Hill Harper (Dr. Sheldon Hawkes) this week said he appreciates each and every CSI: New York viewer that tunes in each week.

"What's nice about it is no artist wants to make art in a vacuum. You want to do stuff that people see," Harper told The Insider's Ananda Lewis. "And the beautiful thing about doing a franchise like CSI is it gives you the opportunity to show what you do to 20 million people a week. And that's a beautiful thing. That's a blessing."

CSI: New York didn't just land in Harper's hands one day — he had to work at his craft (and numerous other jobs as well to support himself). He said his worst job was as a waiter: "I worked from eleven at night to seven in the morning." Ironically, he is now one of the investors putting together a new restaurant in Los Angeles, called The Lodge. After showing Ananda Lewis around the premises, he explained the philosophy behind the new business: "[It's] something that allows people just to come and be able to enjoy life. A lot of the time big cities can be very impersonal, so you have places like this where people can go and just be comfortable."

Harper is a bit of a renaissance man, with a strong educational background including a BA from Brown University, and degrees in law and public administration from Harvard University. The actor said a good education will always open doors, no matter your upbringing. "Education has always been really important to my family and to me," he said. "And I'm a big proponent, trying to get young, urban kids to go to school and educate themselves, because the world offers a wealth of opportunities and you can do great things."

To watch a video of Harper's appearance on The Insider, head over to this page. Fellow New York star Carmine Giovinazzo (Danny Messer) is scheduled to appear on the December 29 edition of the syndicated program. Thanks Al Fornos and 'ThisIsMe' for this!

Discuss this news item at Talk CSI!
 Add CSI Files RSS feed to your news reader or My Yahoo!
Also a Desperate Housewives fan? Then visit GetDesperate.com!