Danny Pino: How 'SVU' Changed Me as a Parent

As Detective Nick Amaro on "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," Danny Pino faces nightmarish storylines about terrible crimes every day. But even though the show is fiction, the actor still feels the weight of his work at home.

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"Every now and then I'll have nightmares about it," he says. "We all do a really good job of separating ourselves from the case, but at night when you're sleeping, your brain is still kind of digesting it."

Luckily, Danny's family life helps to keep things in perspective. He spends as much time as possible with his wife and two boys. So has his experience as a TV detective made him a more protective parent? "Absolutely," he says.

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The actor says that whenever he takes his kids to the park, he plays a matching game in his head to make sure that everyone's looked after. He checks out the surroundings and thinks in his head, "OK, so that father's with that little girl, and that little boy, that's his mom," to make sure that everyone is with an adult.

Danny drops big hints about the season premiere of "SVU" — check out the rest of his interview on this episode of "Daily Shot"!