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| The Biz 10/15/04 JJ RAMBERG: Now our first guest today is an award winning actor whose film credits include Steven Spielberg's "Minority Report" and Richard Donner's "Timeline." Now he's portraying Dr. Stephen Connor on the new NBC drama "Medical Investigation." (VIDEO CLIP FROM "MEDICAL INVESTIGATION") Joining me from our studios in Los Angeles is Neal McDonough. Hi, Neal. Thanks for coming on the program. NEAL MCDONOUGH, ACTOR: Thanks, JJ. Nice to be here. RAMBERG: Well, I love the name Stephen Connor. It sounds like such a good, young, handsome doctor's name. Tell me a little... MCDONOUGH: The original name was different and I wanted to name it after one of my nephews and his name is Connor. So I went from Stephen, who is one of my best friends in my real life, to Connor who's one of my favorite nephews. So that's how we came up with the name. RAMBERG: Was it originally Connor Stephens, maybe? MCDONOUGH: No. What was the original name? I can't remember. It was Bowman, I think. Something like that. And so we changed it to Connor. So a little more Irish. RAMBERG: Tell me a little bit about your character. MCDONOUGH: Like some of the other characters I've played on television, like "Boomtown" for example, he's a very emotional, tempestuous go-getter type of guy. And it's a great challenge to play. And I'm surrounded by such a wonderful cast with Kelli Williams and Troy and Chris Gorham and Anna. It's a great team. NBC has been behind it 100 percent. And Jeff Zucker and Kevin Riley, my hats off to them for making a really -- not just an interesting show but a show that's -- some of these shows, now, these dramas are all about finding who the murderer is or who these crazy people are and this is about finding microbes before they do, in fact, kill people. And it's really hope in the face of despair. And it's nice to be part of a show like this. RAMBERG: Well, you certainly deal with a lot of issues that people are talking about, particularly talking about biological warfare. Do you find that you know what you're talking about or is a lot of this kind of Greek to you? MCDONOUGH: It was Greek when we started, but Bob Cooper, who's the executive producer, he gave me volumes of stuff to read. So I've had tons of homework at night, which my wife goes a little crazy because I come home after 15, 16, 17 hours a day and there I am doing two more hours of medical research at night. RAMBERG: Seems like you might get a little paranoid, no? MCDONOUGH: Yes, exactly. Yes, things have definitely changed in the McDonough household diets and some of the things that we do. But that's another great thing about this show is that it's very informative to the viewers and it's responsible television also. So I'm the happiest guy in the world to be working for NBC and Paramount and doing a great show like this. RAMBERG: You're certainly being compared a lot, or this show has been compared a lot to "ER" and, particularly, "CSI." Does that annoy you or are you saying, those were hits, I'm happy to be compared to them? MCDONOUGH: If you compare us to "ER," which has been one of the greatest,longest running shows of all time, boy, that's a feather in our cap. So, yes, I certainly don't mind that comparison one bit. And I hope we're compared to them for a long, long time. RAMBERG: I want to talk a little bit about the progression of your career because I read an article from 2001 and it said after 10 years in the business, more than 25 movies, Neal McDonough is about to become an overnight success story. MCDONOUGH: Isn't that great? I love that. It was funny because I had done so many movies and lots of television stuff but it was kind of under the radar stuff. It certainly wasn't high profile movies that I was doing. They were just little independent films. And it was great because I really got to work on my craft. And then, at one point, I just wasn't making much money at it and I said, yes, maybe it's time to move on to a different profession. And I moved back to Cape Cod, with my family where my dad has a motel on Cape Cod. And a good buddy of mine, Glenn Rigberg, called me up and said, hey, I've got this audition for you for this thing called "Band of Brothers." And I didn't know what it was, so I flew out and auditioned for this small part. And there was Tom Hanks in the room and he read with me. RAMBERG: Steven Spielberg to the rescue. MCDONOUGH: Yes. Well, we know what it's been since then. It's been a wonderful experience. And the very first night I got to town to do "Band of Brothers" I met my wife Ruve and Glenn's my manager now and here I am starring in my own television show on NBC. It's a dream come true and I know that I'm a very fortunate person to be where I am right now. RAMBERG: And the struggling actor part, it's not - you just didn't move home because you weren't getting any work but you really did struggle while you were here (INAUDIBLE) to that. MCDONOUGH: Yes. I had a car re-possessed at one point. I was living on the closet floor of my buddy Steve Lattimer who, you know, Steve, Stephen Connor, and my cousin Brendan Monahan, I slept in their closet for a while and didn't know what I was going to do and it was -- I was enjoying acting. I was having a great time with the parts I was doing but I just wasn't making much of a life at it. And thank God for Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks. RAMBERG: You're certainly making a life out of it now. Neal McDonough, thanks so much for joining us on the program. MCDONOUGH: Thanks, JJ. Any time. My pleasure. |