Henry Simmons on baring his assets and understanding women.(Brief Article)(Interview)

By now you'd think that everyone knows about the NYPD Blue butt clause--a paragraph in the actors' contracts that says they agree to show their "assets" on screen. But the strip-and-bare-it requirements of his role came as a surprise for Henry Simmons when he joined the cast last season. "I'd heard the show was critically acclaimed, and I'd seen glimpses of it, but I'd never actually watched it," admits the 30-year-old actor. He had no idea until he got the gig that playing a cop meant not only kicking ass...but also revealing it.

Now entering his second season as Detective Baldwin "D" Jones, the 6-foot-4 muscle-packed Simmons is a big reason the series could be subtitled The Bod Squad. But Simmons, who went to college on a basketball scholarship, has more to offer than just his athlete's anatomy: He has an awesome acting range, going from quiet and concerned in one scene to hard guy in the next. Here, the former Another World soap stud reveals why prime time is more fun, his crazy connection with George Clooney, and why you may get the chance to date him.

Q: What was life on Another World like?

A: It's hard to create dimensions in a soap character--you're either good or bad. I played a good-guy lawyer. Too good--for me, anyway.

Q: What's the most memorable thing about your soap experience?

A: On my second day--the second day--they were describing a scene to me, and they said "Okay, you're coming out of the shower..." And I was like, "What?" And they were like, "Well, you'll have a towel on."

Q: But then you graduated to NYPD Blue, where going topless--or bottomless--is a rite of passage.