Julian McMahon, ‘Profiler’s’ Distant Detective

Julian McMahon can be a perfect gentleman. And he can be a total goof.

During a break in his trailer on location with “Profiler,” the NBC dramatic series in which he plays FBI Det. John Grant, the strikingly handsome Australian-born actor dissolves into a mock, aristocratic mode.

“I love life. I love the whole breathing thing,” he declares, drawing in his cheeks, rolling his eyes. “I love breathing in, I love breathing out.”

Earlier, on the set, located this day in downtown Los Angeles in an old meat-packing house configured to look like an artist’s loft, he greets visitors with kisses on both cheeks.

“Did they roll out the red carpet for you?” he asks, smiling brilliantly, gesturing broadly as if to say, “All this is mine, welcome to my palace.”

His “palace” is the less-than-glamorous warehouse floor, packed with cast and crew--and McMahon is not the star of the show or the center of attention. But McMahon--his over-the-top personality and 6-foot-2 frame aside--has the kind of acting chops that colleagues say could help him emerge from “Profiler’s” largely ensemble cast.

“When you meet him, there is an innate charm and likability, a ‘regular guy’ kind of thing,” says Stephen Kronish, who joined “Profiler” as executive producer this fall. “He has the ability and the physical package that casting people look for. If you can get men to want to go out and have a beer with you and get women to want to jump into bed with you, that’s a pretty good mix. He’s got that quality.”

While many Americans may not be familiar with McMahon, the 30-year-old Sydney native is a household name in his home country and the United Kingdom. His father, Sir William McMahon, spent a lifetime in politics, the high point as prime minister of Australia from 1971 to 1972. And in the early ‘90s, the actor starred in “Home and Away,” a successful Australian soap opera with a huge international audience.

Then too there was the media swarm that followed McMahon during his courtship of and marriage (in 1994) to his “Home and Away” co-star, Australian singer-actress Dannii Minogue, sister of pop star, Kylie. They divorced three years later, as her career took her to London and his to New York, where he landed a role as Ian Rain on NBC’s daytime drama “Another World.”

Although McMahon, who has been with “Profiler” since its debut in 1996, has a key role, the way his character is constructed in the high drama formula doesn’t allow much opportunity for him to flex his acting muscles. For three seasons, the show has followed the lives of forensic psychologist Dr. Samantha “Sam” Waters (Ally Walker) and the FBI’s Atlanta-based Violent Crimes Task Force, which investigates serial killing crimes across the country. Sam’s mentor, Bailey Malone (Robert Davi), heads the task force, which includes McMahon’s character.

The thriller’s hook is that Sam possesses the ability to “think in pictures” in order to “profile”--and thereby identify--this very specific breed of killers.

McMahon’s character can be hot-headed or sober at the flip of a switch. There is his scowling intensity when he’s face to face with--or gunning down--a psycho killer. But there’s not much emotional range for the detective, who’s a professionally driven loner. John Grant has a bit of sarcastic humor, and he more often than not goes for the jugular rather than the niceties of interrogation techniques, but that’s about it.

Generally, the character is immutable, unreadable. However, there have been moments when McMahon’s been able to convey sensitivity.

In one episode this season, a serial killer has a gun pointed at Grant’s head. She’s a cop who’s been killing--and castrating--men who don’t comply with police investigations. Forced to his knees, Grant gives an impassioned, but calculated, speech: “You were everything a father could want in a daughter, but that wasn’t good enough . . . “ his eyes searching, his voice cracking. He closes his eyes for a moment, and then she turns the gun on herself.

McMahon actually has little in common with the enigma he has been given to portray on “Profiler.”

“He’s very sensitive, full of enthusiasm and positive energy,” notes Davi, who adds that he’s formed an older brother type of relationship with his co-star. He recounts how McMahon spent time with his family and young daughters when Davi’s wife was ill. “He’s like the Australian [Roberto] Benigni, with warmth and generosity.”

“Baywatch” star Brooke Burns, who has been dating McMahon for five months, echoes the sentiment.

“He’s very masculine and, at the same time, very tender-hearted,” says the 21-year-old actress. “He really cares about people, he’s genuine.”

On the set, in counterpoint to the scene being taped--in which a female agent discovers she is being stalked--McMahon is hamming it up off camera, pretending to swallow pills on the kitchen counter, slashing the air with a kitchen knife Zorro-style, kicking up his heels.

When the scene is over, he slips into a Mafioso character: “It was good for me. Was it good for you?”

“Part of this job as an actor is to look as intense as you can,” McMahon says later. “I have to laugh. I get the giggles, like back in school.”

At least once this season he’s been allowed to laugh--during a guest spot on the NBC sitcom “Will & Grace,” playing a steaming hunk who rekindles Grace’s emotional fire.

“Creatively, it was fascinating,” he says. “They’re really spontaneous on the set.”

On the Saturday following the taping, McMahon is at his Hollywood home, an eclectic place located directly underneath the Hollywood sign.

“As a kid I didn’t even know about Hollywood. I was into school, sports, friends and my family,” he says, his speech still slightly flavored by Australia. “But then I remember going and seeing ‘Star Wars’ and thinking that was amazing, that for two hours, it put me totally somewhere else.”

The second of three children, he traveled at an early age to places like Buckingham Palace and the White House and was at home when his parents entertained. Though the family was close, McMahon did not spend much time with his much older and politically involved father. That changed when his father was diagnosed with cancer. The two formed a tight bond until his death in 1988.

“It was difficult because I had just found this best friend, an 80-year-old man, and he was just taken from me,” he recalls. “My dad was the kind of person who would treat everybody the same, a really wonderful trait that he passed on to me without my knowing it.”

He also inherited his father’s sense of humor, according to McMahon’s mother Lady Sonia, a leading society figure in Australia.

“Julian was always joking around and the life of the party,” she says by phone. “Not that I ever thought it would lead to something like this.”

There were hints. McMahon started modeling when he was 17, after a university stint. Heading off for Los Angeles, New York, Milan, Rome and Paris, he wanted to make a name for himself. He went from modeling to the daytime soaps, then prime time. He hopes serious movie roles will be next. During the 1997 series hiatus, McMahon appeared in “In Quiet Night,” an independent film that never made it to theatrical release, and this summer, he will continue reading for feature film parts.

“I hate labels, but people put you in a box or category, that’s how they are. But you can’t allow yourself to get in that box,” he says.

Nevertheless, for a while most people will connect McMahon with the distant Det. Grant. This week, NBC announced that “Profiler” would be back for another season in the fall.

Part of the network’s “thrillogy” Saturday evening lineup, the show has been a hit among adults 18-49 and women 25-54, and the 1997-98 season gave NBC its first time period win in five years among adults 18-49 on the night. But McMahon knows that the television life cycle can be short--and he’s prepared for his run on “Profiler” to end.

Says McMahon: “You have to have the ability to pick yourself up and go on when things don’t go right.”

* “Profiler” airs at 10 p.m. Saturdays on NBC.