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the Exes
Jeffrey Nordling

Don't try telling Jeffrey Nordling (left) he plays the bad guy on Once and Again. Oh, he'll admit that Jake Manning, philandering ex-husband of Lily (Sela Ward) and the father of their two daughters (Julia Whelan and Meredith Deane), has his foibles. "But Jake is the hero of the Show", says Nordling with a laugh. "I mean that, because even though Lily is the saint and Jake is the snake who ruined the marriage, he's doing his damnedest to be the best possible man he can be for his kids." As the real-life father of two daughters -- 4-year-old twins Eloise and Miranda -- Nordling knows plenty about family devotion (he's married to actress Francia DiMase). In fact, while the 39-year-old actor has a wealth of credits on his resumé -- from such off-Broadway productions as "Macbeth," costarring Alec Baldwin, to the CBS TV-movie Personally Yours, with Valerie Bertinelli -- he's found the breakout role of his career on the family drama.

"I don't think actors need to live the life to play the role," says Nordling, who grew up in Washington Township, New Jersey, in a close-knit family (his father Robert, worked on Wall Street; his mother, Lois, was an opera singer) and attended Wheaton College outside Chicago before studying drama at Southern Methodist University. "I mean, I've never been divorced, but the thing I have in common with Jake [is] that he's just head over heels in love with his girls and he'll do anything for them, including shady business deals."

As for the man who plays her wayward ex, Ward, herself the mother of two, says, "Because Jake and Lily are always at odds with each other, we rarely have scenes together that have tender moments, [but] Jeffrey is just great to work with. He's so solid and such a powerful presence."

This season, that presence has grown beyond simply playing the unhappy former spouse. "Jake acts on impulse, but when things are falling into place for him, nobody seems to have it more together," says Nordling, who predicts that some of that newfound equanimity will be tested as Jake confronts the ramifications of his newly expanding family. After breaking up with girlfriend Tiffany (Ever Carradine, who is set to return as a series regular if the show is renewed), Jake recently learned that she is expecting his child.

"If you had asked Jake what kind of woman he saw himself with [after Lily], he wouldn't have picked Tiffany. He picked her for other reasons, shall we say," Nordling says. "He doesn't really think things through, so every step he takes leads to more chaos. But it's wonderful to play. Oh, baby, is it ever." - HdV © (copyright) TV GUIDE

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