Caruso's overnight success was years in the making. The NYC native had fashioned a solid career as a supporting player in film and TV, making his big-screen debut in the silly horror pic "Without Warning" (1980) and a more auspicious small screen debut in the 1950s nostalgia movie "Crazy Times" (1981), which also starred newcomer Ray Liotta. He raised some eyebrows to his talent as the meek recruit who almost drowned in the hit movie "An Officer and a Gentleman" (1982) and as a young deputy who sees the error in Brian Dennehy's ways in "First Blood", he took his first crack at playing a cop. Caruso first teamed with Bochco for the first three episodes of NBC's "Hill Street Blues" (1981), turning in a fine performance as a tough Irish gang leader, which prompted comparisons to James Cagney for both his edginess and carrot top. He began an association with Abel Ferrara on the pilot episode of NBC's "Crime Story" (1986) that would continue with the features "China Girl" (1987) and "The King of New York" (1990), the former as a psychopathic gangster, the latter as a sadistic Irish cop bent on dethroning Christopher Walken. It was his acclaimed portrayal of Robert De Niro's macho partner in John McNaughton's "Mad Dog and Glory" (1993) that convinced the "NYPD Blue" people to hire him as Detective John Kelly.
"Blue" put Caruso in the right place at the right time for stardom, casting him as a good guy whose marriage is on the rocks and who sustains a flickering romance with a fellow cop. Urging viewer discretion, the ground-breaking series showcased his butt first (other exposed derrieres like Dennis Franz's would follow), and the soulful, intense Caruso became an instant sex symbol and break-out star of the non-star driven new hit. Perhaps a perfectionism bred during his film career made the adjustment to the grind-it-out quality of series TV difficult, or maybe it was just the show's exhausting schedule (15-hour days requiring Caruso to give his best in the final hour) that wore on him so. After one critically revered season, from which he garnered a Golden Globe Award, the actor asked for a substantial salary increase and other concessions from Bochco, who, following a few weeks of highly publicized negotiations (and nasty personality clashes), replaced him with Jimmy Smits.
Despite some admirers for his first post-"Blue" effort, the remake of the noir classic "Kiss of Death", for which he pocketed a cool $1 million, Caruso was unable to ignite any interest in his big screen career and returned to the small screen in the guise of "Michael Hayes" (CBS, 1997), a federal prosecutor based very loosely on the early career of Rudy Giuliani. He starred opposite Marg Helgenberger in Showtime's "Elmore Leonard's 'Gold Coast'" (1997) and in "Cold Heart", which won John Ridley the Best Director Award at NYC's 1997 Urbanworld Film Festival. Later the same year, he shot "Body Count" with Linda Fiorentino and Forest Whitaker. He contined to work steadily in features, earning particularly good notices for his supporting turn in the drama "Proof of Life" (2000) opposite Rusell Crowe and Meg Ryan.
In 2002 Caruso returned once again to network television as Horatio Caine on the CBS television series "CSI: Miami" (2002 -), the first spin-off from producer Jerry Bruckheimer's forensic franchise; the series proved to be a popular addition to the CBS line-up, and Caruso humbly took pains to demonstrate that he had learned his lesson about overinflated egos following the "NYPD Blue" debacle.