Carmine Giovinazzo interview

"Big break for Island actor"


Carmine Giovinazzo has finally gotten his big break.

The actor, a native of Port Richmond who's called Los Angeles home for the past several years as he's sought that big break, can pat himself on the back now. He's landed a starring role in the high-profile television series "CSI: New York."

But as for getting excited by the news, no thanks -- he'll leave that to his hometown newspaper.

"I'm not as excited as everyone else yet," he said. "I can't feel good until I get a response. This business is too whimsical, but I'm totally embracing that."

"CSI: New York," slated to debut this fall on CBS-TV, is the second spinoff of that network's hit show "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," now in its fourth season.

But Giovinazzo will appear tomorrow night on "CSI: Miami," the first "CSI" offshoot, as a teaser for the new series (10 p.m. on Ch. 2). The episode will feature that show's star, David Caruso, coming to New York City to work on a criminal investigation alongside Giovinazzo's character, Det. Danny Messer.

Giovinazzo will begin production on "CSI: New York," alongside co-stars Gary Sinise and Melina Kanakaredes in July here in New York (although most of the series, despite its name, will be shot in Los Angeles).

Giovinazzo is looking forward to the experience, but is bearing very much in mind the "here today and gone tomorrow" vibe that comes with working in episodic television. Ultimately, he's looking at Det. Danny Messer -- a man who is "passionate, with an urge to question all that is corrupt, a kid from the streets who studied and made good for himself" -- as a stepping stone.

"If I allow myself to have a moment, it may be the most important job of my career as far as the opportunity it can bring," said Giovinazzo. "I guess it's not what I had in mind. I thought I was going to go the film route. But maybe this will allow me to get my film going."

That film would be "The Brink of Black," a project Giovinazzo's been struggling to get off the ground for years. And it speaks to the actor's roots back in the borough where he grew up.

"It's about a Staten Island kid realizing he doesn't belong where he lives, surrounded by wiseguys, and he makes a move to get out of New York," he said.

Giovinazzo is still trying to get financing for the film. And while he has a number of actors attached, including one who's fairly well-known, he -- like anyone in Hollywood with dreams -- is reluctant to talk about a project that's yet to see the light of day. But then, not getting excited is something that comes easily to Giovinazzo.

BASEBALL WAS FOCUS

The 30-year-old actor never intended to be where he is today when he was younger. As he attended Port Richmond High School and Wagner College, baseball was his focus. And then he seriously injured his back, and that was that.

"Baseball threw me for such a loop, I was that passionate about it. But before I knew it, I was in acting," said Giovinazzo.

"I probably could not have picked a more difficult profession. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone," he said. "But it's one of those things where you have to do it, you don't plan it. You have to have an obsessive nature."

Giovinazzo's early influences were widely varied. He has an uncle who used to make videos for sweet 16 parties, while a cousin of his has been involved in acting. Now that he'll be playing a forensic detective on television, he can turn to his father (who celebrates a birthday today) and sister for guidance -- both have been NYPD officers.

Moving to Los Angeles in 1997, Giovinazzo found work wherever he could get it. He worked on independent films for $150 a week. He played a high school bad boy in the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" pilot. He even landed a sitcom on UPN called "Shasta McNasty." It only lasted for one season.

"But it gave me stability, and I managed to fool them into thinking I could be a sitcom actor," he said.

One of Giovinazzo's more memorable acting experiences was a small part in the 2001 feature film "Black Hawk Down," about the U.S. military's ill-fated occupation of Somalia in the 1990s. That film shoot made news for the grueling training director Ridley Scott put his cast through.

"I spent three months in Africa, it may have been the greatest experience of my life," said Giovinazzo. "It gave me a perspective on the people leading that kind of life."

"CSI: New York" isn't likely to subject the actor to a similar boot-camp experience, but he's glad the TV series will bring him home from time to time. And he doesn't intend to keep this borough a secret from his employers at CBS.

"For me Staten Island was a telephone pole and a schoolyard," he said. "Now I'm in a fantasy land, staring at mountains. Staten Island has so many wicked places that I took for granted when I was there, and I'm hoping we'll utilize them."