Want to Get Cast on ‘Chicago Fire’ or ‘P.D.’? Here’s What Casting Directors Are Really Looking For

NBC’s One Chicago franchise consists of three interconnected shows about first responders in the Windy City: “Chicago Fire,” “Chicago P.D.” and “Chicago Med.” The action-dramas explore both the professional and personal lives of the firefighters and paramedics of the Chicago Fire Department; the officers of the Chicago Police Department; and the doctors, nurses, and staff of the fictional Gaffney Chicago Medical Center.

Molly’s, a bar originally owned by three characters on “Chicago Fire,” connects the characters from all three series.

The One Chicago franchise was created by Michael Brandt, Derek Haas, Matt Olmstead, and Dick Wolf, the mastermind behind NBC’s “Law & Order” franchise. The four also serve as executive producers on the Chicago series.

Throughout its first 13 seasons, “Chicago Fire” has starred:

• Jesse Spencer as Matthew Casey
• Taylor Kinney as Kelly Severide
• Monica Raymund as Gabriela “Gabby” Dawson
• Lauren German as Leslie Shay
• Charlie Barnett as Peter Mills
• David Eigenberg as Christopher Herrmann
• Eamonn Walker as Wallace Boden
• Yuriy Sardarov as Brian “Otis” Zvonecek
• Christian Stolte as Randall “Mouch” McHolland
• Kara Killmer as Sylvie Brett
• Miranda Rae Mayo as Stella Kidd
• Joe Minoso as Joe Cruz
• Daniel Kyri as Darren Ritter
• Hanako Greensmith as Violet Mikami
• Jake Lockett as Sam Carver
• Jocelyn Hudon as Lizzie Novak
• Dermot Mulroney as Dom Pascal
• Alberto Rosende as Blake Gallo
• Randy Flagler as Harold Capp
• Anthony Ferraris as Tony Ferraris (he’s actually a real firefighter who signed on to be an extra before getting cast)
• Throughout its first 12 seasons, “Chicago P.D.” has starred:
• Jason Beghe as Henry “Hank” Voight
• Jon Seda as Antonio Dawson
• Jesse Lee Soffer as Jay Halstead
• Patrick John Flueger as Adam Ruzek
• Marina Squerciati as Kim Burgess
• LaRoyce Hawkins as Kevin Atwater
• Amy Morton as Trudy Platt
• Benjamin Levy Aguilar as Dante Torres
• Tracy Spiridakos as Hailey Upton
• Lisseth Chavez as Vanessa Rojas
• Toya Turner as Kiana Cook
• Elias Koteas as Alvin Olinsky
• Sophia Bush as Erin Lindsay
• Brian Geraghty as Sean Roman
• Samuel Hunt as Greg “Mouse” Gerwitz

Throughout its first 10 seasons, “Chicago Med” has starred:

• Nick Gehlfuss as Will Halstead
• Yaya DaCosta as April Sexton
• Torrey DeVitto as Natalie Manning
• Rachel DiPillo as Sarah Reese
• Steven Weber as Dean Archer
• Brian Tee as Ethan Choi
• Darren Barnet as John Frost
• Marlyne Barrett as Maggie Lockwood
• S. Epatha Merkerson as Sharon Goodwin
• Oliver Platt as Daniel Charles
• Colin Donnell as Connor Rhodes
• Dominic Rains as Crockett Marcel
• Norma Kuhling as Ava Bekker
• Jessy Schram as Hannah Asher
• Luke Mitchell as Mitchell Ripley

There will be some cast shakeups when the One Chicago shows return on Oct. 1. This past summer, Turner announced she was leaving “Chicago P.D.”; Deadline reported that Barrett was exiting “Chicago Med,” but Gehlfuss will return in a guest star role; and Kyri and Lockett won’t be returning to “Chicago Fire.”

In their absence, Arienne Mandi is joining “Chicago P.D.” as Officer Eva Imani, and “Chicago Fire” welcomes Brandon Larracuente as Sal Vasquez.

Jonathan Strauss cast all three series in the One Chicago franchise. Based in New York City, Strauss has worked with Wolf on multiple hit shows, including “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” and “FBI.”

Jonathan Strauss Casting CD Philip Huffman told Backstage that a typical episode of “Law and Order: SVU,” or a procedural show like in the One Chicago franchise, may have 20–30 roles outside of the main cast. Although many of these roles appear in only one episode, some characters could potentially return for several episodes throughout the season or even the run of the show.

You can expect a few rounds of auditions if you are called in for a role on one of these shows. You might be pre-screened through an audition with the casting team if you’ve never auditioned for Strauss’ office before or if you’re trying out a new type of role. If the office thinks you might be a fit, you’ll move on to a producer session. In a producer session, you can expect to read in front of an executive producer, the CD, and a writer. Casting happens quickly, so once the top creative team has the casting selected, offers will go out when the shooting schedule is established.

Huffman also noted that having representation isn’t required to get called in for one of said roles. In order to be memorable, make sure you’re flexible in the audition room and can make even jargon or seemingly insignificant dialogue sound natural. And remember, these shows are ongoing and full of opportunities, so if you don’t get one part, you still have the chance to win another!

When casting the One Chicago franchise, Strauss knew the importance of the actors’ physicality and relationships in building a genuine ensemble. “They have their fair share of fire and explosions,” he told LA411 during the franchise’s earliest days.

“The physicality is important, but it’s not the only thing that’s important. These characters are defined by their feelings and unspoken emotions,” he continued, explaining that they had to essentially bond like real family. “They have to be believable within all the demands: That’s the hardest thing to find.”

Strauss also noted that, to ensure chemistry was there, casts had to undergo bootcamp training as a way to replicate the actions and emotions they’d need to tap into while filming. “Relationships, backstories, subtext—these are the things an audience gravitates to,” he said. “How these people relate to each other is a work in progress that grows as it would in life. Chemistry is very important.

“I try to match an actor’s disposition, such as how they are at rest, with roles that suit them the best,” he added. “As I get to know them, I can stretch them further from their natural way of being. Some may find this detrimental, but the truth is that it’s a talent in itself to be oneself on camera. That takes years of training.”

Although there have not been any open casting calls for lead roles in the One Chicago franchise, there are plenty of opportunities for actors to get in on the action.

Keep in mind that, for larger speaking roles—series regular, recurring, guest star, costar, contract—you’ll likely need to go through your agent. Don’t have an agent? Here’s how to get one.

Chicago-based Joan Philo of Joan Philo Casting serves as casting director for background actors on “Chicago Med” and “Chicago Fire,” while Amy Vachon is CD for background actors on “Chicago P.D.” Be sure to check the “Chicago Fire,” “Chicago Med,” and “Chicago P.D.” extras Facebook pages, as the accounts regularly post calls for background actors when the shows are actively filming.

Since the One Chicago franchise actually shoots in the Windy City, it’s helpful to be local to the area. Because background work often does not include relocation or travel stipends, being a local hire is crucial for getting repeat work as an extra. For what it means to be a local hire, read this breakdown. And it can’t hurt to keep an eye on our Chicago casting directory page, which provides up-to-date access to the latest listings in the area.

To learn how to make a living as a background actor, check out Backstage’s guide to working as an extra. And for guidance on becoming a local extra, here’s our guide on how to get into background acting in Chicago.

Bring your authentic self to the audition: As a queer, Black man, Kyri rarely found himself represented onscreen, but by finding and creating opportunities to shine as his true self, he entered his “Chicago Fire” audition with the confidence to be who he always wanted to see.

“When I auditioned to play the role of Darren Ritter on ‘Chicago Fire,’ I was the only Black man in the waiting room. By that time, I was starring in ‘Hamlet’ as the titular role at the Gift Theatre in Chicago, and had just written, directed, produced, and starred in my first project as a filmmaker: ‘The T’ web series,” he wrote for Backstage. “Before ‘Hamlet’—[which was] led by a team of Black artists who could imagine me as the lead role—before I got so frustrated with auditioning for harmful stereotypes that I created a complicated Black role for myself, before I got to experience true representation, I might have turned down the audition for Ritter. I might have, and was totally prepared to, call it quits for a while—to take some time off acting, lick my wounds, serve tables full-time to make some money, and go back to school for writing.

“But I remembered my set [for ‘The T’]…. I remembered how good it felt to bring my authentic self to a project and not the me that leaves pieces behind because I’m afraid to take up too much space. I remembered who the hell I am and why I do what I do,” he continued. “I went into the audition and brought every bit of me and my singular Black and queer experience into that room. And Darren Ritter the rookie firefighter was born…. All I had to do to bring him to life was realize the truth: I am enough. All of me.”

Embrace the dark times as an opportunity for growth: Actors are well aware that the business elicits the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. It’s a roller coaster of emotions, to be quite honest. But “Chicago Med” star DaCosta knows that light ultimately emerges, even during the darkest of times—so everyone should embrace such periods as respites ripe for growth.

In an interview with Wondermind, she described the children’s book “Close Your Eyes” by Kate Banks, saying, “[The baby tiger] doesn’t want to go to sleep because he’s scared of the dark. And the [mama tiger] says, ‘Dark is just the other side of light. It’s what comes before dreams.’ I just love that so much. Because in times of darkness, we can forget that it’s the other side of light, and without one, the other cannot exist.”

She continued, “So if we embrace the darkness, if we embrace these moments of hibernation—just like the animals do in the winter—then what we’re doing is gathering up our resources, our strength, our fat reserves, everything that we need to learn and grow through that moment. We can’t do that if we are scared of the dark, if we’re mad at the dark, if we’re berating the dark. The dark has a lot of gifts for us.”

Surrounding yourself with those who lift you up can also help pull you out of the dark. ”The only reason I was able to get as far as I have is because of the support of people who believed in me,” DaCosta said in a conversation with InStyle. “And they were actually following my lead because I was betting on myself. And because I believed in myself, they could believe in me, too.”