Donnie Wahlberg grows up from New Kids on the Block to CBS' 'Blue Bloods'

BY Richard Huff
DAILY NEWS TV EDITOR

Thursday, September 16th 2010, 4:00 AM

Blankenhorn/CBS

Donnie Wahlberg (r.) gets back to acting on CBS' new cop series 'Blue Bloods.'

Donnie Wahlberg was shooting a scene for CBS' "Blue Bloods" in Washington Square Park a few weeks back and a woman walked through the shot.
At the time, he was dressed like a detective. His badge was showing and he was approaching a "suspect" in a car. He told the woman to step back, like any cop would.
"The cameras are rolling, and she says, 'I'm going to walk down this sidewalk if I want to. It's a free country,'" Wahlberg says, laughing. "She didn't care. I've been around enough New York cops to know that's exactly what would happen.
"That's New York," the Boston- bred actor adds. "You can't get that anywhere else."
That's why "Blue Bloods," which will air Fridays at 10 starting next week, is shooting here.
The show revolves around a family of New York cops, headed by Frank Reagan, the New York police commissioner, played by Tom Selleck. Also in the cast and guest cast are Bridget Moynahan, Will Estes, Amy Carlson, Len Cariou and Nick Turturro.
For Wahlberg, "Blue Bloods" is a return to acting after a 2-1/2-year hiatus to re-form and tour with New Kids on the Block.
"My appreciation level for acting is at a high now," he says.
Wahlberg broke into acting in 1996, though it was a two-minute part in the 1999 film "The Sixth Sense" that changed everything. That part proved to many he was more than just a singer, and roles escalated from there. He earned rave reviews for HBO's "Band of Brothers" and starred in "Boomtown," "The Kill Point" and a collection of other films.
Along the way, he's grown as an actor, he says.
"I'm definitely more relaxed and more trusting in the process and the team," he says. "If I do my preparation, I know my stuff, and I'm open to what happens, I know things are going to be okay. When I was younger - even on 'Boomtown' - I was much more focused, and focused on hyper-detail. At times, I missed out on opportunities."
It wasn't always that way. He admits it took a while to get comfortable, and credits some helpful advice from Al Pacino, who pulled him aside on the set of "Righteous Kill."
"We just started talking about acting," Wahlberg recalls. "I said, 'I wish I wasn't so intense.' He said, 'You have to be intense when you have to and let it go the rest of the time.' It was the most incredible moment."
It was big, he says, because Pacino understood where Wahlberg was creatively at the time.
"It really told me I was on the right track as an actor," he says.
Now his place is the streets of New York, playing a detective in "Blue Bloods," joking with his counterparts about the Yankees and his beloved Red Sox, and being accepted by passersby.
"If we get good ratings, if we win awards, if we do anything with any level of success," he says, "it will pale in comparison to walking through the streets and hearing a real New Yorker say, 'Hey, Donnie, way to go!'"
rhuff@nydailynews.com


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