EW catches up with David Eigenberg, Taylor Kinney, and more of your favorite firefighting stars.
When Chicago Fire premiered in 2012, few would have predicted it would become one of the hottest shows on TV and spawn a long-running franchise, including spinoffs Chicago P.D., Chicago Med, and the short-lived Chicago Justice.
Created by Michael Brandt and Derek Haas with legendary Law & Order producer Dick Wolf, the high-octane series follows the firefighters and paramedics of Firehouse 51 as they fight to keep the city safe while dealing with romantic entanglements and interpersonal conflicts in and out of the station house. It’s been over a decade since ChiHards were first introduced to Severide (Taylor Kinney), Casey (Jesse Spencer), Boden (Eamonn Walker), and the rest of the team. And with over 200 episodes and counting, it looks like there are still many more dramatic rescues left for the heroes of the Windy City.
Read on to find out what your favorite Chicago Fire cast members were up to before and after setting viewers’ hearts ablaze.
01. Jesse Spencer (Captain Matt Casey)
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Jesse Spencer played the no-nonsense second-in-command, Captain Matt Casey.
The actor had his first big break on the soap Neighbours in his native Australia, then starred in a handful of films like the Brittany Murphy comedy Uptown Girls (2003). Before Chicago Fire, he was best known to American audiences as Dr. Robert Chase on all eight seasons of the hit Fox medical drama House (2004–2012).
“[House] was a very cerebral show and it was a really, really really, good show. Chicago Fire was just something different,” Spencer told EW in 2012. “It’s not cerebral. It’s more of a character-based show with a lot of action. After eight years of being an intellectual and spewing out medical terms, it was time to do something in the opposite direction. And running around in [firefighter’s] gear for 14 hours seemed like the right thing to do.”
Since joining the crew of Firehouse 51 in 2012, Spencer has made guest appearances on the spinoffs Chicago P.D. and Chicago Med. He also returned to Neighbours for the long-running show’s series finale in 2022. After nearly nine years in the franchise, he left Chicago behind during the show’s 200th episode in 2021 but has since made a few appearances in seasons 10 and 11.
Spencer married neuroscientist Dr. Kali Woodruff Carr in 2020. He was previously in relationships with actresses Jennifer Morrison and Louise Griffiths, and professional surfer Maya Gabeira.
2. Taylor Kinney (Lieutenant Kelly Severide)
Taylor Kinney plays charismatic former ladies’ man Lieutenant Kelly Severide. The actor reminisced about shooting the pilot to EW ahead of the series’ 100th episode.
“There was a scene that we shot where I was repelling into the lake,” he said. “I remember not having a clue what the hell I was doing, and I’m repelling off of this bridge into the river off of Lake Michigan, and I have this goofy harness, this drysuit on, and all this gear, and I’m running my dialogue, and it just felt so bizarre and silly…The scene ended up turning out great… but it was kind of one of those instances where all I had was questions. I really didn’t know too much about everything that we were doing…”
Before strapping on 50 pounds of gear as the hotheaded fireman, Kinney climbed the Hollywood ladder with series regular roles on Fashion House and NBC’s Trauma, plus a guest star gig as sexy werewolf Mason Lockwood on The Vampire Diaries (2010–2011). He gained international attention when he starred in the 2011 music video for Lady Gaga’s You and I, leading to a five-year relationship with the singer. They were engaged in 2015 but the couple split one year later.
Since Chicago Fire’s debut in 2012, he has appeared in the comedies The Other Woman (2014) and Rock the Kasbah (2015) as well as the thrillers Zero Dark Thirty (2012) and The Forest (2016). Kinney also guest-starred on the Chicago spinoffs with lengthy arcs on Chicago P.D. and Chicago Med. He took a leave of absence from the series midway through season 11 due to a “personal matter” but returned for season 12.
3. Monica Raymund (Gabriela Dawson)
Paramedic turned firefighter Gabriela Dawson was brought to life by Monica Raymund.
The Juilliard grad introduced herself to TV viewers in 2009 as Ria Torres on the Tim Roth-led procedural Lie to Me. After the series was canceled in 2011, she had a recurring arc on season 3 of The Good Wife before being cast in the pilot of Chicago Fire.
While reflecting on her six-year journey with the character, Raymund told the Chicago Tribune in 2018, “…I loved being able to play a first responder. I don’t have anyone in my family that’s a first responder and I didn’t really know the different trials and tribulations that they face every day. So that was the greatest part about playing Gabby, that I got to get to know the paramedics, I got to know the firefighters in Chicago, and hopefully to the best of my ability, represent them honorably.”
Raymond left the series in 2017 after season 6 and made two additional appearances in seasons 7 and 8. During her time on the show, she was featured in the drama Brahim Bulls (2013) and brought Dawson to the franchise spinoffs Chicago P.D. and Chicago Med. She went on to play Jackie Quinones on the Starz mystery drama Hightown (2020–present), star in the rom-com Bros (2022), and in William Friedkin’s final film, The Caine Mutiny Court Martial (2023). Raymond was accepted into NBC’s Female Forward directing program and has directed several TV episodes, including those on FBI and The Sinner.
The actress was married to writer Neil Patrick Stewart from 2011 to 2014. Raymund, who is openly bisexual, was also in a relationship with cinematographer Tari Segal.
4. David Eigenberg (Christopher Herrmann)
David Eigenberg plays Firehouse 51 father figure Christopher Herrmann.
“I came to the show and somehow I became a veteran of the industry, and I was 46 when we started shooting,” he told EW in 2021. “This is a show about life and death…Those are the real stakes first responders are faced with every day. These real firefighters that we get educated by and we spend time with, they carry that with them. They don’t put it on their sleeve, but you can see it in their eyes.”
The former Marine began his professional acting career in the late ’80s, and after starring in the original cast of Six Degrees of Separation on Broadway, he made several guest star appearances on TV shows like Homicide: Life on the Street and The Practice. The character actor landed his most recognizable part in 1999 when he joined the ensemble cast of Sex and the City as Miranda’s (Cynthia Nixon) on-again, off-again love interest Steve Brady.
Since stepping into the boots of Herrmann, Eigenberg has stayed quite busy. He played screenwriter Ernest Lehman in the Lindsay Lohan-led Lifetime biopic Liz & Dick (2012) and has made several guest appearances on the One Chicago shows. He’s also returned to New York City for the Max spinoff And Just Like That, where the series writers recently revealed to PEOPLE that just like Steve, the actor is dealing with hearing loss in real life.
Eigenberg and his wife, Chrysti, have two children, Louie Steven and Myrna Belle.
5. Eamonn Walker (Wallace Boden)
Eamonn Walker plays Chicago Fire Department veteran Deputy District Chief Wallace Boden.
Walker was a veteran TV actor in his native England throughout the 1980s before finding success stateside in 1997 as Kareem Said on HBO’s prison drama Oz. He went on to star in the films Unbreakable (2000) and Tears of the Sun (2003) with Bruce Willis, as well as Lord of War (2005) and Cadillac Records (2008). Walker made his Broadway debut in 2005 opposite Denzel Washington in a production of Julius Caesar and is the first Black actor to play the title role in Othello at the Globe Theater. He continued to act in television on the Fox series Justice (2006–2007) before settling into his role on Chicago Fire in 2012.
“I was actually the first one cast [in Chicago Fire],” Walker told The Source in 2013. “I was like, ‘I have got to be a part of this. It’s going to be something special…’ Not since Oz have I worked with a cast like this that’s willing to be supportive. And Oz was a life changing point in my career as an actor, and I believe now I’m at the second kind of crossroads. To be at this point for a second time in my life is unbelievable.”
Outside of the world of the One Chicago productions, Walker has also appeared in the BBC America series Copper as Frederick Douglass and on the Cinemax spy drama Strike Back.
He and his wife, Sandra, have three children.
