David Caruso was first seen on a national basis in a coffee commercial of the mid 1970s, in which he played a stockboy in Margaret Hamilton's general store. To pick up extra money between jobs, Caruso offered his services to the New York police department, where his punkish countenance came in handy in line-ups.
This same street-smart quality enabled Caruso to win his first semi-regular TV series role in 1981, as the Irish-American gang leader Shamrock on Hill Street Blues. Subsequent film and TV assignments were in a similar supporting category (for example, Caruso played the panicky aviation candidate who washes out of training early-on in An Officer and a Gentleman [1984]). Caruso's first starring TV gig was on the short-lived 1990 cop series H.E.L.P., as officer Frank Sardoni. He continued in this Law Enforcement vein with the role of Det. John Kelly on TV's NYPD Blue (1993- ) produced by Caruso's old Hill Street Blues boss Stephen Bochco. This was Caruso's breakthrough into full stardom, and he remained with the series for a little over a season. After a highly publicized clash with the producers, David Caruso left NYPD Blue in 1995, parlaying his newfound celebrity into his first starring feature film, Kiss of Death (1995). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide. 