Rolling Meadows vet in guest shot on 'CSI'

Could Rolling Meadows war hero Bryan Anderson play a murderer?

You'll have to tune into "CSI: NY" at 9 tonight on CBS to find out.

The Iraq War veteran said he plays an ex-Navy Seal who's also a murder suspect. It's his first full TV part, but that's all he would divulge about it. He's listed as playing Russ McHenry on tonight's episode, "DOA for a Day."

Anderson, who has said he wants to be a Hollywood stuntman, clearly enjoyed filming.

"Eddie Cahill straight-up took me in," Anderson said of his co-star, who plays Detective Don Flack on the show.

A roadside bomb struck Anderson, an Army sergeant, while he was on patrol in a Humvee in Baghdad in 2005. The Rolling Meadows High School grad lost his legs and left arm. His resilience earned him an emotional return home in 2006 by hundreds of well-wishers. Rolling Meadows officials also named a street after him.

Anderson taped the episode March 4 to 12 in Hollywood. He'll share the screen with show's star Gary Sinise, co-founder of Chicago's Steppenwolf Theater Co. The two met last year. Sinise, known for his Lt. Dan Taylor role in "Forrest Gump," even called Anderson, "the real Lt. Dan." The character lost his legs after combat in the Vietnam War.

But Anderson said it was his cover story last year in Esquire magazine, not his connection with Sinise, that gained him the attention that brought him the role. Sinise was still happy to find out that Anderson was cast.

"When we were out there, we hung out a little bit, not every day," Anderson said. "They treated me well."

Anderson had a cameo earlier in the year on the HBO series "The Wire," playing a patient at Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, D.C., the same hospital he spent time rehabbing.

"That was just a one-liner," he said.

He was also featured in the HBO documentary, "Alive Day Memories: Home From Iraq."

Esquire revisits Anderson in its latest issue, looking at how he's been coping with his disabilities and prosthetics.

Anderson and friends will watch the "CSI" show at the Blue Stone bar in south suburban New Lenox, hoping to raise money to benefit the Disabled Patriot Fund.

In his time away from the set, he's been working with the veterans support charity USA Cares and touring country as a motivational speaker.