Pinkett Smith plays maverick head nurse

By BECKY KRYSTAL

Christina Hawthorne is a nurse rarely inhibited by rules. She is almost compulsively dedicated to her patients, even if it means fighting off hospital security or defying administrators. And that’s why Jada Pinkett Smith wanted to play her.

The chief nursing officer at Richmond Trinity Hospital is an “everyday person doing extraordinary things,” Pinkett Smith said of the title character of “Hawthorne,” which premieres at 9 p.m. Tuesday on TNT.

Besides saving lives, Hawthorne manages an eclectic staff that includes a male nurse (David Julian Hirsh) looking for acceptance in a female-dominated field, an acerbic amputee (Suleka Mathew) and a beauty who’s known for giving soldiers a little extra TLC (Christina Moore). Hawthorne’s frequent ally is Thomas Wakefield (Michael Vartan), the oncologist and chief of surgery who treated her late husband.

The actress, a Baltimore native, recently chatted about the series:

Q. The pilot highlights the sometimes adversarial relationship between doctors and nurses. How do you see that evolving?

A. We’re going to see how we really collaborate to get things done and ... to make it all work for the patient that we’re dealing with. ... It’s definitely not a show that’s nursing against doctors or doctors against nursing, absolutely not. One of my [character’s] biggest advocates on the show is Dr. Wakefield, who’s always coming to my rescue. [He] really doesn’t always believe that I should do things the way that I do them, but he totally understands why.

Q. Why is the show set in Richmond?

A. We’re really, like, “Where’s untouched real estate?” Like Richmond! Richmond is a growing city, and no one’s really touched on Richmond.

Q. The show has its funny moments, despite being an hourlong series taking place in a hospital. What’s the tone you’re trying to convey?

A. We’re really going for a dramedy. ... You have extremes in a hospital. You have life and death. The quirkiest, funniest things happen in hospitals. I never really thought of that. The stories that these (real-life) nurses were telling me — just things that you would never imagine that happen. And it’s something we even want to explore more. ... We really tried hard and continue to do so in making this a place where you laugh and cry.