Dylan McDermott – Twenty Years Ago, After winning his Golden Globe

                                            June 1999   By Philip Berk

Dylan McDermott, the handsome, intensely serious young lawyer of The Practice has dated some of the most beautiful stars in Hollywood including Julia Roberts.

But four years ago he had a change of heart.

“It’s hard when you’re an actor, and you date actresses, I mean it’s such a selfish business. You’re consumed with yourself on a daily basis. ‘How am I going to make it? What’s good for me today?’ You’re thinking only of yourself. It becomes disgusting.”

Interviewing Dylan recently I couldn’t help but recognize those very qualities in him. 

Here is an actor totally consumed with his career 

Read on and you’ll find out why.

Not that you can blame him.

For ten years he had struggled to gain recognition, and before The Practice came along, he was considered a once promising young actor whose career was going nowhere.

But then producer Jeffrey Kramer approached him about doing a TV series.

At first he was reluctant to listen, but now he agrees it was the best decision he ever made.

“It’s certainly the best character I’ve ever played, and I feel very good about the show.”

Had he decided to give up on movies?

“I guess I was somewhat frustrated with the film roles I was getting. I was working in some decent films, but there was a part of me that longed for that thing I had in acting school or that I’d experienced in some plays, but  which I’d never achieved in movies. To some extent in In the line of Fire, but that was a smaller part. I had also done five movies in a row that had broken my heart  —  I’d stay in bed for a couple of days — because  they’d come and gone so fast. And I had really worked hard on them. 

“So when Jeffrey asked me at the A.F.I. Tribute to Clint Eastwood, ‘Do you like good material?’,  ‘Of course I do,’ was my answer. And for some reason I listened to him. Up until then I never even thought about doing a TV series. I figured I’d just do movies or plays.”

So what happened?

“I read the script, and it just got underneath my skin. It was pure instinct. The material hit me in a way you can only hope for as an actor. You don’t get material like that in movies. So I guess it was fate that Jeffrey came up to me that night because I know my manager and my agent would never have shown it to me. It really was fate.”

Fate also played a part in his becoming an actor.

An only child — his mother died when he was five — he credits his stepmother (playwright Eve Ensler) with encouraging his interest in the arts. 

“She became my stepmother when I was fifteen years old. She really cultured me. She took me to the theatre; she taught me about plays. She told me what to read, what museums to go to. She was a great influence. Before that, I had no culture. And she continues to be my unconscious in a lot of stuff.”

And that’s why he became an actor?

“Absolutely. I started taking acting classes, but it wasn’t until I was nineteen when I did Equus, I was on stage, and I realized I could be very good at this. It was one of those charmed moments when you felt that kind of union with the character. I said, ‘You know what, I could do this for a living,’ and that’s when I made the decision to become an actor, although I continued to work in restaurants for nine years.”

His dad owned Irish taverns in New York’s Greenwich Village, which was how  he supported himself.

Ensler, of course, is the author of the Vagina Monologues, which has become a succes d’estime the world over.

Neither has capitalized on the other’s fame. In fact I had no idea she was his stepmother.

How come? I ask him.

“We never had any reason to.”

Are they still very close?

“She was a tremendous influence in my life. She taught me what art was. Go after it. Believe in it. It’s for your soul, It’s about the work. She’s the person who brings me back when I get away from that stuff. She’s been solid in her dreams, she’s been true to what she thinks her own art is, and I find that inspiring.”

Did they ever work together?

“Oh yeah, there was a time when she and I would do plays, but no one would come.”

His birth parents married very young.

“They had to,” he volunteers, “because of me.” 

But he didn’t?

“No I didn’t marry young.”

Not for lack of offers. 

He and Julia Roberts were once an item. What happened there?

Graciously he answers, “At the time we were both a couple of kids. We made a movie together. It was kind of movie love. I harbor no resentment towards her. I wish her the best. The past is past, and right now she has her life, I have mine. It’s all good.”

What made him finally take the plunge?

“I was at that point in my life where everything kind of came together at once. I was making bad movies, dating women who were really not up to what I wanted. The women I was picking were recreating old scenarios. So after dating the same woman over and over again for fifteen years, I realized I didn’t want to do that anymore. I wanted a new type of woman, and shortly after that I met my wife.”

So what were her special qualities?

“Well first of all, she had a heart. That was a good beginning. Before that I had dated mostly actresses.”

Who have no heart?

But isn’t his wife an actress?

“She is, but she has a heart.”

Has she retired from acting?

“She’s only thirty.” 

With a name like Shira, she sounds Middle Eastern?

“She’s half Irish and half Persian, so I guess she is Middle Eastern.”

Does the series allow him  enough time to spend with family?

“Not as much as I’d like, but  because it offers me some of the most fulfilling work I’ve ever done, it’s worth it. I mean it’s absolutely exhausting,  but when you have somebody like David Kelley writing for you —  it’s so simpatico. Because my stepmother is a writer, I’ve always dreamed of a relationship with a writer who could tap into who I am, and I’ve found that with David.”

Is there a downside to having it all?

“Sometimes I wish I had more of me to go around. I get up at 4 o’clock, I work twelve, thirteen hours a day, day after day, year after year, all of a sudden you’re like, whoa, who am I? I’m probably more the character than I am myself. I’ve pretty much dedicated my life to the show. But I try to juggle my responsibilities. It’s very hard because you’re always exhausted — your wife wants something, your kid wants something.”

Yet lately he’s been seen at a lot of premieres, how come?

“I rarely attend those things, but when I do they tend to take my picture and they publish it. I don’t go out much at all, but I remember when nobody wanted to take my picture.”

How much time does he get to spend with his daughter?

“I see her at night basically. I read her a book last night, her homework assignment, and we both fall asleep in each other’s arms at 9 o’clock.”

The Practice surprised cynics by becoming a smash hit.

Now in its sixth season it consistently scores in the top ten.

How gratifying is it that?

“I still remember those early beginnings, how hard it was, when we were on the verge of being canceled. I was in Paris at the time and found out they were moving us to Saturday nights at 10 o’clock I was so furious because I knew in my heart, from the moment I picked up the script, I said, ‘My God, this is it.’ This is what I’ve been waiting for my whole life as an actor. And suddenly it was all going away, and I said ‘Why? It doesn’t make any sense.’ 

“But instead of accepting defeat, I said, ‘You know what, I’m going to fight (for) it, I’m going to do the best possible show no matter where it ends.’ So we started making these really good episodes that people started to watch, and the network had the smarts to see, ‘Wow, this is a really good show.’ So they moved us to Monday, and it caught on. I sometimes wonder what would have happened if I had said, ‘Fine, the show’s on Saturday night. Nobody is watching. Who cares? I’ll just walk through it and forget about it. I’ll get to do something else.’ But instinctively I knew it was good.”  

Obviously Los Angeles is where he lives now. 

Does he miss New York?

“I do.”

But not the movies he made there?

“I tried to be good in bad movies.”

Has parenthood changed him?

“I was thinking about that the other day. I definitely feel more confident. When you have love and support in your life, you can go out in the world and do whatever you want,  because you have that base. There’s a freedom there that I didn’t have in the past. Ultimately it’s because I’ve created this family, this love. So I definitely feel it helps me go out every day, on a weekly basis, and do the best work I’m capable of.” 

What did he do on his hiatus?

“I was really tired. I went to the beach and just sat there with my mouth open for two weeks, to try to regenerate. When you do a show like this, you go into those dark places, and after a while you inherit it. “

Two summers ago he made Texas Rangers, which has been sitting on a shelf for eighteen months

What’s the problem?

“I don’t know. I’ve seen it twice. I think it’s good.”

Supposedly Miramax will be releasing it next month. 

“I hope so. I’ve kind of given up on it because it’s been too long now. I really enjoyed doing it. It was a total departure for me.” 

During the lean years, did he ever think of quitting the business?

“As much as I hated it, I’ve always loved it more. I’ve never said, ‘This is not for me.’ Even though I hated the disappointments, I always said I’m going to continue to do this, painful as it is. I believe that type of pain is necessary. It’s like an initiation into this wacky business. If you can handle the disappointment, then you can handle success. You have to have both.

“Unfortunately some people just walk into this business and have success, and that’s their only journey. That hasn’t been my journey. I’ve been disappointed many times, but I’m a fighter. I’m going to keep showing up until I get what I want. My dream when I first became an actor was to do quality work. I go to sleep at night knowing I’ve always maintained my integrity, I’ve always believed in every single thing I’ve ever done. And I’m proud of that.”