A city like New York has clashing cultures and clashing ideas and big ideas, but these sorts of things weren't being thrown in the air and bandied about where I came from.
All aspects of life that I look around, I'm very thankful to be standing where I am.
But I came from a conservative Republican background.
But when you're a working actor - and that's what you keep saying in your head, how blessed you are to have a job - and you are working with heavyweights, working with the best guys in TV, it's pretty cool. Exhausting, but cool.
But you just don't turn your back on Arthur Miller and an opportunity like this. It's going to be painful - a huge challenge for me.
Crime is one of the leads of the show. If there's ever anything that deals with a character's personal life, you don't have to worry about it getting too crazy. People don't have to worry about character arcs. Each episode is a self-contained unit.
How that works is our first season was the year we had a threatened writers' strike, so what we did was that instead of doing 22 episodes, we did 30. We put 10 in the bank.
I didn't get into acting to be a public service announcer or an advocate and yet, by virtue of this show and how we handle the subject matter that we've been given, that's kind of how it's evolved in certain ways.
I don't walk around with a halo above my head or any kind of sainthood. But there is a power - a beautiful, a wonderful byproduct.
I entered it already with a jaded eye towards the world. I do look at the news and all of that sort of stuff - - always keeping my eyes open for stories.
I like intellectual journeys.
I think Chris Rock at the Oscars was a great example. I thought that was intellectually hilarious. The Gap starts a war with Banana Republic... That to me was funny.
I think I'm a little more liberal, and I don't have as many children. I'm also not as pressurized as Stabler is.
I think we present extreme aspects of human behavior and hopefully get at times, messages across or bring issues to the table or as we so often say, shed light into the dark crevices of human nature.
I'd have to say Bali's my favorite place that I've visited.
I'm just an actor, but if the extra part of it is that I'm helping people or people are being helped by the virtue of what we're doing, then that's just a really nice added extra.
I've written a couple screenplays and half-finished plays.
If you try hard enough, you can bend the spoon; you can shift reality.
In my own defense, I wrote a one-man show, and that to me was more where I fit.
It still took over a year after we met her, because we failed to conceive on a couple of attempts. She hung in there for us. I was in the hospital for the births and it was the most amazing experience. Having kids has shown me that there is something more important in life than acting.
It's always been kind of weird to me because when you give someone an autograph,you're looking down at a piece of paper and once you sign it the person moves on.
Mariska has her own foundation. She helps with survivors of sexual abuse - they go swimming with wild dolphins.
My first thought when I came here was that I understood why there are so many great Irish writers - because there is something mystical in the air. There's always this cloudy, moody sky and it's challenging.
My mother raised three children on her own and my dad was a doctor working 16 hours a day.
There was a friend of ours who worked with a girl who had said she would consider being a surrogate. We met her and right away she was awesome. We were looking for someone who could take care of themselves and it was pretty clear she could.
We went online to surrogacy agencies. We interviewed lots of people - and I have to say, with all due respect, some of them were freaks. I was very leery of the process the whole way through.
We're real fortunate to have such a unique cast.
When it's mid-February, and it's bitterly cold outside, I am really glad that I'm not working in construction anymore.
Whoever envisions not one but two series in New York?
You can be childlike without being childish.
You can watch any episode you want and have a compelling story being told.
In early 2007, Meloni signed a new two-year deal, worth $6.5 million annually, with Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
Meloni starred in the 2002 movie Murder in Greenwich.
Meloni is slightly deaf in his right ear.
Meloni's favorite baseball team is the Washington Nationals.
Meloni's favourite horror movie is A Nightmare on Elm Street.
On February 23, 2006, Meloni played in an NBA All-Star Celebrity Basketball Game, wearing number 28.
In 2006, Meloni appeared on the children's show Sesame Street, where he sings and dances with Ernie.
Meloni plays Frank in the 2007 movie Carriers.
In one interview, Meloni confessed he is wild about Asian-influenced decor and spiritualism.
Meloni was included in the 2006 edition of People Magazine's "Sexiest Man Alive."
Meloni competed in the 8th season of Bravo's Celebrity Poker Showdown, finishing in 2nd place, behind Robin Tunney, and ahead of Macy Gray, Joy Behar, and Andy Dick. He played for the charity Feed the Children.
Meloni appeared on Mad TV December 16, 2001.
Meloni's fellow Emmy contenders included Kiefer Sutherland (24), Peter Krause (Six Feet Under), Martin Sheen (The West Wing) and Denis Leary (Rescue Me).
Meloni is known to chew Nicorette to cure his cigarette cravings.
Meloni has a prayer rug on his living room wall that he brought in Turkey.
Meloni's former acting-school roommate died in the World Trade Center attack. Chris honoured him by giving the eulogy at the funeral, even though the body was never recovered.
On February 13, 2006 Meloni was named Best Actor for his performance in A View from the Bridge by the Irish Theatre Awards.
Meloni's sister Michele, is a Washington social worker and his brother Robert Jr., is a Virginia accountant.
Meloni loves to water ski.
Meloni was nominated for the 2006 Emmy Award for "Best Actor in a Drama Series" for his work as Elliot Stabler on the show Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
Early in Meloni's career he was often confused with actor Elias Koteas.
Meloni played a bisexual serial killer in the TV series Oz.
Meloni's heritage is half-Italian and half-French Canadian.
Meloni and Sherman’s first child was born on March 23, 2001. They named her Sophia Eva Pietra.
Meloni worked as a construction worker before getting into acting.
Meloni has only been married one time to Sherman Williams. They got married on July 1, 1995 and are still married today.
Meloni's birth name is Christopher Peter Meloni.
Many people have said that Meloni resembles a young Robert De Niro, though he feels he doesn’t.
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