ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, February 5, 1996 TAG: 9602050043
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES
SOURCE: LYNN ELBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
Downsizing may be the trend in big business, but not in big medicine - at least not at ``Chicago Hope.''
While star Mandy Patinkin has chosen to become an infrequent visitor to the CBS medical drama and the hospital's attorney (Alan Birch) met an untimely end, there are always fresh arrivals.
Thomas Gibson, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Peter Berg and Jayne Brook came aboard during the first year. The second-season roster has expanded to include Christine Lahti and the newest doc on the block, Jamey Sheridan.
Sheridan, who was introduced as obstetrician John Sutton in October, is still finding his way in the ensemble series (airing 10 p.m. Mondays on WDBJ-Channel 7) from ``Picket Fences'' producer David E. Kelley.
Sutton's professional skills have been touted, but his personal life is a bit cloudy. So far, there are hints of a past romance with Lahti's character, a tough surgeon, and a mild flirtation with Brook's Dr. Diane Grad.
When he was asked to join the cast, Sheridan says, ``I knew I loved the show. The question that comes is, `Where do I fit?' The answer is to watch and wait.
``What I'm realizing is it's gonna take some time, learning who he is exactly. With nine characters to write for, they [the show's creators] have a heavy load. I knew that was coming.''
Sheridan feels at home with the other ``Hope'' actors, although he says it was ``rough at first.''
``But it wasn't because anybody was mean,'' he says. ``I was an unknown factor and it felt to me like trying to sit in with a band ... And, hopefully, like a musician, I'm trying to just listen my way in, get oriented.''
``Chicago Hope'' is Sheridan's second TV series. The actor with the broad, boyish grin made a splash in the 1990-91 season as star of ``Shannon's Deal,'' a smart, tough-minded drama about a dedicated lawyer.
Created by filmmaker John Sayles (``Eight Men Out''), with attorney Alan Dershowitz as consultant, the series featured Sheridan as a flawed, disillusioned lawyer trying to practice on his own ethical terms.
It proved a worthy but short-lived blip on the TV screen, unable to attract big audiences.
``I tried not to let it get to me too much,'' Sheridan says of the series' failure. ``I did love it. I was real proud of the work.
``It's funny, but as time goes by I get stopped in airports all the time - and it's always about `Shannon's Deal.' And it's always someone saying, thinking I was in control of it, `Why did you leave? Where did you go?'''
The answer: back to the theater (where he had earned a 1987 Tony nomination for Arthur Miller's ``All My Sons''), films (including ``A Stranger Among Us'' and ``Talent for the Game'') and into TV movies and miniseries.
Last year, he played a self-absorbed boyfriend in ``My Left Breast,'' a woman's chronicle of her fight against cancer, and evil incarnate in ``Stephen King's The Stand.''
``They both came out in the same week,'' he says. ``It was like `Slimy and Slimier.' With `Chicago Hope,' I'm seeing if anyone will like me again.''
It was dance, not drama, that first drew Sheridan to the stage. The native of Encino, Calif. - his father was an Australian commando in World War II who emigrated after the war - studied the performing arts at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
When an injury ended his chances for a career in dance, he turned his attention to writing and, eventually, acting.
``It took five years before I arrived in New York without money and thought, `I'll try that,''' he said. His breakthrough role came in a Sam Shepard play, ``Tooth of Crime,'' in the late '70s.
``That's when I decided, `I think I'm gonna do this [acting].' I was already 28 then,'' he said. ``I've kind of done everything late.''
Including parenthood, at age 40. He and his wife, actress Colette Kilroy, welcomed a baby boy last summer. His personal and professional lives are meshing nicely, Sheridan observes.
``I thought this [`Chicago Hope'] was one job in series TV I could do, at the moment, because I have a fresh new baby. There's a lot of time off and I'm not there all the time.''
LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Sheridanby CNB