You probably know Kevin Rankin from his role as Herc on the series Friday Night Lights but starting tonight, he’ll be on the other side of the wheelchair when he takes on the role of a paramedic in the new NBC series Trauma.

Kevin joined me on the phone last week to talk about both his past glories and his future on TV.

Cyn: I always look forward to your performances on Friday Night Lights; really where I got to know you’re work. Could just tell me a little bit about that experience?

Kevin: First of all, the heavens opened up and delivered that character to me. I know that they were reading real quadriplegics from across the country and I’d seen the documentary Murder Ball. I knew what they wanted and I’d shake my head, went in, read the full-on character, you know the character wasn’t originally southern, I gave him an accent and gave him a lot of bravado and got called two days later and I was on a plane to Austin, Texas.

They put me right into rehab, right when I got there, and I stayed in a handicap hotel room. I went out on Sixth Street, there in Austin, with other quads in a wheelchair and sort of lived the life for the month that I was there and it was an unbelievable experience. The character was only supposed to be in about three episodes but they kept inviting me back and just sort of, took on a life of its own and I could not be happier with that. I mean, as far as I’m concerned at this point, it gave me a career.

Cyn: I understand the disabled community really appreciated the performance. It was quite unusual for what we’re used to seeing on television.

Kevin: Definitely. Of course, just being with some of the real quads, I was able to physically take on some characteristics. But my main goal was to play Herc in a way to where you may have seen him roll in, in that chair, but really fast did you forget he was in that chair. You know, really fast you, might as well imagine him, he walked in and sat down; he didn’t roll in here. And that was really important for me to portray it that way, to show that’s only one small thing about this guy, that he can’t walk. And that was really important to us, and I can’t tell you how happy it makes me that we were received the way we were with the handicap community.

Read the rest here: Kevin Rankin is Trauma-tized |.