David stars as "FBI agent Charlie Eppes" on CBS's new drama "Numb3rs". Krumholtz recently starred as Milt Shaw in the critically acclaimed film "Ray" and was featured in "Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle." His other feature film credits include "Santa Clause 2," "Slums of Beverly Hills," "The Mexican," "Sidewalks of New York," "Scorched," "Ten Things I Hate About You" and "Liberty Heights." Krumholtz's television credits include guest starring roles in "Undeclared," "Freaks and Geeks," "ER" and the television movie "Big Shot: Confessions of a Campus Bookie." He will also be seen in the upcoming films "Guess Who," starring Ashton Kutcher and Bernie Mac, and "Serenity." His independent film, "The Last Holdout," recently debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival. David was born on May 15, 1978, in New York.

 

David Krumholtz: 'Numb3rs' adds up for new series' stars

Rob Morrow had seen all the usual TV scripts with cops and courts and comedy and such.

Then came "Numb3rs," which caught him by surprise. "I didn't know that math was a hook for a m audience," he says.

Hey, anything is possible. Small-town Alaska was a TV favorite in Morrow's "Northern Exposure."

Now "Numb3rs" -- yes it's spelled that way -- links math and crime fighting. It premieres at about 9 p.m. Jan. 23 on CBS after football's AFC championship game. Then it gets a regular spot at 9 p.m. Fridays after "JAG."

This show spans two worlds via brothers.

One is an ace FBI agent named Don Eppes, played by Morrow. The role is a change for him. "It's fun to play the heroic guy who knows what he's doing," he says.

The other brother, Charlie Eppes, is a math whiz who helps with cases. He's played by David Krumholtz, which is pretty good for a guy who says he was very bad at math as a kid.

"I was the kid in algebra cl who had no idea what's going on. ... I always thought it should be an optional cl, like gym."

Now the 26-year-old has to seem pionate about it as he uses mathematical equations to help his brother hunt criminals.

Some of the chalkboard close-ups uses Krumholtz's stunt double, a math student. For the rest, he's on his own.

"Numb3rs" is CBS' latest effort to increase ratings by employing filmmakers with impressive credentials.

The network has already scored with Jerry Bruckheimer's "CSI," "Without a Trace," "Cold Case" and "Amazing Race." Now it has "Numb3rs," produced by Tony Scott (who directed Bruckheimer's "Top Gun") and his brother Ridley (who directed "Gladiator").

Morrow is accustomed to working with Hollywood veterans. Robert Redford cast him as the star of the acclaimed movie "Quiz Show."

For Krumholtz, however, meeting the Scotts was imposing. "I've always been a big film fan," he says. "I've always been a little too starstruck."

When he was 16, Krumholtz was in both a TV series (as David Schwimmer's brother in "Monty") and a movie (as Bernard the elf in "The Santa Clause").

The TV show failed, but the movie and its sequel soared. "When you meet a 4-year-old and to him you actually are Bernard, you take that seriously," Krumholtz says.

Hollywood soon saw him as a rarity -- a young guy with perfect comedy timing. He did three more series, "Chicago Sons," "The Closer" and "The Trouble With Normal."

Then it all faded. "There was a period of time where I was auditioning for a lot of the biggest comedies and I couldn't get one."

Krumholtz did lots of independent movies. He was surprised to be cast in two "ER" episodes as a slasher. "I didn't know if I would always be remembered as the guy who killed Kellie Martin and almost killed Noah Wyle."

Then came two drama series -- last year's "The Lyons Den" and now "Numb3rs."

While Krumholtz's character is furiously thinking and scribbling, Morrow gets to chase and fight. "Late in life, I'm getting into the physical scenes," he says.

Morrow, 42, grew up comfortably in suburban New York, went to college "for a minute," and then jumped into acting. "Northern Exposure," with Morrow as a big-city type reluctantly working as a doctor in small-town Alaska, opened quietly in 1990 and became a cult favorite.

Most recently, he was playing a troubled parolee in the Showtime series "Street Time." Now he moves to the law-and-order side.

He had plenty of current or former FBI agents advising him.

"They seem like a lot of regular guys," Morrow says. "The whole (J. Edgar) Hoover image is really an anachronism."

 

David Krumholtz stars in the new crime TV series 'Numb3rs'

The creators of CBS' new crime drama ``Numb3rs'' get at least one thing right in the pilot: Numbers are everything.

British siblings Tony and Ridley Scott have decided to work with large ones.

The veteran Hollywood directors throw a sizable cast of veterans, an avalanche of jittery images and a complex crime onto the screen in hopes of distinguishing ``Numb3rs'' from the competition.

The math doesn't add up, however. The premiere, airing after the AFC Championship Game at approximately 10 tonight on WBZ (Ch. 4) before moving to its regular Friday 10 p.m. time slot, could be titled ``CSI: MIT'' or ``Law & Algebra.''
Though there are plenty of unsettling images of murder victims, a no-nonsense crime-fighting crew - in this case the FBI - and a tidy resolution, a few key ingredients do set this Los Angeles-based show apart from its procedural brethren.

Chief among them are the great Scotts themselves. Responsible for some of the niftiest - and most paranoid - high-tech action films in Hollywood history, including ``Blade Runner,'' ``Alien,'' ``Spy Game'' and ``Enemy of the State,'' the pair cram all manner of groovy 21st century visuals into the hour to bulk up the inherently internal act of doing advanced arithmetic.

FBI agent Don Eppes (Rob Morrow of ``Northern Exposure'') is reaching a dead end in his investigation when his younger brother Charlie (David Krumholtz, ``Ray'') offers to apply his beautiful mind to the task of locating the perp.

Krumholtz nails that specific combination of eagerness to help and impress an elder sibling while declaring his own identity. Later, when Charlie appears to have fumbled, Don lets him down in a way that is both gentle and pointed. (No doubt the brothers Scott see a little of themselves in this pair.) Throw in Judd Hirsch (``Taxi'') as their thoughtful, hovering dad, no intellectual slouch himself, and you've got a type of family you rarely see in crime drama: functional and supportive.

The glimmers of truthfulness in the family nucleus offset the chilly crime elements, in this case, the apprehension of a serial rapist/killer.

The office environment is less compelling as the coterie of feds - including Anthony Heald (``Boston Public'') and Sabrina Lloyd (``Sports Night'') - perform their unpleasant tasks with little personality.

Charlie's academic family - a grad student (Navi Rawat of ``The O.C.'') awed by his mental powers and a wacky professor friend (Peter MacNicol taking his idiosyncratic ``Ally McBeal'' persona to college) - is equally uninspiring.

In television, of course, the only digits that matter are ratings. But even factoring in this show's positive attributes, it's hard to envision ``Numb3rs'' adding up to a large dividend for CBS.

David Krumholtz: Playing the 'Numb3rs'

CBS unleashes more crime on prime-time TV with a drama mixing murder and math. Will it add up with viewers? Here's our take:

'Numb3rs'

Preview Sunday at 10 p.m.; regular time slot Friday at 10 p.m. on CBS

The tagline you'll never see: "The Hardy Boys -- all grown up and solving grisly murders."

The basics: The Eppes brothers are a curious pair. Don (Rob Morrow) is a no-nonsense FBI agent who's earnest, hard-working and about as much fun as a D.C. patent lawyer. Younger Charlie (David Krumholtz) is a brilliant, wild-eyed mathematician who's a bit of a daredevil but, alas, lives in the shadow of his brother.

They're not particularly close, but one thing brings them together: horrific crimes. When Don is stumped during an investigation, he reluctantly turns to his numbers-loving brother who uses mathematical equations to help crack the case. Watching from the sidelines is Papa Eppes (Judd Hirsch) whose sole purpose seems to be feeding his birds and making wisecracks about his two sons.

The lowdown: "Numb3rs" pinch-hits for the short-lived "dr. vegas" in a tough Friday night time slot, when most TV sets are either off or tuned to NBC's "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit." But the "L&O" franchise is showing signs of vulnerability, and CBS hopes folks will play the "Numb3rs."

Reality check: We know what you're thinking: "Yawn. Another crime show with agents chasing bad guys." While it does pull liberally from the "CSI" and "Law & Order" playbooks -- complete with graphic murder scenes and flashbacks that show us how the victim got that way -- this show's mathematical edge gives it a different spin. Morrow is a bit wooden, but Krumholtz is a real find who shows off his acting chops in several well-written scenes. It's nice to see the accomplished Hirsch working, but his role here seems unnecessary.