Chicago P.D.: 10 Things You Didn’t Know About The Cast

Police procedurals are often ratings juggernauts, and Chicago P.D. is no different. An impressive 9.3 million people tuned in to watch the Season 7 finale in April. This was the highest same-day viewership figure that the series had ever gotten, so the love for the show is clearly evident.

In a TV landscape where shows struggle for renewal, Chicago P.D. has been renewed for three more seasons, thus guaranteeing a run of up to Season 10. The procedural has plenty of interesting characters, and here are things viewers probably didn’t know about the actors who play them.

10 Patrick John Flueger Almost Became Captain America

In an alternate universe, Chris Evans wouldn’t be Captain America. Instead, the popular Marvel hero would have been played by non-other than Patrick John Flueger. Patrick plays a Chicago police officer named Adam Ruzek in the series.

In 2011, he auditioned for the Marvel role alongside several other actors. He actually ended up in the five-man shortlist. Unfortunately, he didn’t get the part. Luckily, he was cast in Chicago P.D. two years later and he has been part of the show ever since. He has also appeared in a number of indie films.

9 John Seda Used To Be A Boxer

John Seda plays the senior detective Antonio Dawson in the series. Before venturing into acting, Seda was an upcoming boxer in New Jersey. He went as far as reaching the final bout in the New Jersey Golden Gloves competition.

During his career, he recorded impressive statistics of 21 wins and only a single loss. But since his love was movies, he decided to go to Hollywood. His first role was that of a boxer too, in the 1992 film Gladiator. He has since appeared in over 60 movies and TV shows.

8 Jason Beghe Quit Scientology

Jason Beghe, who plays the Intelligence Unit Commander Henry “Hank” Voight in Chicago P.D., was a member of the Church Of Scientology for a long time.  From as early as 1994, he was appearing in promotion material for the church in the media.

A couple of other Hollywood stars like Tom Cruise and John Travolta are still members of Scientology. However, Jason quit in 2007 due to unknown reasons. He went on to be a huge critic of the church after his departure, even going as far as to attend protests.

7 Sophia Bush Is A Dedicated Activist

Sophia Bush portrayed Detective Erin Lindsay for a number of seasons before leaving the show in 2018. When she is not acting, she spends time being an activist. She has campaigned for climate change, gay rights, eradication of racism, the spread of education in the developing world, and the fight against cancer.

Bush was also part of the “Me Too” movement and is a founding member of Time’s Up. Bush was also a big supporter of Barack Obama.

6 Jesse Lee Soffer And Sophia Bush Dated

Jesse Lee Soffer plays the fan-favorite character Detective Jay Halstead on the show. He dated Chicago P.D. co-star Sophia Bush for two years (May 2014 – November 2016). After that, they continued being friends. Soffer also dated someone from another ‘Chicago’ show.

In 2018, Soffer dated Chicago Med star Torrey DeVitto. The two ended up splitting a year later. Odds on him dating someone from Chicago Fire next? The actor has kept his personal life secret in recent months, but perhaps that might change soon.

5 Amy Morton Has Won A Dozen Broadway Awards

Even though she has never gotten a film or TV award, Amy Morton is one of the most decorated actresses in Broadway. She has a total of 13 accolades, most of them being “Best Actress In A Play.” Morton plays Sergeant Trudy Platt in Chicago P.D. 

Morton has lived most of her life in Chicago. She has also spent most of her career working in the city’s theater scene. She is one of the few actors/actresses who have appeared in all the four shows in the “Chicago Universe.”

4 Jason Beghe’s Voice

Jason Beghe has an intimidating, graveled voice that suits a leader. However, he didn’t always speak like that. Beghe’s voice changed after he was involved in a deadly car crash back in 1991. Beghe had to stay in the hospital for weeks.

After being intubated for a long time, his voice changed. All the injuries in his back and ribs healed too. The actor was concerned at first, but then he figured that he could put his new voice to good use.

3 The Lucky (Or Unlucky) Three

Jesse Lee Soffer and his Chicago P.D. co-star Patrick Flueger could have both appeared in a different show. The two were initially cast as brothers in a series called Hatfields & McCoys that was pitched to NBC. Sadly, the network didn’t pick it up.

Interestingly, their co-star Sophia Bush was supposed to play their sister. Luckily for them, they were all hired by the Chicago P.D. showrunner six months later.

2 Marina Squerciati Is Quite The Comedian

Marina Squerciati has been in Chicago P.D. ever since the start of the show. She plays Officer Kim Burgess. Squerciati is quite the comedian too. She ran a skit series known as Special Skills Show, which ended up winning a skit competition organized by Kevin Hart.

After the win, Squerciati landed a deal to continue producing the series with Hart’s studios, but no word about a second season has been released as of this time.

1 Beghe Has Also Appeared In Five Dick Wolf Shows

Producer Dick Wolf is best known for creating the Law & Order television franchise as well as the Chicago Franchise. He is also an executive producer in the CBS series FBI.

Actor Jason Beghe has appeared in all four shows in the Chicago franchise as well as Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. All this points to a great working relationship between Beghe and Wolf.

About The Author

Philip Etemesi
(1214 Articles Published)

Philip Etemesi is an author, journalist, screenwriter and film critic based in Nairobi. Kenya. As a child, he preferred watching movies like The Goodfellas instead of Home Alone. His girlfriend constantly has to pull him from the front of the TV but he just keeps returning. Stubborn dude! An animal lover, Philip also has a pet giraffe called Refu.

More From Philip Etemesi