When Chicago Fire premiered in 2012, few could have predicted that it would become one of the hottest shows on TV and spawn a long-running series, including spin-offs Chicago P.D., Chicago Med and Chicago Justice was short-lived.

Created by Michael Brandt and Derek Haas alongside legendary Law & Order producer Dick Wolf, the high-octane series follows the firefighters and paramedics of Firehouse 51 as they fight to keep safe for the city while also resolving romantic entanglements and interpersonal conflicts inside and outside the building. station. It’s been over a decade since the ChiHards were first introduced to Severide (Taylor Kinney), Casey (Jesse Spencer), Boden (Eamonn Walker) and the rest of the group. And with over 200 episodes and counting, it seems like there are still plenty more rescues to come for the Windy City’s heroes.

Read on to see what your favorite Chicago Fire cast members were up to before and after making viewers’ hearts flutter.
Jesse Spencer plays second-in-command, Captain Matt Casey.

The actor got his first big break with the TV series Neighbors in his native Australia, then starred in several films such as the Brittany Murphy comedy Uptown Girls (2003). Before Chicago Fire, he was best known to American audiences for his role as Dr. Robert Chase in all eight seasons of Fox’s hit medical drama House (2004–2012).

“[House] is a very cerebral show and it’s actually a really, really good show. Chicago Fire is just something different,” Spencer told EW in 2012. “It’s not cerebral. It’s a character-based show with more action. After eight years of being an intellectual and spewing medical jargon, it was time to do something in the opposite direction. And running around in [firefighter] gear for 14 hours seemed like the right thing to do.”

Since joining the cast of Firehouse 51 in 2012, Spencer has made guest appearances in spin-offs Chicago P.D. and Chicago Med. He also returned to Neighbors for the series finale in 2022. After nearly nine years on the series, he left Chicago during the show’s 200th episode in 2021 but has since appeared several times in seasons 10 and 11.

Spencer married neurologist Dr. Kali Woodruff Carr in 2020. He was previously linked to actresses Jennifer Morrison and Louise Griffiths, and professional surfer Maya Gabeira.
Taylor Kinney plays former seductress Lieutenant Kelly Severide. The actor reminisced about bringing the pilot to EW ahead of the series’ 100th episode.

“There was a scene we shot where I was pushed into the lake,” he said. “I remember I didn’t know what the hell I was doing, and I was jumping off this bridge into the river near Lake Michigan, and I had this stupid harness on, this dry suit on, and all this stupid gear. this thing, and I’m running my dialogue and it feels so weird and silly…The final scene turned out great…but it was one of those cases where all I had was question. I really don’t know too much about everything we’re doing…”

Before donning a 50-pound suit as a hot-tempered firefighter, Kinney climbed the Hollywood ladder with a series of regular roles on NBC’s Fashion House and Trauma, along with a guest role as a werewolf sexy Mason Lockwood in The Vampire Diaries (2010–2011). He gained international attention when he starred in Lady Gaga’s You and I music video in 2011, which led to a five-year relationship with the singer. They got engaged in 2015 but the couple broke up a year later.

Since Chicago Fire debuted in 2012, he has appeared in the comedies The Other Woman (2014) and Rock the Kasbah (2015) as well as the horror films Zero Dark Thirty (2012) and The Forest (2012). 2016). Kinney also guest-starred in Chicago spin-offs with long-running seasons on Chicago P.D. and Chicago Med. He was absent from the series midway through season 11 due to “personal issues” but returned in season 12.

Kinney began dating model Ashley Cruger in 2022.