Nurse Jackie’s Peter Facinelli is the perfect family man

Here at Showtime Fan HQ, we ~love~ Peter Facinelli, who plays Dr. Cooper on Nurse Jackie. His character may be a narcissistic boob, but Facinelli himself seems like a great guy.

Our evidence: He makes himself accessible to his fans (they are legion, thanks to his role as Dr. Carlisle Cullen in the Twilight films), he doesn’t take himself too seriously, he’s all about social media, and, with wife and 90210 star Jennie Garth, he’s managing to raise three daughters in Hollywood without much drama.

In fact, Facinelli goes above and beyond to embrace being a family man in Tinseltown. He’s often spotted on family outings, including a Halloween bike ride he took with Jennie and the kids, and in this photo from 2008 at a Disney-themed party.

**Update:** People magazine agrees with us! They just named Facinelli “hottest dad” in their “Sexiest Man Alive” issue!

The actor recently visited with Time Out New York Kids magazine, dishing on what it’s like to be a dad in the spotlight. (Basically, it’s not that different from being a dad out of the spotlight. You still have to schlep kids to and from school and sports practice, load everyone into an RV for the family vacation, and generally give over every waking moment that you’re not working to your second job: parenting).

Facinelli’s now in New York filming Season 2 of Nurse Jackie, so his parenting time is often spent on Skype, but he told Time Out he tries not to go more than two weeks without a trip home to see his family (awwwww, how could you not love this guy?.)

More interview excerpts are after the jump!

Image: Zuma Press

How do you balance family and work?
Any minute I have off, I try to get home. Last year I flew into L.A. on a Friday morning, picked up my kids from school, put up the Halloween decorations, had dinner with them and got back on a plane that night to go back to film. But it was worth every minute that I got to spend with them. I try not to go more than two weeks without seeing them even if it’s only for a day. And we also have Skype. At least we get to see each other! Sometimes we’ll even eat dinner together. I’ll be eating ramen noodles and they’ll be having a wonderful home-cooked meal.

As working actors, you and Jennie both have incredibly demanding schedules. What’s the key to your successful marriage?
We take it one day at a time. My theory: Don’t throw in the towel in a relationship if you’re having rocky times. You’re just going to have to start over with somebody else and then you’re going to have rocky times with them. Every time we’ve ridden through the rocky times, our love’s gotten deeper. At this point we’ve been together 15-odd years and I can’t imagine trading that time for somebody else.

You and Jennie have three children, daughters Luca Bella, Lola Ray and Fiona Eve. Any plans for more?
I believe the world was made for a family of five and no more. When you get in a car, you can seat five comfortably. When you go out to dinner, you can seat five comfortably. I’m from a family of six but those were different days; everyone climbed in the back of a Chrysler and your face was smashed up against the glass and nobody cared. That being said, never say never!

What do you like to do during your downtime, besides Twitter?
What downtime? Any downtime I have is spent with my family, with my kids. In between one doing soccer and basketball, another doing horseback riding and the three-year-old wanting to go to the park, I don’t have a lot of downtime.

Is it true that you like to take family road trips?
Yes. We take our RV to our daughter’s soccer tournaments and we drove to Portland, Oregon this past summer. I just bought a new RV the other day. We had a 33-foot and now we’ve moved up to a huge 40-foot Class A motor home. Who knows? Maybe I’m making room for one more child.

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