Over the past 10 years, one of the most recognizable recurring characters in NBC’s “Chicago Fire” has been Harold Capp. The Firehouse 51 veteran has been around since the series’ first episode, and though he has never held the limelight as a main character, his constant presence has left an impression on the series. A protagonist he is not, but there is still no shortage of moments where Capp puts his life on the line or plays an integral role in saving the day.
If you’re a fan of the “One Chicago” franchise, it may feel like Capp’s actor always has and will be a part of the series. After 10 years of being on “Chicago Fire,” with numerous cameos in “One Chicago” crossovers, he seems irrevocably tied to the franchise. He is a constant familiar face. But while Harold Capp has proved to be the actor’s most well-known role, it may not be the only reason that he looks familiar to the audience.
Randy Flagler is the actor who plays Harold Capp on “Chicago Fire,” and he has always been a frequent flyer in the world of procedural crime dramas. Though it would take a while for him to land a solid recurring role as Capp, he spent most of his early career in the 2000s ping-ponging between different TV shows. His first television role was in the horror series “FreakyLinks,” after which he broke into the crime show world with an episode of “NYPD Blue” in 2002.
He followed this up with stints in “Medical Investigation,” “NCIS” (where he played the unnamed commanding officer of Mark Harmon’s Leroy Jethro Gibbs), “Prison Break,” “24,” “Monk,” and more. By the end of the 2000s, he had established himself as someone who could confidently take on a number of side roles in any TV drama worth its salt. Unfortunately, however, none of these roles had any staying power in their own series. Flagler, lucky as he was to have touched so many different popular shows, had no such luck when it came to playing characters with actual names. Even when he landed his first recurring role in a popular drama, it was as yet another unnamed character.
