Sergeant Hank Voight’s gravelly voice is one of the most iconic parts of Chicago P.D.—low, rough, commanding. But what most fans don’t know is this: Jason Beghe didn’t always sound like this.
In fact, his now-famous voice came from a near-fatal car accident that nearly ended his acting career before it truly began.
Back in 1999, Beghe was involved in a serious crash that crushed his lungs, fractured his spine, and left him hospitalized for weeks. He had to learn how to breathe again, speak again—and most terrifyingly, how to act again.
“I thought it was over,” Beghe said years later. “My voice was shot. It sounded like gravel on fire. But somehow, it stuck.”
At first, casting directors rejected him because of his raspy tone. But then a director told him, “You don’t sound broken—you sound dangerous.” That comment changed everything.
Years later, when Chicago P.D. creators were casting Voight, Beghe’s distinct voice became a key reason he got the role. “It wasn’t just the look. It was the sound. That voice said, ‘Don’t mess with me,’” said a producer.
In real life, Beghe is soft-spoken and deeply private. Divorced with two children, he spends most of his time off set reading philosophy and hiking in California.
He also openly left the Church of Scientology and became one of its most outspoken critics. “When I walked away, I lost friends, family, support systems,” he said. “But I gained myself back.”
Today, he brings that same inner fire to Voight: a man broken by the past, but still standing. Just like Beghe.
So next time you hear that growl across the screen—know that it came from pain, survival, and the decision to keep going.
