstown, U.S.A.” (1981), “ChiPs” (1981), “T.J. Hooker” (1983) and “The Paper Chase” (1983), Caruso made his series regular debut in the short lived NBC drama “For Love and Honor” (1983), playing Pvt. Rusty Burger. He appeared with Richard Gere, Debra Winger and Louis Gossett, Jr. in the Taylor Hackford directed drama film “An Officer and a Gentleman” (1982), and portrayed Deputy Mitch in the first Rambo film series, “First Blood” (1982), which enjoyed both a commercial and critical success. Caruso played James Connolly in the television miniseries “The First Olympics: Athens 1896” (1984), opposite David Ogden Stiers and Hunt Block, Buddy Calamara in “Thief of Hearts” (1984), a drama/thriller movie written and directed by Douglas Day Stewart, and Joey Rayford in the action/crime film “Blue City” (1986), co-starring with Judd Nelson and Ally Sheedy, before initiating an affiliation with director Abel Ferrara in the pilot episode of  “Crime Story” (1986). The two soon reunited for the 1987 film “China Girl,” a modern take on the classic tale of “Romeo and Juliet,” in which Caruso played the role of Mercury.

In 1990, Caruso played Off. Frank Sordoni in the short lived ABC police drama “H.E.L.P.,” opposite John Mahoney and Tom Bresnahan, and reunited with Abel Ferrara in the film “King of New York,”  where he played Dennis Gilley, one of detectives of the NYPD narcotics squad. He went on to play roles on such films as “Parker Kane” (1990, TV), “Rainbow Drive” (1990, TV), the Brice Willis vehicle “Hudson Hawk” (1991, as a CIA agent named Kit Kat), “Mission of the Shark: The Saga of the U.S.S. Indianapolis (1991, TV), “Judgment Day: The John List Story” (1993, TV) and “Mad Dog and Glory” (1993, as the acerbic partner of Rober De Niro).  

Caruso's first break on television came when he was cast in the main role of Det. John Kelly on the Steven Bochco police procedural show “NYPD Blue,” which premiered on ABC on September 21, 1993. He left the series in the early of its second season due to salary dispute with Bochco and was replaced by Jimmy Smits. Caruso won a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a TV-Series – Drama and was nominated for an Emmy Award in the category of Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his performance in the series.

After his departure from “NYPD Blue,” Caruso played the lead of an ex-con in the crime/thriller movie “Kiss of Death” (1995), loosely based remake of the 1947 film noir classic of the same name, and was cast as San Francisco Assistant District Attorney David Corelli in the erotic thriller “Jade” (1995), which was written by Joe Eszterhas, produced by Robert Evans, and directed by William Friedkin. Both films were box office flops, and Caruso was nominated for a Razzie Award for Worst New Star for his performance.  

“It really comes down to the fact that, because I was perceived as a bad guy for leaving the show, I think people were rooting against the movies. That was really unfortunate.” David Caruso (on why his movies failed)

Caruso resurfaced later on John Ridley's “Cold Around the Heart” (1997, opposite Kelly Lynch and Stacey Dash) and then in Robert Patton-Spruill's “Body Count” (1998, with Linda Fiorentino and John Leguizamo). He also starred with Barry Primus and Marg Helgenberger in the Showtime film “Gold Coast” (1997), an adaptation of the Elmore Leonard novel.   

Caruso returned to series television as a regular on “Michael Hayes,” where he played the title role of an Irish Catholic ex-New York City police officer appointed acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York State. The legal drama series, which he also executive produced, ran on CBS for a single season from September 15, 1997 to June 15, 1998.    

In 2000, Caruso played the supporting role of Dino, a former Green Beret in the Taylor Hackford helmed picture “Proof of Life,” starring Meg Ryan and Russell Crowe. The role brought him  a Blockbuster Entertainment nomination for Favorite Supporting Actor – Suspense. He next portrayed a dissatisfied asbestos-removal worker in the psychological horror film “Session 9” (2001), directed and co-wrote by Brad Anderson, and starred as John Hawkins, an innocent man caught up in a bad situation when criminals go looking for lost money, in David Mackay's “Black Point” (2002).  

In 2002, Caruso moved to Miami, Florida and opened an upscale clothing and home furnishings store called “Steam.”

The actor's next huge break on television arrived later that same year when he joined the cast of a new prime time police procedural series, “CSI: Miami,” playing the main role of Lieutenant Horatio Caine. Debuting on CBS on September 23, 2002, the show became a hit, and Caruso became a household name once again. He remained with the series until it was canceled in May 2012 after running for 10 seasons. The last episode of “CSI: Miami” aired on April 8, 2012.  

Caruso reprised the Lieutenant Horatio Caine role in an episode of “CSI: NY” called “Manhattan Manhunt” in 2005 and in two episodes of “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” called “Cross-Jurisdictions” in 2002 and “The Lost Girls” in 2009.

“For somebody who fell to the place that I fell in terms of unemployment and a damaged reputation, the fact that this town was willing to give me another chance is incredible.” David Caruso (on his successful comeback in Hollywood, as the star of “CSI: Miami”)


Awards:

Golden Globe: Best Performance by an Actor in a TV-Series – Drama, “NYPD Blue,” 1994 Show Less