Law & Order: Special Victims Unit: The Unofficial Companion (26 page)

Read Law & Order: Special Victims Unit: The Unofficial Companion Online

Authors: Susan Green,Randee Dawn

Dean Winters (Det. Brian Cassidy, 1999−2000)
Originally From:
New York City
Other Wolf Films Associations: Law & Order: Criminal Intent
(Mike Stoat, “Purgatory,” 2008);
Deadline
(Des, “Shock,” 2001);
New York Undercover
(Paul, “Rat Trap,” 1998)
Selected Other Credits:
(TV)
Life on Mars
(Vic Tyler, 2008−09),
30 Rock
(Dennis Duffy, 2006−Present),
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
(Charley Dixon, 2008−09),
Rescue Me
(Johnny Gavin, 2004−07),
Oz
(Ryan O’Reily, 1997−2003),
Sex and the City
(John McFadden, 1999),
Homicide: Life on the Street
(Tom Marans, 1995−96)
Upcoming Projects:
(Film)
Splinterheads
(Reggie, 2009)
Just the Facts
About Winters:
Dean Winters makes an impression wherever he goes: He’s been Sarah Jessica Parker’s “fuck buddy” on
Sex and the City
(HBO); the scary, manipulative Ryan O’Reily on
Oz
(also HBO); and—of course—the secretly terrified newbie of the sex crimes unit Det. Brian Cassidy on
SVU
, where he didn’t quite make it through a full season. Born in New York but partially raised in Arizona, Winters came to acting in his late twenties, and made friends with two key people:
Homicide: Life on the Street
/
Oz
executive producer Tom Fontana and future
SVU
partner Richard Belzer. And after an appearance on
New York Undercover
, he also knew Dick Wolf.
According to Winters, Belzer told Wolf: “I’ll do this new show of yours (
SVU
) only if you make Dean Winters my partner.” “That’s exactly what happened,” says Winters. Unfortunately, he also had a role on
Oz
at the time (as did
SVU
castmates Christopher Meloni and B.D. Wong) and while he was contractually obligated to HBO, the
SVU
part was initially meant to be only a few episodes. When HBO came calling, he had to leave. But he’s bounced back nicely, with a recurring role on Fox’s
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
and a recent appearance (not as Cassidy) on
Law & Order: Criminal Intent
. He jokes: “I think I’m the only actor in New York City who hasn’t been on the original show!”
Dean Winters (Det. Brian Cassidy)
About Cassidy:
Young Det. Brian Cassidy is ill-equipped in the special victims unit from day one—lacking both the emotional maturity to deal with SVU crimes and the language with which to describe them. One night he and Det. Olivia Benson have a drunken booty call of which he’d like to make more, but she cuts him off. When it becomes clear that he might not be long for the unit, Capt. Cragen sends him solo to check up on a teen rape victim. The girl’s story unhinges Cassidy and he transfers to Narcotics. “I wouldn’t say that Cassidy was dim,” says Winters, “but maybe a little naïve. I did voice to (executive producer) Ted Kotcheff that I wanted to make sure this guy wasn’t the dumb blond of the department, because I guarantee you there are no dumb blonds in the real SVU.”
The Rest of the Story
A quick conversation with Dean Winters reveals a perhaps surprising lack of bitterness that
SVU
didn’t work out. Sure,
Oz
ended before
SVU
and, sure, Cassidy was never really given a third dimension, but he comes across as easygoing about the vagaries of the business. “In fairness to (the
SVU
writers), it was the first chunk of the first season and they were trying to flesh people out—and if I had stuck around I’m sure they would have found plenty for me to do.”
Also worth noting: Unlike Meloni, Winters never had to shoot scenes for
Oz
and
SVU
in the same time period. “I remember Chris would work all night on an
SVU
and then go back to
Oz
at 8 A.M., they were giving him a workout—but it was Chris’s show. Me, I never worked on them at the same time; the first season I did we shot
SVU
in the summertime and we had finished
Oz
in the springtime.”
Still, he recalls that the two shows were not all that different in their demands. “I’ve never worked on a show that ran more like a Swiss clock than
Oz
. In six years we shot one day over twelve hours.
SVU
is pretty much on par—they know what they’re doing, everyone has a shorthand, everyone has worked on the other (L&O) shows, so they know how to get the shows in on time. Dick can do it. Dick is Dick and Dick is the man. And anyone should give Dick whatever he wants for the rest of his life; he’s got to be responsible for a quarter of NBC’s profit at this point.”
Connie Nielsen (Det. Dani Beck, 2006)
Originally From:
Denmark
Selected Other Credits:
(Film)
Battle in Seattle
(Jean, 2007),
The Ice Harvest
(Renata, 2005),
One Hour Photo
(Nina Yorkin, 2002),
Gladiator
(Lucilla, 2000)
Upcoming Project:
(Film)
Between the Lines
(Cora, 2010)
Just the Facts
About Nielsen:
The multi-lingual Danish actress grew up surrounded by the business thanks to her actress mother, and first appeared in a 1984 French film starring Jerry Lewis (with whom she was re-paired in season eight’s “Uncle”). She moved to the United States and in the late 1990s immediately took roles in films like
Rushmore
and 2000’s
Gladiator
. In 2007 she welcomed a son with longtime beau (and fellow Dane), Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich.
Connie Nielsen (Det. Dani Beck)
About Beck:
Despite only being on
SVU
for six episodes, Nielsen couldn’t help but have a major impact—she was replacing Det. Olivia Benson when Mariska Hargitay departed on maternity leave. Det. Beck (like Nielsen, a Danish-born multi-linguist) is a warrants detective assigned to SVU while Benson is on temporary reassignment, and is very devoted to her previous job. “There was a certain obsessiveness to her that I thought was interesting,” remembers Nielsen. “She doesn’t want to dress up, she wants to feel free and be able to run and kick down doors, whatever she has to do.”
Beck’s marriage to Michael Dooley, who she met while he was serving in the military in Germany, ended after he was killed on the job (he became an NYPD cop). She and Stabler get a bit cozy as partners, but nothing ever comes of it. Overwhelmed by the SVU crimes, ultimately Beck returns to Warrants.
The Rest of the Story
Connie Nielsen is a rising star in her own right; still, it never hurts to have a connection or two when trying to break into television. According to the actress, her manager also has as a client
SVU
executive producer /showrunner Neal Baer, and the message got through once a replacement for Hargitay was needed: Was Nielsen up for the job?
Certainly—two of the three current L&O shows are her favorites. “I actually really like
Law & Order
and it’s the only thing I really watch on TV,” Nielsen says. “I never have the time to watch TV, so it really means something to me when I say I’ve seen something on TV that’s unique and different.”
Her time on the set was enjoyable, but, she adds, “It was the hardest thing I’ve done in my life. Sixteen hours a day, for two months, and sometimes they only have Sundays off. I just thought, ‘How can they do ten months of that?’ So I have an enormous amount of respect for people who can keep up with that kind of pressure and still do a great job with the characters.”
Would she return? Not for those hours. “I don’t think I would sign on to anything where you would have to work like that,” Nielsen says.
Adam Beach (Det. Chester Lake, 2007−08)
Adam Beach (Det. Chester Lake)
Originally From:
Manitoba, Canada
Other Wolf Films Associations: Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
(TV) (Charles Eastman, 2007)
Selected Other Credits:
(Film)
Flags of Our Fathers
(Ira Hayes, 2006),
Windtalkers
(Private Ben Yahzee, 2002),
Smoke Signals
(Victor Joseph, 1998); (TV)
Moose TV
(George Keeshig, 2007),
North of 60
(Nevada, 1993−95)
Just the Facts
About Beach:
Adam Beach grew up in Manitoba, Canada; he is of Salteaux (a branch of the Ojibwa First Nation) descent. He got his first break at eighteen on a TV miniseries, and appeared in the 1998 indie feature
Smoke Signals
and the 2006 Clint Eastwood-directed
Flags of our Fathers
, among other productions. He connected with Dick Wolf while making the Wolf-produced HBO film
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
(a role that earned him a Golden Globe nomination) and shortly thereafter signed with
SVU
.
“Adam is a superb actor,” Wolf told
The Hollywood Reporter
in 2008. “I was knocked out by his commitment, dedication and total immersion in the film’s most crucial role.” At the end of season nine, Beach and the show parted ways. The actor declined to be interviewed for this book.
About Lake:
Lake is a Native American of Mohawk descent, and his family has lived in New York for generations—all of the men being iron workers for the past three generations. Lake himself was at one point a foster child. He came to Manhattan SVU by way of Brooklyn SVU, and in his spare time competed non-professionally as a mixed martial artist (called “Naptime”); he abandoned fighting as a career after an injury.
He loves rare books, has insomnia, and as is learned in his final episode, likes to join fellow law enforcers in Philadelphia to share information on cold cases. He is arrested in the episode after shooting and killing a police officer in New York, and a jury fails to convict him. But Lake is again discovered with a dead body, and exits the show with police removing him from the scene.
The Rest of the Story

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