T.J. HOOKER BRITISH ANNUAL

excerpt two :
ADRIAN ZMED ON OFFICER ROMANO

"It's a crazy world, really," says Adrian Zmed. "I used to play cops and robbers as a kid in Chicago and now I'm getting paid for it."

A dancer and a singer as well as an actor, Zmed stars as Officer Vince Romano, a young, eager recruit, in "T.J. Hooker".

Playing Romano is fun for the dark-haired actor because of "all the physical action the series demands, but it's also a change of pace for my career.

"I usually play the hood," he says. "On stage in 'Grease' and even in the movie 'Grease II' I'm the hood. I guess the producers of 'T.J. Hooker' looked at Romano as a character who could have gone either way -- good or bad. He has elected to become a cop, but understands how the crook thinks."

Zmed, who has trained at the famed Goodman School of Drama has invested a lot of time in writing a history for his character.

"I feel he was born in South Philly, to a strict Italian family," he relates. "He was the youngest in a large family and his parents died when he was a child so his brothers and sisters raised him. In order not to be a burden on them, Romano ran off and joined the army. He wound up in Vietnam and became a good soldier."

Zmed feels that since Romano was a success as a soldier, and it's the only thing he knows, he joins the police force to find another army.

"There's a war going on in the streets and Romano wants to be a part of it," he says. "But while he's sure of his job, he's not sure in personal relationships and that is shown in how he chases women. He can't be vulnerable and stick with just one."

back to top

©1983 Columbia Pictures Industries Inc.

Published by GRANDREAMS LTD., Jadwin House, 205/211 Kentish Town Road, London NW5. Printed in Holland. ISBN 0 86227 155 X.