Nurse Jackie has gotten off to a hell of a start with Edie Falco in the title role, dispensing her own justice on injured rapists and sleeping her way through a painkiller addiction. Falco can relate well to the struggles of the New York nurse on Showtime's new series.

"I'm sober 17 years, so I understand addiction and that kind of craziness," Falco said. "I know it first hand, but I am like her in other ways to. We're both hard workers, we're very passionate, we care about the things we're doing no matter what stands in our way, but I think I take a little more time trying to be nice than she does. Anyone who's struggled with any kind of addiction lives on that fine line until their done, until they die from it or get help."

Perhaps Jackie and Edie are just opposite sides of the same coin. "Also, once and addict, always an addict, but as a recovering person, you know what the danger signs and danger zones are. You steer clear of them, in your real life. To play someone who doesn't, who actually gives into those things, is fun and exciting, and feels very familiar."

Maybe you wouldn't want your caretaker jonesing on Percoset, but you also wouldn't want her spasming out while putting in your IV. Certainly audiences can appreciate a no nonsense woman taking the law into her own hands when a legal loophole will let a criminal free.

"I have great admiration for people who are volitional in that way. They're going to get done what they're going to get done, no matter what it takes, and don't have so much concern of what other think of them and aren't all that concerned with rules. They're heroes in their own right. I myself am so different from that, so I welcomed the opportunity to be that ballistic."

Despite all these similarities between Edie and Jackie, Falco is just starting to get to know her character in what she hopes will be a long running series. "I'm getting there. Every episode I get a bit better. I never know [how long it will take]. It slips in secretly and quietly. I'm discovering a lot about this woman as we go along. I don't understand her from an intellectual place yet, I may never. She's got a great heart. She's always got good in mind, though her venues may not always be right. If she was to get caught, I think she might be able to explain what the hell was going on or what was the genesis of her action."

"Nurse Jackie" airs Monday nights on Showtime.



See more photos of Edie here:

Image © Janet Mayer / PR Photos

Story/Interview by Fred Topel

Starpulse contributing writer

(Starpulse in Hollywood): Every week, Hollywood's biggest stars are meeting in the hot spots and Starpulse is there.