Man In ‘ Black’
‘ Orange’ star Nick Sandow crushin’ it
Inthe Season 3 finale of “Orange Is the New Black,” actor nick Sandow’s put- upon prison administrator Joseph Caputo finally decides to look out for number one. “It’s my turn— it’s the year of Caputo!” he exclaims while berating underappreciated subordinate guards eager to unionize.
Actually, it’s been more like The Year of Sandow. The Bronx native’s character was only supposed to pop up in a handful of episodes on Season 1 of the netflix prison dramedy — but instead has grown into an attention- grabbing highlight on the otherwise female- driven show.
“If you told me the first year that Iwould be playing in a band called ‘ Sideboob’ in the second season, I think I’d say youwere crazy!” Sandow tells The Post, laughing and referring to the crassly- named garage band in which his character thumps a bass.
Sandow says Caputo was ripe for exploration.
“He’s middle management. We all knowthat guy— he’s in charge of a lot of people but there’s people on top of him who don’t care and are just looking at the bottomline,” he says. “I think the writers sawthe fertile ground of that. He’s struggling, but the poor guy’s trying to do something right.”
This season, Sandow’s part was upped from recurring to regular as be leaguered Caputo’s sense of control teeters with the privatization of Litchfield penitentiary, a bed bug infestation and having to personally trackdown an escaped inmate, all while having hate- sexwithhis former boss, natalie “Fig” Figueroa ( Alysia Reiner).
“I couldn’t ask formore. I think I’ve managed to definitely over shoot whatever I imagined,” he says. “But I have away of not having too many expectations, unlike Caputo.”
When Sandow was 9, his father died of a heart attack at age45; his mother was left to raise Sandow and his three older sisters. Sandow didn’t go to college but instead moved to Manhattan around age 19 to study acting andwork in theater.
His first paid TV gig was the usual new York actor rite of passage: a bit part on a “Law& Order” episode.
[ In May both he and “Orange” costar Samira Wiley had guest roles on an episode of “Law& Order: SVU,” though they had no scenes together.]
While Sandow has a number of small indie films to his credit, his resume is primarily populated by TV roles (“Boardwalk
Empire,” “Blue Bloods,” “Third Watch”). The medium has been a more realistic route as movie roles have diminished in the last decade, he says.
“There are character actors who made a living doing small roles in big films, but that’s done for — that’s gone,” he says. “It kinda got harder and harder forworking class actors to make money in films. Themoney is in television for us.”
And, with TV success, Sandow can do other projects. Most recently, hewrote anddirected a mob film, “The Wanna be,” which premiered at this year’s TriBeCa Film Festival and will be released in late fall. It stars Vincent Piazza, Patricia Arquette and longtime friend Michael Imperioli (“The Sopranos”). It’s also executive- produced by “Boardwalk Empire” EP Martin Scorsese, whom Sandow can now effortlessly call “Marty.”
Working on “Orange” also means getting recognized more because of Caputo’s distinctive handlebar mustache, which he only grows during filming. Last month’s season premiere coincided with the start of shooting for Season 4, so it’s harder to maintain a lowprofile.
“Iwalk into a coffee shop and stand next to someone who stayed up too late watching seven hours of the show, and they’re like, ‘ Oh my god! I cannot believe you’re here!’ ” says Sandow, who lives in Brooklyn ( Carroll Gardens) with his longtime girlfriend, painter and yoga teacher Tamara Malkin-Stuart, and their sons, Sasha, 13, and Sterling, 5. Sandow, unlike his fans, isn’t too surprised where he’s landed.
“How did I wind up in a women’s prison? Growing up with three sisters and a mom in the Bronx, you have a real understanding ofwomen in certain ways,” he jokes. “Talk about karmic. You never know why you get a role.”