Thesps on the rise: Bobby Cannavale

By TIM CLARK

Before Bobby Cannavale landed his role as the driven young attorney J.J. Jellinek on A&E's "100 Centre Street," he was a regular on NBC's "Third Watch." His character, paramedic Bobby Caffey, was killed off last season.

"After the second season, there really wasn't much left for me to do," says Cannavale. "I can't just be pronouncing people dead and trying to revive them.

"(Producer) John Wells really plucked me from out of nowhere and I'll always be grateful for that," says Cannavale, whose previous credits include sharing a few white-hot moments with Kim Cattrall in a much discussed episode of HBO's "Sex and the City."

"My favorite things have turned out to be on cable right now," says Cannavale. "When I first saw '100 Centre Street,' I thought it was incredible.

"I just want to keep working," he says. "I don't really think about focusing on movies or anything else."