Dennis Franz

Two decades of playing cops in films and on television prepared actor Dennis Franz for the role of his lifetime - that of troubled Detective Andy Sipowicz on "NYPD Blue" (ABC, 1993-2005). It took an actor of Franz's talent and presence to find the sympathetic elements beneath Sipowicz's bristling hide, and Franz brought them out in every single episode of the benchmark series, earning four Emmys in the process. Prior to his success on "Blue," Franz was a veteran of the Chicago theater scene and a character actor specializing in cops and heels, most notably on "Hill Street Blues" (NBC, 1981-1987) as Lt. Norman Buntz. But "NYPD Blue" provided his finest hours, and ensured Franz a place in television history as one of the medium's most complicated lawmen.