Q: Did you follow any nurses to prepare for this?

Falco: I did, although I am not a big research person. I tend to want to know more about who this character is than about nursing. I went and spent some time at Bellevue [one of the busiest ERs in New York City]. And the truth is I was too self-conscious being in an emergency room while people were going through real-life stuff. I suddenly thought, if I was in an emergency room and there was an actress observing me, what would I feel? I couldn’t stand it. I didn’t know how to be anonymous and how to be a fly on the wall—not to mention spending an afternoon in Bellevue if you don’t have to.

Q: Do you, as an actor, worry about getting too associated with a particular issue or a profession you’re portraying on screen? Are you careful about not getting typecast?

Falco: Well, it’s natural for people to do that. They forget that I’m an actress. I’m not a nurse or a mob wife. It used to upset me. On the Sopranos, Italian American organizations would contact me. I’m half Italian, but I’m an actress. I realized that I can just politely decline. It is ultimately a huge compliment—or that is how I’ve decided to take it—that they associate you with these things. While they’re watching the show, I want them to believe it’s true.

But it does get complicated, and I do need to be clear about my sense of obligation. I am involved with this, and I suppose I should be. I’ve gotten better about saying no and not feeling guilty, doing what I can if it doesn’t cost me too much, working sixteen-hour days and having two small children. And it’s something I care about.

Q: Tell me more about your interest in health care.

Falco: I feel that it is unacceptable that in a country with this kind of money and the kind of excess we’re capable of, there are people who just can’t go to the doctor when they need to. Everything falls under that basic headline. It’s absolutely preposterous to me that anybody should worry about going to the doctor when they don’t feel well. When I am asked to come up and speak about this I am 100 percent behind it. It’s not earth-shattering or groundbreaking but if they need a familiar TV face to come and say that, I’m the one, I’m your man.

My parents have been sick, so I’ve had my own foray into the medical world. I’ve also compared what happened to me fifteen years ago, when I was just another working actress trying to get by, with what happens now. Then I’d be sitting in waiting rooms and people would tell me such and such is not covered by insurance. [Falco was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2003.] Now all these years later, I’m on a TV show and I’m in the exam room immediately. I can get any doctor I want. Y My family says, “Oh, thank God,” and I’m feeling if those doctors and those rooms are available to a fancy TV lady, they should be more available to everybody.

This is just a small part of the interview with Edie Falco, which appears in the April 2010 issue. Subscribe to The Progressive for just $14.97 by clicking here to read the entire interview, as well as the cover stories on amending the Constitution.