By VINCE HORIUCHI
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
In a way, Scott Wolf moved to Utah to become a doctor.
The 38-year-old actor, who set hearts aflutter as Baily Salinger in the quintessential twenty-something ensemble "Party of Five," was hired in 2004 to play Dr. Jake Hartman on the WB drama "Everwood," which was shot in Utah.
After two seasons and the demise of that series, Wolf was hired to play another doctor, this time the stressed out and guilt-ridden heart surgeon Jeremy Kates in the new ABC serial drama, "The Nine."
Along with the professions of the characters, something else stayed the same with both jobs _ Wolf and his wife still live in Utah.
"It's a charmed existence living in Park City, Utah," he said about the place he now calls home. "If you had told me two years ago when I showed up to do 'Everwood' that we would want to find a way to have permanent residence there, I would have had you committed... . "We've met great people. Because it's a real ski town, there's great restaurants. There's plenty to do outdoors. My wife and I have been really happy there."
But with a new hit series filming in Los Angeles, Wolf is looking for a second home in California and will have to commute on some weekends to see his wife, who is finishing her psychology degree.
But that's a sacrifice they're willing to make since it didn't take long for them to fall in love with the Utah mountain resort community _ the site of many of the alpine events in the 2002 Olympics _ and its residents.
Wolf was born in New Jersey and moved to Los Angeles to study to become an actor.
"In a funny way, my mom sort of was excited I became an actor because she was stifled a bit by her mom," he said. "She wanted to go to school and study acting, and her mom talked her out of it. So I love being able to share it (with her)."
Early in his career, he worked briefly in other TV series including "Evening Shade," "The Commish" and "Blossom" as well as the films "White Squall" and "Double Dragon."
But his breakout was the Fox series "Party of Five," where he played the oft-troubled brother whose parents were killed by a drunk driver.
He moved to Utah to play Dr. Hartman on "Everwood," a role he said he enjoyed doing for a two-season arc before he wanted to be written out of the series (that same year, the show was cancelled anyway). The show's co-stars, Treat Williams and Gregory Smith, also kept homes in Park City after the show ended.
Though he has now taken on the role of another doctor for the drama "The Nine," the character, Dr. Kates, is darker _ bearing heavy secrets following a 52-hour hostage ordeal that leaves its victims traumatized. Exactly what happened during the standoff is being slowly revealed in flashbacks.
Wolf's character is flooded with doubt and regret over an event inside the bank that viewers don't know about yet.
"To be a surgeon and be good at what he does had to come from a place of power and confidence. He needs to believe that he's going to get it done," he said of his character. And he comes out of the bank wounded in a way that undermines his entire sense of himself. His power has been stripped."
Despite that, it seems that playing doctors has been healthy for Scott Wolf's career.
"My mother's happy," he said. "She's keeping a professional in the family."
