WITH AN EYE ON . . . : Isabella Hoffman finds herself rising fast in the ‘Homicide’ ranks

Isabella Hoffman is on the move.

This week, her “Homicide: Life on the Street” character, Lt. Megan Russert, gets promoted to captain over her mentor, Lt. Al Giardello (Yaphet Kotto).

The actress joined “Homicide” this season, officially the show’s third, although the series’ first season consisted of nine shows, the second only four.

Hoffman’s also in the process of moving back to her Sherman Oaks home from Baltimore, where the NBC drama shoots. She’s also bringing along a new roommate: real-life love and co-star Daniel Baldwin, who plays good ol’ boy Beau Felton.

Hoffman, speaking from the Baltimore apartment she and Baldwin share, says, “We’re moving boxes around now. It’ll be interesting going home. I have two German shepherds and Daniel has an English mastiff.” She adds that her brother, a musician, also lives in the home. “It’ll be cozy. Daniel’s a great cook,” she says.

Changes are nothing new to Hoffman, whose “Homicide” role is far removed from Kate McCarron, whom she played on NBC’s sitcom “Dear John” from 1988 to 1992.

“I was looking for a drama,” she says of her decision to join “Homicide.” “I like to do different things--comedy for awhile and then drama and vice versa.”

She describes Megan as “a woman who likes to be in control and is comfortable in knowing who she is. She embraces her femininity as well as her masculinity.” The addition of a woman lieutenant changed the mix of the show, because “it’s such a male-dominated arena, but it’s realistic too. There are more and more female detectives.”

Her co-stars had the opportunity “to go out on the streets, like Daniel did” with their real-life counterparts; the show is based on David Simon’s book about real-life homicide detectives. But she was only able to “grab technical advisers and really ask them about their experiences.” She also spent some time on a gun range, but points out that “in a 22-year career, an average homicide detective never pulls out his gun. And this show is very real and based on real cases.”

Hoffman likens her new-to-the-show status to being a house guest: “I compare it to going over to someone’s house for Thanksgiving. You’re a guest in their home, you don’t know what to bring, if you’re going to get along.” Fortunately, she brought enough talent for the mix to work. “If you know your job,” she says, “they’ll welcome you with open arms.”

The native Chicagoan, daughter of German-Lithuanian immigrants, began dancing at 5, despite her father’s opposition. “I always thought my parents were stricter than my friends’ parents.” Six years later, her father was still unhappy at the prospect his daughter might have a career as a dancer: “My parents both encouraged our artistic abilities, but my father thought the American art scene was cheap and seedy!”

But the daughter prevailed, receiving a bachelor’s of arts in theater and music from Columbia College in Chicago. Still in the Windy City, Hoffman auditioned for and found herself on the main stage of the famed Second City troupe. Work in theater, more improv and television movies (“Independence,” “And Then She Was Gone”) and TV guest shots followed until “Dear John.”

During “Homicide’s” next hiatus, she’d consider a feature (she’s appeared in “Real Men,” “Tripwire,” “I’ll Do Anything” and “Renaissance Man”). But, she says, “If Daniel’s working on a feature, I’d like to travel with him somewhere.”

She refers to herself as “the queen of anonymity”: “No one ever recognizes me. I guess for work, at least, I don’t get categorized! Of course, they recognize Daniel and he has to say: ‘This is Isabella Hoffman, and she’s also on the show.’ ”

After this week’s episode that could all change.

“Homicide: Life on the Street” airs Fridays at 10 p.m. on NBC.