Fans of drama take note: Fordham’s own Taylor Schilling (FCLC ’06) made her television debut in Mercy, a hospital drama that premiered on Sept. 23, on NBC.
Schilling, a theater major who has also appeared in the 2007 film Dark Matter, stars as Veronica Callahan, a nurse who returns to Mercy Hospital after a year long tour of service in the Army.
In the first episode, “Can We Get That Drink Now?” viewers were also introduced to Callahan’s fellow nurses Sonia, who thinks she finally found the man of her life; and Chloe, a rookie who is learning how to be a nurse the hard way . And Schilling’s mother on the show is played by Fordham Department of Theatre faculty member Kate Mulgrew.
Schilling is not alone when it comes to Fordham grads in new TV shows this year. Dylan McDermott (FCLC ’83), perhaps best known for his role as lawyer and law firm head on the legal drama The Practice, went deep undercover as Lt. Carter Shaw in Dark Blue, a crime drama on TNT that wrapped up its first season on Sept. 16
Thomas Calabro (FCLC ’81), meanwhile, is reprising his role as Dr. Michael Mancini in Melrose Place, which after running for seven seasons on Fox, was given new life on the CW network on September 8. Though he’d found recurring roles on CBS’Without A Trace and Touched By An Angel, and on F/X’s Nip/Tuck, Calabro was a natural to bring back, as he was the only character on the original show to appear in every season, from beginning to end.