It’s late afternoon in Chicago, and the sun is dipping low behind the jagged skyline, casting long shadows across the streets. Inside a quiet hotel lounge, Marina Squerciati sits with an easy smile, a cup of tea steaming gently in front of her. She has just wrapped a day of filming Chicago PD, but as she starts talking about Kim Burgess — the resilient, fiercely compassionate officer she’s played for more than a decade — it’s clear the character still lives close to her heart.
“Every case changes you in ways you don’t expect,” Squerciati says, her tone soft but certain. “For Burgess, it’s never just about the arrest. It’s about the people she meets along the way, the lives she touches, and the lives that touch hers.”
From her earliest episodes, Burgess was the bright-eyed patrol officer with boundless energy, a touch of optimism, and a fierce desire to do the right thing. But Chicago PD doesn’t allow anyone to remain untouched by the darker realities of police work. Over the years, viewers have watched Burgess face unimaginable danger, personal loss, and moral crossroads that have left her forever changed.
“She’s been shot, she’s lost people she cared about, she’s seen the worst of humanity,” Squerciati reflects. “But she’s also seen the best. And that’s what keeps her going — that belief that even in the darkest moments, there’s still something worth fighting for.”
Burgess’s resilience is one of her defining traits, but Squerciati is quick to point out that it’s not about being unbreakable. “She’s been broken before,” she says. “Strength isn’t about never breaking. It’s about finding the courage to put yourself back together, piece by piece, and still walk into the next shift ready to give your all.”
That courage has been tested most deeply in Burgess’s personal life, especially in her relationship with Adam Ruzek and her journey into motherhood through fostering and adoption. “Becoming a mom changed Burgess in profound ways,” Squerciati explains. “It gave her a whole new perspective on what it means to protect and serve. Suddenly, the stakes weren’t just about her — they were about someone entirely dependent on her.”
Filming those emotionally charged storylines required Squerciati to tap into her own experiences and empathy. “The moments where Burgess is holding a child after a rescue, or comforting someone who’s just lost everything — those are the moments that stick with me as an actor,” she says. “They’re quiet, but they’re powerful.”
Squerciati credits the show’s writers for allowing Burgess to grow in layers, rather than shifting her character in sudden, unrealistic leaps. “She’s matured in a way that feels organic,” she says. “The optimism is still there, but it’s tempered with experience. She’s learned that the world isn’t black and white — it’s a lot of gray, and navigating that takes patience and heart.”
One of Burgess’s key strengths, Squerciati believes, is her ability to connect with people, even in high-pressure situations. “She listens,” Squerciati says. “She makes eye contact, she remembers details. That might not seem like much, but in their line of work, it can be the difference between cooperation and resistance. People feel seen by her, and that matters.”
Of course, the job also comes with moments that haunt her character. “You can’t unsee certain things,” Squerciati admits. “And sometimes, Burgess carries those images home with her. It’s a weight she doesn’t always share with others, but it’s there in the way she moves, in the way she hesitates before knocking on the next door.”
On set, Squerciati and her castmates share a camaraderie that mirrors the bond within the Intelligence Unit. “We’ve been through a lot together — long nights, emotional scenes, bitter cold in the middle of winter,” she says with a laugh. “That creates trust. And that trust lets us go deeper into the story, knowing we’ve got each other’s backs.”
Visually, Burgess’s world is often framed in contrasts — the flashing lights of squad cars against the quiet interior of a hospital room, the noise of a crowded crime scene against the silence of her own thoughts. Squerciati says those contrasts mirror the duality of her character’s life. “She’s in chaos one moment and calm the next. That’s the job. And that’s why it changes you — because you have to shift between those extremes every day.”
Looking ahead, Squerciati hints that Burgess will face challenges that push her to redefine her boundaries. “She’s going to have to decide how much of herself she can give to the job without losing the parts of her that make her who she is,” she says. “It’s going to be a balancing act — and that’s always been part of her struggle.”
