TV's stand-up cop assesses the postmodern criminal, the failures of the church and the lessons he learned from street fights and love scenes. David Caruso is a master of eye contact. Whether playing Detective John Kelly on TVs NYPD Blue or just being himself, Caruso tilts his carrot-topped Irish mug downward, then slowly looks up and--boom--you're in his headlights. This gaze of serene menace coupled with infinite empathy explains why legions of female fans (and a majority of the media) have anointed Caruso the sex symbol of the season. That, fine scripts and exceptional acting--plus the fact that Caruso bared his butt in the first episode--have helped make the latest Steven Bochco cop show a hit. Caruso came by his role after playing another stand-up cop to perfection in Mad Dog and Glory. Before that Caruso was in films such as An Officer and a Gentleman and the male-bonding classic King of New York. At Caruso's last-minute invitation, Contributing Editor David Rensin met with the actor for dinner at a hilltop restaurant on a foggy Los Angeles night. Says Rensin, "Caruso ordered mineral water but didn't like the taste. He asked for a salad but ate only two bites of it. By the time the pasta was served he had lost his appetite. As with everything else, Caruso worries over his food."

Q1 Playboy: As a teenager you had a chance to participate in a grocery store robbery. You didn't. What kept you on the straight and narrow?

David Caruso: [Laughs] I don't think that there was any major crime career looming for me. I always have been leery of buying into the short-term game. The two other people who sat at the planning table that night are no longer with us. They died brutal deaths at a young age. What a fucking waste. If you know anything about criminals, you know that they're not in it for the money. They may rationalize it that way, but real criminals are in it to destroy and hurt people. They have an agenda. Take a look around: Criminals no longer just grab handbags. They shoot people. They rob the store, then go back in and shoot the clerk. For what? They got the money. Criminals are angry, disturbed people who are looking for attention. Thirty years ago it wasn't like that. The old rules are defunct. Public figures are involved in all kinds of corruption. The Church has lost its grasp. People don't feel anything for one another anymore. All bets are off. In the old days crooks had some sense that they were breaking the law. Now it's an industry based on hurting you. You represent or have something that they think they want--and can't have. So there's a tremendous desire to act out because they feel powerless.

Why, when your car gets stolen, is it later found with the insides ripped to shreds? Easy. Stealing isn't enough. They want to hurt somebody.

Q2 Playboy: You've become famous, in part, for showing your butt. Are we setting our sights too low?

Caruso: The butt thing was a media deal. It hadn't been done before in prime time, so it got some attention. I don't think that's why people come back to the show, though: "Hey, Caruso did another butt shot last night!" We should set our sights higher--maybe my lower back. If I never do it again, that's OK, too. But butts will continue. We do adult television and there are going to be love scenes. So we're just waiting for new butts.

Q3 Playboy: How hard do you hit the body makeup?

Caruso: You do a layer of body makeup. Then, depending on how long the scenes take, they'll touch you up. Body makeup is a weird concept. They pretty much cover it all. I have them do the whole canvas, so to speak. Then, depending on the situation, my girlfriend, Paris, will complete the work of art.

Q4 Playboy: Actors sometimes bring parts of their sexual technique to love scenes. Are there moves that you bring from home that are impossible to disguise, or that you might suspect are authentic in a screen partner?

Caruso: I agree that you can't hide who you are. You can attempt to manufacture certain things, but it is really about availability: Are you willing to materialize for the scene or not? In real life, if you're open to making love to somebody, you're available to them on every level, every cell. You show up even when there's fear, insecurity, the possibility of loss or humiliation. It's tough to risk all that. To create that on the screen with a stranger, and to make it work, takes the same type of willingness to materialize. Otherwise it won't be real.

The circumstances in the script will also set boundaries. Am I falling in love with this woman? Or is this a painful sequence because we're breaking up? In scenes with Sherry Stringfield, who plays my ex-wife, Laura, we weren't supposed to materialize for each other, and it showed. In scenes with Amy Brenneman, who plays Janice Licalsi, our characters were both willing to jump off the metaphoric cliff. In those scenes, which initially got all the attention, there was real investment and risk involved. I feel fortunate to have had my first major love scene with Amy because of her real courage. She just jumped. She was great. Amy did not protect herself, did not hold back. She did not have one foot out the door. That's liberating, man. It's a relief when you have somebody to dance with, because then the potential becomes unlimited. When you have somebody who's free--man, talk about putting a smile on your face. All the armor comes off and you've got a partner. I should add that this is also why some actors meet on a film as characters in a relationship and then start one offscreen. They believe it themselves. They fall into it.

It feels right, it feels comfortable, it feels exciting. You buy into it because you want your real life to be that heightened.

Q5 Playboy: You've had a couple of busted marriages but are now happily entangled, though not wed. What do you know now that you wish you'd known before?