Television
'Line of Fire' actor has real-life insights into life of crime

By Richard Huff
New York Daily News

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A decade ago, he was watching television in a Massachusetts cellblock where he was serving time for a variety of crimes, when he turned to a fellow inmate.

"They're getting paid to portray my life," Goodman told the guy.

Now he's getting paid to relive some of those moments on ABC's drama "Line of Fire," set to air at 10 p.m. Tuesday.

"I was involved in a lot of different crimes, rackets, all that nonsense," he said.

"My brother-in-law was slapping my sister around — my reaction to that, I went up to prison for what I did."

In the new series, Goodman plays a chief lieutenant to a crime boss (David Paymer). The show looks at crime from the side of the FBI and the criminals, while also showing that the line separating them is, occasionally, very thin.

On TV "Line of Fire," at 10 p.m. Tuesday on ABC (KOMO).

But for Goodman, the line between fiction and reality is often blurred so that it's nonexistent.

For example, in one episode, Stubbin (Goodman) violently shakes down a drug dealer. In real life, Goodman said he did just that to fund his way to Hollywood.

"I put a couple of drug dealers out of business," he said. "Big deal."

He's not proud of his background, and he doesn't want some punk being inspired by his story to get into crime.

"I've got a bullet in the back of my head and in both arms," he said. "It's scary. It's not good. I'm not proud, but you play with the hand you're dealt."

That Goodman, soon to be 40, is alive is remarkable.

He grew up in South Boston and said he was sleeping in hallways of local housing projects when he was 12. Throughout the mid-1980s, he ran drugs, banged up other criminals and was generally the kind of guy you wouldn't want your daughter to bring home to dinner. He made a point, however, of not knocking over stores or noncriminals.

He was sent to prison in 1989, where he said he was saved — by his son.

"When I used to see them leaving the visiting room, I was scared to death," he said.

He got out of jail in 1994 and realized he needed to leave crime behind.

"I saw gray hair coming in, and I thought, 'What are you going to do?' " he said. "I did one of those (drug) scores. The money used to fill the hole in me. But I'm bright enough to know, there's only one or two outcomes. I looked up, 'Show me ... that there's something else I can do."

Acting was his only hope. In 1998, he landed a part in a small film, "Southie," which starred Donnie Wahlberg, and centered on a group of South Boston thugs.

"Most people who meet him say that there's something about his eyes, and the life he's lived," Wahlberg said. "It's all over his face. A lot of actors have to manufacture that."

Walhberg and Goodman became fast friends and have remained close ever since.

"There's not a lot of pretense with him," Wahlberg said. "He realizes he doesn't have a lot of time."

Goodman understands how fortunate he is. In a short time, he's landed parts in such films as "Blow," spent an hour auditioning with Steven Spielberg for a part in "Catch Me If You Can" and appeared on the NBC show "Boomtown."

In an ironic but emotional twist, there's a scene in an episode of "Line of Fire," where Stubbin goes to see his 17-year-old-son, who has been locked up. The part was played by Goodman's real son, Brian, now 21, which marked a reversal of the same spot they were in more than a decade earlier, when Goodman realized he had to change his life.

"It's the three-minute scene I'm most proud of," he said. "It was the best moment of my career. There will never be another scene that means as much to me as that one."

Copyright © 2003 The Seattle Times Company