{"id":1006573,"date":"2026-08-17T13:49:19","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T13:49:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1006573\/"},"modified":"2026-08-17T13:49:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T13:49:19","slug":"shawn-hatosy-says-the-pitt-took-his-career-to-new-heights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1006573\/","title":{"rendered":"Shawn Hatosy Says \u2018The Pitt\u2019 Took His Career To New Heights"},"content":{"rendered":"

I caught Shawn Hatosy at the perfect time.<\/p>\n

In \u201cThe Pitt<\/a>,\u201d Hatosy plays Dr. Jack Abbot, the charming, dry-witted senior attending who typically works the night shift at the fictional Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center. Although he\u2019s only clocked in for part of every season so far, the fan-favorite doctor has quickly become one of the most reliable presences on the show. Mainly because he always seems to know when to swoop in at just the right moment. <\/p>\n

Whether he\u2019s supporting his struggling colleague and friend Dr. Michael \u201cRobby\u201d Robinavitch (Noah Wyle) through a mental health crisis, saving lives at his day job as a SWAT medic or rushing in to help the ER during a mass casualty event, Hatosy\u2019s ever-busy Abbot is always there to bring a sense of calm to the chaos.<\/p>\n

But on the day we speak, the 50-year-old actor is far removed from the hectic emergencies at the center of his critically acclaimed medical drama. Instead, he\u2019s enjoying a rare break from hospital duties, spending some downtime with his family during a stay in Lake Arrowhead, California.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I have right now is the first couple of days off that I haven\u2019t seen in a long time,\u201d Hatosy joked at the top of our mid-July Zoom call. <\/p>\n

Still, the veteran actor isn\u2019t complaining about his demanding schedule. The time and hard work put into his hit HBO Max series have paid off immensely over the past year and some change, as he just earned his second-ever Emmy nomination for his starring role in \u201cThe Pitt.\u201d <\/p>\n

Last year, Hatosy took home the award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series, putting him on track to potentially make history<\/a> with back-to-back wins in the same category for the same role. But after a last-minute switch in submissions, he\u2019s now competing in the best supporting drama actor category at this year\u2019s Emmy Awards.<\/p>\n

The recognition is more than anything Hatosy could\u2019ve ever imagined for a character with such limited screen time in \u201cThe Pitt.\u201d When he first joined the show, he had no idea how much of a presence Dr. Abbot would ultimately have in the ER. But the opportunity to work with longtime collaborator John Wells again, who executive produces \u201cThe Pitt\u201d alongside Wyle and creator R. Scott Gemmill, was simply too good to pass up.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhatever John wants to do, I\u2019m in,\u201d Hatosy said of Wells, whom he\u2019s worked with on shows like \u201cSouthland,\u201d \u201cAnimal Kingdom\u201d and even an episode of \u201cER.\u201d<\/p>\n

But even then, he never could have predicted just how successful their latest TV reunion would be.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat Jack Abbot, he always manages to find ways to surprise me,\u201d Hatosy told me, reflecting on his move up in the Emmys race. \u201cEven looking back to what this project looked like when I first joined, Abbot\u2019s presence, at least in the first episode, you don\u2019t get a lot of him. Then towards the end of that [first] season, you see what he means to this world and the effect he has on not just the staff, but his relationship and the dynamic with Dr. Robby.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added, \u201cTo go from guest to supporting in two years, it\u2019s an amazing achievement for this character in the way that he was written.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"HatosyHatosy as Dr. Abbot in a scene from \u201cThe Pitt.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been one week since the 2026 Emmy nominees<\/a> were announced, and Hatosy is still thinking about the moment when \u201cThe Pitt\u201d creator Gemmill gathered the cast and crew on set that Wednesday morning and read each of the show\u2019s 25 nominations (including 13 acting nods) aloud.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a pretty remarkable day,\u201d the actor recalled of sharing the moment with his castmates. \u201cI\u2019ve never experienced anything like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The same can be said of Hatosy\u2019s time with \u201cThe Pitt\u201d thus far, too.<\/p>\n

Since the mid-1990s, Hatosy has consistently racked up onscreen credits, appearing in films such as \u201cAnywhere But Here,\u201d \u201cThe Faculty,\u201d \u201cIn & Out,\u201d \u201cAlpha Dog,\u201d and more. He\u2019s also taken on leading roles in gritty crime dramas like NBC\u2019s \u201cSouthland\u201d and TNT\u2019s \u201cAnimal Kingdom.\u201d But it\u2019s his breakthrough role in \u201cThe Pitt\u201d that has brought the Hollywood vet a whole new level of acclaim, finally, more than 30 years into his career.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been doing this a while, and it is such an honor because I know that the people who are making the decisions to click on your name do this for a living,\u201d Hatosy said of his latest nomination. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t reaffirm anything per se, but it is just nice to know that people are watching.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been a part of a lot of shows that I thought were pretty cool and they never really found an audience. So with \u2018The Pitt,\u2019 sure, it\u2019s wonderful to be a part of something that is critically successful, that everybody\u2019s watching. But what makes it even more significant to me is it\u2019s a show that says something and has a lot of important things to show the world,\u201d he continued. \u201cI think that a television show that can change people\u2019s perspective on a fragile healthcare system and the people that are doing it daily \u2014 that\u2019s like the trifecta.\u201d<\/p>\n

In just two seasons (with a third on the way<\/a>), \u201cThe Pitt\u201d has already become one of modern television\u2019s most groundbreaking medical dramas. Beyond its stellar ensemble \u2014 which includes Wyle, Katherine LaNasa, Patrick Ball, Isa Briones, Taylor Dearden, Fiona Dourif<\/a>, Supriya Ganesh, Shabana Azeez, Gerran Howell and Sepideh Moafi \u2014 much of the show\u2019s success with audiences and critics can be attributed to its unflinching, hour-by-hour portrayal of what it\u2019s like to practice emergency medicine in a broken American healthcare system.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cI think that a television show that can change people’s perspective on a fragile healthcare system and the people that are doing it daily \u2014 that’s like the trifecta.\u201d<\/p>\n

– Shawn Hatosy<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

For many real-life doctors who watch \u201cThe Pitt,\u201d<\/a> certain moments in the series have felt all too familiar to their own experiences in the hospital. That\u2019s a high compliment in a genre where medical procedurals are a dime a dozen. And while cast members like Hatosy never expected that playing a TV doctor would have such a meaningful impact, he\u2019s honored to play a small part in highlighting the sacrifices medical professionals make every day.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t expect it. I didn\u2019t plan for it,\u201d the actor said, reflecting on the unexpected success of his role. \u201cI wasn\u2019t the most academic kid in school. So to be on a show that is inspiring young nurses to follow their passion, or a doctor trying to determine whether or not they want to finish school. I get messages all the time, and I meet people on the street who say, \u2018Thank you. Your portrayal has really shown me what I wanna do.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s intense,\u201d he admitted, \u201cbut I\u2019m very happy to be a part of something like this.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"HatosyHatosy struck out on dozens of auditions after the 2023 Hollywood strikes before he finally landed his acclaimed role in \u201cThe Pitt.\u201d<\/p>\n

Life looked a lot different for Hatosy before his star-making turn in \u201cThe Pitt\u201d came along. After his long-running series \u201cAnimal Kingdom\u201d wrapped its six-season run in the summer of 2022, the actor remembers how \u201cthings slowed down a little bit for me, work-wise.\u201d While he certainly hoped his next big role was just around the corner, the road ahead turned out to be more uncertain than he anticipated.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt didn\u2019t come that easily for me,\u201d Hatosy said of navigating his dry spell between projects. \u201cI was fighting for a lot of roles and just not getting anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

Things got even tougher the following year when the back-to-back Hollywood strikes left actors like Hatosy out of work and searching for their next opportunity. Even after the strikes ended, he faced one setback after another, with dozens of self-tapes for potential roles ultimately leading nowhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems [so easy to be] like, \u2018Oh, hey, just put this on tape.\u2019 But for an actor, it\u2019s like a production,\u201d Hatosy explained. \u201cWe have to cast it, light it, do the sound, do the hair and makeup, put the wardrobe on, find somebody to do it with us.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cIt\u2019s a big deal, and you\u2019re putting yourself out there. And often you send it, and you don\u2019t hear anything, so it can really chip away at your soul.\u201d<\/p>\n

With fewer and fewer opportunities coming his way, Hatosy reached a point where he was unsure of where to turn next. \u201cIt was definitely a low point for me,\u201d he admitted. \u201cI was pretty depressed.\u201d <\/p>\n

But all that changed when, one day, his wife, Kelly Albanese (a fellow actor who appeared in the Season 2 premiere of \u201cThe Pitt\u201d), encouraged him to get back to the basics and give acting school another try.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember, at one point, my wife looked at me and said, \u2018You know, you should go back to acting class.\u2019\u201d Hatosy recalled. \u201cThere\u2019s this great class, and she gave me the name, and it was helpful for me to kind of re-fall in love with what I like about acting \u2014 getting up onstage, collaborating with a group, building a character, figuring out what the stakes are in a scene, and then being terrified because you got to get up in front of people and do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy wife helped me find that again, so I give her a lot of credit,\u201d he added. \u201cGoing back to an acting class, it\u2019s like going to the gym. You\u2019re getting feedback. You\u2019re getting a collaborative feel to something that you have been doing for a long time. You\u2019re getting a note from a teacher. These things are very good and positive and helpful.\u201d <\/p>\n

Things finally started looking up for Hatosy after the strikes, as word spread about a flurry of new television projects in the works \u2014 including a hotly anticipated medical drama filming right in Los Angeles. He was well aware that \u201cThe Pitt\u201d was looking for actors to fill out its cast, but when the role of Dr. Abbot came up, it was his friend Wells who personally put it on his radar.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was working on another John Wells show called \u2018Rescue: HI-Surf,\u2019\u201d Hatosy recalled, \u201cand then he just sent me a note saying that there\u2019s this character that works for what [\u2018The Pitt\u2019] is going to be and would I take a look.\u201d<\/p>\n

Initially, the actor\u2019s team wasn\u2019t convinced the role had much to offer, especially since Abbot only appeared in one scene at the time. Still, Hatosy was willing to take a chance on whatever Wells had in store. And lucky for him, that one scene from the show\u2019s debut episode turned into something far bigger.<\/p>\n

\u201cI blindly accept that it could have just been two episodes,\u201d Hatosy said of his character\u2019s arc. \u201cI had no idea, really, but I was happy to be a part of it. I think the character, even in that first episode [of Season 1], the scene up on the roof was really when you could see that there were many dimensions to him and a lot of layers and things to discover.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"Hatosy\u2019sHatosy\u2019s Dr. Abbot and Noah Wyle\u2019s Dr. Robby (R) have developed a brotherly bond that extends beyond the ER in \u201cThe Pitt.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hatosy has taken on plenty of meaty, complex characters throughout his career. But playing Dr. Abbot in \u201cThe Pitt\u201d has presented a new kind of challenge he\u2019s enjoyed exploring. <\/p>\n

As a widowed former combat medic who sports a prosthetic leg \u2014 a revelation that came in Season 1\u2019s finale \u2014 Abbot comes with a wealth of backstory Hatosy has been able to sink his teeth into. And as a leader in the hospital\u2019s ER, we\u2019ve learned that he\u2019s every bit as committed to the job as his buddy Robby, if his willingness to give blood on the fly amid a mass shooting event and his habit of listening to the police scanner while off duty are any indication. Though he appears in only a handful of episodes, Abbot has a presence about him that\u2019s felt even when he isn\u2019t around.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s fantastic,\u201d Hatosy said of how audiences have gravitated toward his supporting character. \u201cI think Abbot has a way of, even when he\u2019s not there, he\u2019s kind of there. In Season 1, we learned from one patient that he fudged numbers so she could get the care she needed for an abortion. And then he writes the letter to the sister of the veteran who passed. So, it\u2019s like he\u2019s not there, but he kind of finds his way in there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s something about the day shift running, and there\u2019s a lot going on, and Robby\u2019s dealing with his own personal mental stress that he\u2019s having a hard time understanding, and he doesn\u2019t have a lot of people that he can talk to about it. So there\u2019s this need, I think, of Abbot showing up when he\u2019s most needed, so that also creates this appreciation for him. I have played a lot of different kinds of characters, and I think I\u2019ve said in the past, but it\u2019s really nice to play a character that basically everybody likes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, as \u201cThe Pitt\u201d progresses, it\u2019s clear that there\u2019s much more to Abbot as a character than what viewers have seen so far. And if Hatosy has anything to say about it, he\u2019s more than ready to find out what\u2019s really under the hood.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he\u2019s drawn so wonderfully, and there are a lot of questions about what\u2019s going on with Abbot,\u201d he said. \u201cI mean, we did see him up there on the roof in that first episode, so he\u2019s clearly someone who has his own hidden trauma. There\u2019s the information about him being a single-leg amputee and losing his wife, and all of these are answers that I\u2019m sure we\u2019ll dig into, and it will shape how we see him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cI have played a lot of different kinds of characters, and I think I\u2019ve said in the past, but it\u2019s really nice to play a character that basically everybody likes.\u201d\u201d<\/p>\n

– Shawn Hatosy<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

There\u2019s also the fact that Abbot has become one of Dr. Robby\u2019s closest confidants at the hospital, who can both relate to his struggles and knows how to talk him down when he starts to unravel. As the finale episodes make clear, his emotional conversations with his PTSD-stricken colleague have given \u201cThe Pitt\u201d a rather compelling way to examine the lasting scars that medical professionals can sometimes carry from the job. Refreshingly enough, they also offer viewers a chance to see the doctors as more than just their profession.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat strikes me about these characters is that they are two incredibly competent doctors,\u201d Hatosy pointed out. \u201cThere\u2019s not any [physical] trauma they can\u2019t handle, right? But when it comes to their own mental health, they are completely confused and making the wrong decisions, and I think that says a lot about what they\u2019re having to deal with and how hard it is to admit that you\u2019re struggling.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of them, his therapist said, get a hobby, so he decides that he\u2019s going to go moonlight as a SWAT medic. The other one decides, \u2018I\u2019m going to drive a motorcycle across the country without a helmet on,\u2019\u201d he continued. \u201cThere are these subtle red flags and cries for help, but what is really moving about that scene at the end [of the Season 2 finale] is that Abbot is finding himself in a situation where he can\u2019t fix Robby. All he can do is offer his perspective, and sometimes that\u2019s enough to make someone realize they\u2019re not alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Hatosy, working through that particular scene with Wyle and Wells, \u201ctwo people that I admire and respect so much,\u201d was a \u201ccreatively beautiful\u201d experience that he hopes to continue \u201cfor many years to come.\u201d Just as long as \u201cThe Pitt\u201d keeps the seasons coming.<\/p>\n

On the flip side, Hatosy is eager to \u201csee that dynamic reversed a little bit\u201d when it comes to Abbot\u2019s personal trauma too. While he can\u2019t say much about what\u2019s ahead in Season 3 \u2014 in part because he hasn\u2019t received all the scripts yet, including the second episode he\u2019ll direct for the show \u2014 he\u2019s hopeful the upcoming season will at least bring another signature heart-to-heart moment between Abbot and Robby.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like that\u2019s sort of what is expected,\u201d Hatosy said. \u201cBut who knows? These guys are really clever at setting up an expectation and then pulling the rug out from underneath us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Could one of those curveballs be the long-hoped-for night shift spinoff<\/a> fans have clamored for ever since meeting Abbot and his crew?<\/p>\n

\u201cTonally, there\u2019s an opportunity to explore a side of Pittsburgh that steps through these doors in the middle of the night,\u201d Hatosy teased. \u201cWhen you look at the types of people that make the decision to work at night, it takes a certain kind of individual.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added, \u201cAbbot would lead the pack because he\u2019s definitely somebody that finds comfort in the darkness \u2014 at least that\u2019s what his therapist says.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Pitt\u201d is streaming now on HBO Max.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I caught Shawn Hatosy at the perfect time. In \u201cThe Pitt,\u201d Hatosy plays Dr. Jack Abbot, the charming,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1006574,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[33],"tags":[185,47491,30046,171,487,25900,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-1006573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-emmy-awards","tag-emmys","tag-entertainment","tag-hbo-max","tag-the-pitt","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117111173726206791","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1006573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1006573"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1006573\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1006574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1006573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1006573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1006573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}