>Blair Underwood
If clothes make the man, then Blair Underwood has been ready for his close-up on the new CBS medical drama City of Angels ever since he discovered that the scrubs he wore for son Paris's 1997 birth were surprisingly comfortable. "From that day forward," says Underwood, who plays surgeon Ben Turner, "I've been wearing scrubs at home all the time—my pj's are scrubs. It's only appropriate that I come to work and put on scrubs."
That's not the only part of Angels that rings true for Underwood, 35, who is enjoying a rare opportunity to work with a predominantly African-American cast and crew. "Initially the public is going to feel this 'chocolate blanket,' I call it," says Underwood, who appeared on seven seasons of L.A. Law. "But once they tune in, they'll see it is really a reflection of L.A. and of America."
Underwood's role as husband and father to wife Désirée, 37, son Paris, 2, and 15-month-old daughter, Brielle, is a reflection of his paramount priority: his family. "The axis in my universe has shifted," says Underwood. "Nothing is more important than what is at home."
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