When Edie Falco first read the script for "Tommy," a drama about the first female chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, she was intrigued. But she assumed it would film in LA, a nonstarter for a single mom with two kids in school in New York City.
Thanks to a little Hollywood magic, Falco was able to take the part without having to relocate.
"They have a couple of palm trees," Falco said recently at a cafe near her home in the West Village. "Carry 'em around in the truck and stick 'em in front of the bodega, stick 'em in front of the person's house. Seriously, by the end of the season, they were looking a little sad."
Created by Paul Attanasio ("Homicide: Life on the Streets"), "Tommy," which premiered Thursday on CBS, blends police procedural with serialized political drama. Falco stars as Abigail "Tommy" Thomas, a veteran New York cop who is chosen to replace a chief caught up in a sex abuse scandal. Early episodes tackle hot-button topics such as immigration, tension between law enforcement and communities of color, and sexual misconduct in the entertainment business.
But Tommy, who also happens to be gay, doesn't necessarily think of herself as a trailblazer.
"She's just a woman in a hard job she does well. The fact that she's the first woman is not something that takes up a lot of her brain space," said Falco, who, as a child, used to tag along with her mother to performances in community theater and summer stock.
Eventually, she started acting herself, but, she said, "It just seemed like the most preposterous way for grown-ups to spend time."
Falco figured she'd become a therapist but was encouraged by a high school teacher to apply to the theater program at the State University of New York at Purchase, where she found a niche playing kooky, Diane Keaton-esque roles. Many of her female classmates were "very pretty young girls who were all the leads in their school plays."
"I just didn't identify with that. My femininity is its own brand," says the actress, 56.
Not being an ingenue worked out just fine for Falco, a four-time Emmy winner best known for playing two wildly different yet equally complicated women: pampered mob wife Carmela Soprano in the pioneering HBO drama "The Sopranos," and drug-addicted emergency room Nurse Jackie Peyton in the Showtime series "Nurse Jackie."
But Falco is not the type to spend much time contemplating her place in TV history.
"I said to my son, who's 15, 'You know what I do for a living?' He said, 'Yeah, walk around pretending to be other people.' And I said, 'OK, what's the name of the show I'm working on right now?' And he goes 'Uh ... "Tony"?' And I was like, 'All right. That's exactly where I want them to be.':
Falco scarcely needs her kids to keep her humble, though: "To this day," she deadpanned, "I'm not sure I won't be a therapist."
