You likely remember Beghe from many of his roles before he began playing Voight in 2014.
It’s hard to imagine him as anyone other than Sergeant Hank Voight on Chicago P.D., but actor Jason Beghe has lent his signature gravelly voice to dozens of roles over the years, with a career spanning decades, genres and mediums. From movies to shows, procedurals to comedies, dramas to farces, he’s truly done it all.
Getting the call to play Voight, who started as a recurring antagonistic character on Chicago Fire, came at an interesting moment that became full-circle for Beghe. He’d recently lost both of his parents, who had grown up in Chicago, he revealed in a 2020 conversation with the late Julian McMahon.
“I played the scene…it was the first of what was supposed to be a three-episode arc that ended up being 15 episodes. The last was the pilot episode of Chicago P.D.,” he recalled of the opportunity that changed his life.
His career has been filled with incredible stories and amazing projects. Here’s a brief look at the many works of Jason Beghe.
Jason Beghe grew up in New York City
Born on March 12, 1960, Beghe grew up alongside the late John F. Kennedy, Jr., and as a teen developed a close friendship with fellow actor David Duchovny that continues into adulthood. When Duchovny got married, Beghe was his best man. They’ve worked together on a number of projects (The X Files, Californication), and when Duchovny wanted Beghe for a role in Reverse the Curse, Beghe asked for a few days off from Chicago P.D. so he could work with his pal of 50 years.
Beghe worked steadily in the 1980s and 90s
Like many a young stud, Jason got his start as a model. He actually used to wear his brown hair in long curls back in 1982, when he was in Giorgio Armani ads.
Beginning with the 1985 flick Compromising Positions, Beghe worked steadily in film and television throughought the 80s and 90s, often in memorable supporting roles. He made an appearance on a 1990 episode of Quantum Leap, two episodes (as different characters) of Murder, She Wrote, appeared as a state trooper in the classic Thelma & Louise (1991) and made up major (even…quantum?) leap up the call sheet when he booked the third lead in GI Jane (1997).
Recurring roles during this period included Tom Yinessa on 1st & Ten, A.D.A Petrovic on Picket Fences, Lt. Jeff Lindley on Melrose Place and Danny Blaines on Chicago Hope (a 90s hospital drama unaffiliated with the Dick Wolf-created family of One Chicago shows).
After his accident, he continued to stand out
In 1999, Beghe was severely injured in a car accident that resulted in him being in a coma for three and a half weeks, during which time, he said, he “actually did die.” Beghe told The Daily Beast he “broke [his] neck, [his] back in a couple of places, all of [his] ribs, both of [his] lungs.”
Besides the physical and psychological aftereffects of the experience, the accident left him with another scar: His voice. It was already low, but its signature rasp is due to damage from Beghe pulling his intubation tube out whenever he woke up in the hospital on life support.
One silver lining? His voice only adds more character to his on-screen persona, and his career did not slow down in the new millennium. Staying mostly on television, Beghe had major arcs in prime time dramas Everwood and American Dreams as well as edgier projects like Huff and Veronica Mars.
As Hank Voight, Beghe has made appearances on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Chicago Fire, Chicago Med, Chicago Justice, and of course, more than 200 episodes of Chicago P.D., on which he is now also an executive producer.
On the “One Chicago” podcast, Beghe explained that with a wider cast of characters now than in the earlier seasons, he has fewer days working on set and more time to contribute behind-the-scenes, where his ethos is that the “best idea wins,” no matter who it comes from.
