From the ER to aliens

In the six years since Noah Wyle regularly donned his scrubs on the TV phenomenon ER, the actor has been busy. Wyle, 40, got divorced and made a few movies.

But mostly, he has been on “daddy duty,” he says; he has two children, Owen, 8, and daughter Auden, 5.

We recently caught up with Wyle, who makes his biggest return yet in the new Steven Spielberg-produced sci-fi series Falling Skies, starting next Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on TNT.

On getting back to work:

“This job serves one purpose only — and that’s to make me look heroic to my son.”

Helicopter dad:

“I feel cheated [when the children are in school]. I drive them right to the door, and then I hang out for way too long. Then I get there a half-hour early with my book waiting for them.”

Trust Spielberg:

“If you are going to do an alien show, that’s exactly the person to hitch your wagon to.”

No auditions necessary:

“Thankfully, at least, in the world of television I’ve got 250 hours plus of audition reel,” says Wyle, who appeared in the most ER episodes of any of the show’s original six actors.

On his own TV screen:

“I’ve never seen an episode of Lost or 24,” admits Wyle, where at his house it’s mostly movies, sports and children’s programming like Phineas and Ferb, SpongeBob and the old Adam West’s Batman. “I got all excited when they got into Batman because I thought maybe my daughter [Auden, 5] would love Bewitched now and all those old shows.”

Out of L.A:

A Hollywood native, Wyle, owns a Santa Ynez Valley (Santa Barbara County) ranch — previously Bo Derek’s — where there are chickens, pigs, horses, cows, ducks, cats, dogs and a goat. “[The kids] love it. It’s an idyllic life, it really is.”

Feeling "great" at 40:

“4 is sort of a touchstone number for me. [There are] Four letters in June, I was born on the fourth, I’ve got four letters in my first name, four letters in last name, so I [was] looking forward to turning 40 because I have a feeling this might be a good year for me, says Wyle.