Staying Fit
David M. Russell/CBS
Edie Falco plays the first female chief of the Los Angeles Police Department in a new CBS drama Tommy (on Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET starting Feb. 6.) “Tommy” is the nickname for Abigail Thomas, a former high-ranking New York Police Department officer and a gay mom who grapples with hot-button issues such as human trafficking and sexual harassment.
Chief Tommy takes after her dad
She comes from a cop family, so she's seen how it's done. She's, like, “My dad takes care of the populace, and that's what I want to do.” There seems to be quite an audience for the idea that there are people taking care of us, almost like a good parent. When you're sleeping, they're out making sure everything's OK.
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Edie Falco takes after her mom
My mom was an actress and did theater, and I would go with her. I fell in love with it, but I thought I'd have a real job and then do plays at night, like my mom did.
Her daughter hates The Sopranos
If I stumble on The Sopranos with my daughter, she's all, “Can we change the channel?” My kids are over it.
On being a cop, a pill-popping nurse and a mob wife
With every job I get, I jump into that headspace. When I was very young, I told my mother I knew what it felt like to be anybody. My mother looked at me and thought, I know what she's going to do.
Acting and aging
Over the years, my characters began masking their vulnerability less. Now it's more acceptance of their own vulnerability — which in some way may mirror my own journey. A lot of us, as we get older, we're more open to embracing the parts of us that we are afraid of, or are maybe not proud of. So the roles I play now mirror that, and maybe that's why I responded to Tommy. In 1998, at 21, I did a play, Side Man, where characters age from 24 to 70. I'd love to do that play again.
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