Edward Burns is bringing his passion project to TV. He created and stars in TNT's Public Morals (premiering Tuesday), about the police division of the same name in '60 New York City. And as a veteran actor, he knows how to pick actors. Case in point: Katrina Bowden, the 26-year-old who played TGS receptionist Cherie on 30 Rock and our 2011 Sexiest Woman Alive Madness tournament champion. In her first dramatic series, Bowden plays Fortune, a teacher-turned-prostitute. We recently took Bowden for coffee at the Tribeca Grand Hotel in Manhattan. Bowden had returned home after a month of shooting an indie action thriller, Monolith, in the Utah desert. After our talk, she ran 16 miles along

the West Side Highway in preparation for November's New York City marathon, but before that, we got her to open up about having a dressing room next to Tracy Morgan, what she looks for in men, and her abiding affection for street pigeons.

After seven seasons on 30 Rock, how'd you wind up on a '60s cop drama?

I always wanted to go the dramatic route. When I read the script, it was a period piece, it was set in New York, and it was just a really cool character so I was excited and I really, really, really wanted it. And it took a little while, but eventually they cast me, and it's been such a dream.

Most of your scenes are with Michael Rapaport. How's sharing the screen with him?

He's great. He's a really funny guy. He's intimidating and big and scary but also such a softie and so sweet and I think you really believe their weird messed-up relationship, even though it's very out of the ordinary.

How's Edward Burns' directing?

He's an actor, too, obviously, so he knows how to talk to the actors and get the best work out of us. And it's just also really cool because this is his passion project. He wrote every single episode.

What do you remember about your first day on set at 30 Rock?

Our first table read was when I met everybody. I was so nervous and I got lost on my way there and I arrived like two minutes late and I ran in all frantic. I think I remember Tracy [Morgan] saying I just stood there in the doorway like a deer in the headlights. And Tracy said to me, "Don't just stand there looking beautiful, come and sit next to me," and it immediately made me feel more comfortable and at ease. Tracy was always a funny loose cannon on set. He would just do his comedy bits in the elevator rides, and there were other people from other projects in the building. His comedy is always really raunchy, and he would just say like the most inappropriate things in the elevator and people would get red and start looking down at their feet and kind of giggling but not like knowing what to do.

Do you remember one time that happened with Tracy in particular?

He was talking about having relations with someone in a wheelchair [laughs]. [I was] like, "What are you even talking about right now?" And he's a huge Michael Jackson fan. When the Thriller anniversary album came out, it's all he listened to—his dressing room was right next to mine. I heard "Billie Jean" and "Beat It" all day for like two weeks. And then one day I was in my dressing room and I heard this soft rock song playing, and I was like, Oh my God, he's finally playing something else. This is great. And I walked into the hallway, and I was listening to it some more, and then I realized it's a soft-rock cover of "Billie Jean." I went into his room and I was like, "Are you for real? The one time you choose to play something different, it's like a soft-rock cover of the same song you've been playing on repeat."

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How did you know you wanted to be an actress?

Ever since I was a little girl I always loved being in front of a camera. I would put on performances for anyone who would watch. I remember this one year, we had people over for Thanksgiving, and I decided that my brother and I were gonna sing that Kid Rock song, "Cowboy." So I dressed up as a cowgirl and I made him hold this weird horse thing and ride around on it. It was totally wacky and weird, but that's exactly the kind of stuff I would do every time we had family over.

What advice do you have for guys looking to land a woman of your caliber?

Honestly, there's no secret code or advice. I think most girls just want someone who's honest and real and someone who doesn't try too hard. Tries hard enough where you feel special, but not so hard where it's annoying. It's a balance. I think an air of mystery is also really interesting, too. That's what attracted me to my husband [musician Ben Jorgensen].

How'd you two meet?

I was in the Fall Out Boy music video when I was 16. And at the time he was in a band [Armor for Sleep] and he was really good friends with the guys in Fall Out Boy so they had him do a cameo. I knew [Armor for Sleep] because I had an ex-boyfriend who had loved his band and he brought me to one of their shows. I saw him onstage and I was instantly like [gasps], "Who is this guy?" And then I saw him at this video shoot. So I went up to him and I started talking to him. I had since broken up with this boyfriend and so we started dating. But he was like 21 and touring the country and I was in high school. So

it didn't work and it broke my heart, but we went five years without talking. He would e-mail me though, like once a year for five years. Every time I got an e-mail from him it would break my heart a little bit.

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Were they sad e-mails, or "Just checking in"?

"Just checking in," but it bothered me because I was like, I want to get over you. Did you ever have a relationship where you don't really know how it ended, it just ended? It was like that. And so there was never closure, there was never a talk—and it wasn't even that serious of a relationship, it was like two months of hanging out. But I still never got over it. And so I saw him about five years later.

Where?

At a party in New York, randomly. I saw him across the crowd and my heart dropped, and I left. I got so overwhelmed. And he was there with his girlfriend, who I knew all about because of course I stalked him online to see what he was doing in his life. I wanted to say hi but I was so embarrassed. And then he e-mailed me like a couple weeks later and we got dinner and he broke up with his girlfriend and then we have spent every day since together.

Do you have any pet peeves when it comes to guys?

I'm not a fan of cologne. I feel like fewer and fewer guys are wearing cologne these days, but I just can't

handle it when someone walks by and all you smell is their cologne. I think if you're gonna use cologne it has to be a very small amount. Very sparingly. I don't know. Guys in New York are pushy.

Have you had scary stuff happen to you on the street?

I think every girl has. I live kind of near Union Square, and I've had people come up and try to say something to me and I just have my tunnel vision and ignore. Then I've had a couple times where I've had someone actually grab me and like pull my arm and I hit some guy across the face once. I was very impressed with my own reflexes—I sort of backhanded him and I was like, "Don't touch me." You don't touch a woman in the street.

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I've had my hair pulled. By a girl in Tompkins Square Park on Halloween. She was maybe 17 and she was walking with three boys, and I was texting. One of the guys yelled, "Hey, stop looking at your phone!" and the girl grabbed my hair.

People are jerks. I had a crazy experience once, it got me pretty upset. I'm a huge animal lover. And I was walking out of the gym I used to belong to on Cooper Square. This guy got out of this minivan and there were a bunch of pigeons, and he was feeding the pigeons. There was a huge flock of them around. And out of nowhere he took out this giant net, and he netted them all up. He grabbed them all and he shoved them in the back of the minivan and he drove away really fast. And I was like, "Did anyone else—?" Like I was the only one around. I called the police, I didn't understand why—why? And so my husband sent me this article yesterday where there's like a pigeon shooting that happens every year.

I think it's in Pennsylvania.

People like pigeon-nap from New York City and sell them to get shot.

What did the police say?

They were like, "Really, girl? You're telling us this? Who cares?" But they filed a report. I told them what the minivan looked like—I didn't have a plate, I didn't have any real information. And I don't think they were going to spend a whole lot of time trying to find a bunch of stolen pigeons.

Those pigeon-nappings have been reported around Washington Square Park.

Have you ever seen the guy in Washington Square Park—the guy who has all the pigeons who land on him? So this winter, I saw him there with all the pigeons, and I have a strange love for pigeons, actually. I'm like one of the only New Yorkers. They're very smart. Pigeons are one of the only animals who are self-aware—if they look in a mirror, they understand that they're looking at themselves, which dogs can't even do. So they get a bad rep because they're dirty and they eat all the garbage.

They're like rats with wings.

But they're very smart. And they're very funny. In the springtime, the males will dance around the females. It's just really, really cute.

If you ever meet Mike Tyson, you'll have something to talk about. He loves pigeons. He had a reality show about pigeons Taking on Tyson, or whatever it's called when you send pigeons—

Honing pigeons? It's really amazing that a bird can learn something like that. And so this guy who had all these pigeons landing on him, I went up to this guy and I said, "Hey, can I try?"

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No way!

And so he's like, "Of course," and he gave me some birdseed and I just held out my hands and they all landed on my arms. I had my winter coat on and gloves on, so I didn't, you know, actually touch them. But I was like, to my husband, "Get some pictures." I sent it to [my publicist] and she's like, "That's the grossest thing ever." I was like, "This is amazing!" I think I had like four [pigeons on me], but in the picture you can only see two. As soon as the birdseed was eaten, they all left. But I was very happy for a moment. So I guess that's a weird fact about me: I like pigeons.

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