Dr. David Malucci

Background:

“My life could have gone a different way if I didn’t find acting. I was involved with a crowd as a teen that was pretty tough. I woke up years later and saw that a lot of those guys are in jail.” Erik Palladino

Dark-haired with molded features and an impish smile, actor Erik Palladino’s looks can demonstrate both a down-to-earth, all-American, blue-collar charm and an exotic appeal. Getting his first brush into showbiz with New York’s Children’s Repertory Company, he had a recognizable face as a regular on Comedy Central’s “Short Attention Span Theater” (1989), a voluble video jockey on MTV, and a guest performer on “Murphy Brown,” where he played the recurring role from 1996 to 1997. He gained even more recognition and popularity while portraying confident resident Dr David Malucci on the popular American television series “ER” (1999-2001), from which he earned SAG nominations. In 2005, the actor returned to television in FX’s Over There (2005), an outstanding war drama jointly directed by Chris Gerolmo and Mikael Salomon.

As a movie actor, Palladino is probably best known for playing an American sailor in Jonathan Mostow’s World War II drama U-571 (2000). His other film credits include Can’t Hardly Wait (1998), The Week That Girl Died (1998), This Space Between Us (2000), Finder’s Fee (2001), Life Without Dick (2002), Justice (2003), Dead & Breakfast (2004), L.A. Dicks (2005), The Thirst (2006), A Day in the Life (2006) and Caught on Tape (2006).

Off camera, Palladino has shown an interest in music. He and his brother, Chris, performed together in Chris’s alternative rock band named No More Happy Faces. He is now the lead singer for the rock band Hearing Red. At age 17, Palladino was arrested for a stabbing and was given one year probation. The charges were then obliterated. As for his romantic life, the husband of Jaime Lee was involved with actress Sarah-Jane Potts in 2001. The two met in Sweden in 1998.


No More Happy Faces

Childhood and Family:

The youngest of three sons, Erik Palladino was born on May 10, 1968, in Yonkers, New York, to Peter Palladino, a heating contractor, and Queenie, a junior high school teacher. He wanted to become an actor at age 12 after watching Robert De Niro’s performance in the 1980’s movie Ranging Bull. A year later, he joined New York’s Children’s Repertory Company and after graduating from all-boy Catholic Archbishop Stepinac High School, majored in theater at the almost all-female Marymount Manhattan College, where he graduated in 1991. Along with acting and becoming a big fan of Jon Bon Jovi, Erik found himself performing in the alternative rock band No More Happy Faces, with his brother Chris.

In August 2005, Erik tied the knot with Jaime Lee.


U-571

Career:

New York born Erik Palladino caught the acting bug from Robert De Niro’s well-known performance in Raging Bull. Subsequently, he joined a local children’s repertory company and later was trained at Marymount Manhattan College. He continued to appear in various theater productions in New York, including Sam Shepard’s “True West” and “Entertaining Mr. Sloane.” In 1989, the stylishly long-haired Palladino got a job as host for the hard rock music magazine series “Heavy Metal Meltdown.” The same year, he further boosted his status with a regular gig on “Short Attention Span Theater,” Comedy Central’s daily anthology of news and comedy clips. Five years later, he appeared as VJ on MTV, covering Woodstock ’94, as well as hosted the network’s unsuccessful home shopping series “The Goods.” It was also in 1994 that the aspiring actor landed his first guest spot in the television series “Party of Five,” as a customer.

After loping off his somewhat stereotyping locks, Palladino quickly secured series’ work, taking regular supporting roles in the failed working-class themed sitcoms “Love and Marriage (1996, as Michael Nardini) and “DiResta” (1998, as Tully). Between these roles, he had a memorable recurring role on “Murphy Brown” (1996-1997), playing a lethargic stepson, and appeared in a three-episodic guest role in the 1997 season of the popular UPN sitcom “Malcolm & Eddie,” as Jason. He also had the opportunity to break into movies with a cameo role as Jennifer Love Hewitt’s creepy cousin in the teen comedy Can’t Hardly Wait (1998). This was followed by larger roles in the independent movies The Week That Girl Died (1998) and Road Kill (1999, opposite Jennifer Rubin).

Palladino, however, did not experience a career breakthrough until 1999, when he joined the cast of the 1994 popular NBC series “ER,” playing Dr. David Malucci, a boastful second-year resident whose passion and poise for medicine generates a mocking attitude toward hospital procedure. The show brought the actor Screen Actors Guild nominations for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series in 2000 and 2001. He stayed with the show until 2001.

With his newfound fame, Palladino landed a supporting role in the independent film This Space Between Us (2000), in which he memorable portrayed the straightforward friend of the fledgling director protagonist (Jeremy Sisto), and was featured as an American sailor in the star-studded U-571 (2000), a World War II drama helmed by Jonathan Mostow. He also received a lead role in the festival-screened Finder’s Fee (2001) for director Jeff Probst. He then acted in the “Disco Inferno” segment of the VH1’ Strange Frequency (2001).

After leaving “ER,” Palladino could be seen in episodes of “Judging Amy” (2002), “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” (2003) and “Joan of Arcadia” (2003, as Lt. Michael Daghlian). He also appeared in the Sarah Jessica Parker vehicle Life Without Dick (2002) and in the comedy Latter Days (2003), and starred in Justice (2003). 2004 and 2005 found supporting roles in such movies as Dead & Breakfast, Breach, Alchemy, Barry Dingle and L.A. Dicks.

Returning to series’ TV, Palladino took on a costarring regular role opposite Josh Henderson and Luke MacFarlane in the FX “Over There” (2005), playing Sgt. Scream, the leader of a squad of U.S. 3rd Infantry Division soldiers involved in the 2003 Invasion of Iraq. The show received the landmark of being the first entertainment-oriented production featuring a presently ongoing conflict in the United States.

The following year saw Palladino rejoin Jeremy Sisto for a film by Jeremy Kasten, The Thirst, and make a guest appearance in “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” as Dan Nobler. He also has two projects in production, the musicals A Day in the Life, as Special Agent Budden, and Caught on Tape, as Hector.


Awards:
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