The Chicago Fire cast is back for season 12! Here's a look at the actors then and now

Jesse Spencer (Captain Matt Casey)

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.

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. 

Kinney began dating model Ashley Cruger in 2022.

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.

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.

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.

Yuri Sardarov (Brian “Otis” Zvonecek)

Yuri Sardarov played wisecracking fire truck driver Brian “Otis” Zvonecek.

Sardarov was a relative newcomer to the entertainment industry before joining Chicago Fire in 2012. He made his film debut in 2011 through The Double with Richard Gere, followed by George Clooney’s The Ides of March (2011) and Ben Affleck's Argo (2012). But it was the connections he made in the former film that led to his life-changing One Chicago role.

“I got an email from Mike Brandt and Derek Haas, who are the creators of the show; we had done a film together called The Double...when I was still in college…” he told the Chicago Tribune in 2019. “And maybe two or three years later I get an email from them asking if my parents still have a house in the Chicagoland area because they need local actors for this television show they’re putting together.”

He’s since appeared in the mockumentary series Boyband (2016) with castmate David Eigenberg and in the drama Adam (2020) with Aaron Paul. He left Chicago Fire during the premiere of season 8, but has returned to the world of network procedurals for guest spots on The Rookie and FBI: International.

Christian Stolte (Randall “Mouch” McHolland)

Protective union rep Randall “Mouch” McHolland is played by Christian Stolte.

The St. Louis native has often been typecast as either a criminal or a member of law enforcement and has been featured in films like Road to Perdition (2002), Public Enemies (2009), and Law Abiding Citizen (2009). He continued this trend with a recurring role in seasons 1 and 2 of the hit series Prison Break as Corrections Officer Keith Stolte.

During his 12 years and counting on Chicago Fire and its sister shows, Stolte has starred in the films Rain Beau’s End (2020) and The Unseen (2023). He worked with his castmate Monica Raymund in a short film she directed, Hidden Tears: Tanya, which also starred Chicago Fire’s Eamonn Walker and Joe Minoso, and with David Eigenberg and Yuri Sardarov on Boyband.

Stolte has two daughters, Corinne and Greta, who have both appeared in Chicago Fire. “My older daughter played my biological daughter,” he told Parade in 2021. “There was a storyline where there was an information leak and I was a sperm donor father, that type of thing. And my youngest daughter was, I think, the first person rescued in the pilot episode. She’s now a freshman at Arizona State, but she was small enough that Jesse handed her off to David after they crawled out of a residential fire.”

Joe Minoso (Joe Cruz)

Joe Minoso plays loyal firefighter — and part-time Zumba instructor — Joe Cruz. 

Before joining the crew of Firehouse 51, Minoso appeared onstage in the Chicago area and was the associate artistic director for Teatro Vista. He made his onscreen debut in season 1 of Prison Break with future costar Christian Stolte, and the two also worked on separate episodes of The Twilight Zone Radio Dramas before Chicago Fire. He continued to guest star on TV shows like Shameless, The Chicago Code, and Boss before earning his first series regular role on the NBC hit.

"I think a lot about the tag that’s on every rig, or truck, which says: ‘We’re there when you need us,’” he told Parade in 2017. “I think that’s the overarching arc of the show." 

Since the series’ 2012 debut, he has worked with his castmates in Boyband, Hidden Tears: Tanya, Chicago P.D., and Chicago Med. He appeared briefly in 2013’s Man of Steel as a police officer and made a two-episode guest star turn on the Epix series Get Shorty.

Minoso has been married to Chicago Fire make-up artist Caitlin Murphy Miles since 2016.

Kara Killmer (Sylvie Brett)

Kara Killmer made her way to Chicago in season 3 as the slightly naïve runaway bride turned paramedic, Sylvie Brett.

Killmer got her first break on the 2010 reality series If I Can Dream, which chronicled the ups and downs of five aspiring performers in Los Angeles. She earned a small handful of TV credits in Scary Tales, Jane by Design, and the TV movie Horizon (2013) before assuming the role of the former small-town paramedic.

Since starring in Chicago Fire, she has headlined her first film, the historical action drama Beyond the Mask (2015), and, like costars Monica Raymund and Christian Stolte, appeared on the comedy series Special Skills. She also reunited with former Chicago Fire love interest Jon Seda in the short film The Follower (2019) and scored her second leading role in the 2018 TV movie thriller Sleeper.

As EW reported in November 2023, Killmer will bid Chicago Fire farewell in season 12. Could wedding bells finally be in the future for Sylvie and Matthew?

In real life, Killmer married her Beyond the Mask costar, Andrew Cheney, in 2016.

Miranda Rae Mayo (Stella Kidd)

Miranda Rae Mayo joined the cast of Chicago Fire in season 4 as the fearless firefighter Stella Kidd.

“One of the things that I love about Stella is she is courageous, not only in her profession but in her relationships,” Mayo told Essence in 2022. “Stella has been an incredible vehicle for me to explore many different sides of myself.” 

The actress made her television debut on a different Dick Wolf procedural, Law & Order: LA, before recurring on The Game (2013), Days of Our Lives (2013–2015), Pretty Little Liars (2015), and True Detective season 2 (2015). She became a series regular on the short-lived ABC drama Blood & Oil (2015) with Don Johnson before making her way to Chicago Fire in 2016 to drive Truck 81.

The Chicago production has kept her busy on the acting front, but like her character, who gives back onscreen with her Girls on Fire initiative, Mayo sits on the board of the Holistic Life Foundation, which seeks to nurture wellness in underserved communities through practices like yoga and mindful meditation.

Alberto Rosende (Blake Gallo)

Alberto Rosende came on board in season 8 as the young, devil-may-care firefighter Blake Gallo.

“In a lot of ways we're similar but I have the thing in my head that says, 'No that is extremely dangerous, don't do that.' Gallo does not… He hasn't reckoned with his mortality,” Rosende told Hello in 2021. “He has an understanding of loss, but he has a youthful idealism and energy that allows him to run in head first.”

The NYU Tisch School of the Arts grad was forced to reckon with his own mortality too, revealing via Instagram in 2017 that he was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 2013 at age 20. He later appeared on Blue Bloods and Law & Order: SVU before joining the fan-favorite Freeform series Shadowhunters as vampire Simon Lewis (2016–2019).

After four fruitful seasons of Chicago Fire, Rosende is departing the series following the season 12 premiere. 

"When I decided to end my time with Chicago, it wasn't easy,” he told Deadline in 2023. “The people I've met were truly special, the friendships I've made will last a lifetime, and the story I got to tell was one that made me proud."

Rosende is engaged to his Shadowhunters costar Tessa Mossey.

Daniel Kyri (Darren Ritter)

Daniel Kyri leaped into the fire in season 7 as the compassionate Darren Ritter.

A Chicago native, the actor first graced the small screen as one of the pint-sized participants on the 2007 CBS reality show Kid Nation. He soon left the world of reality TV behind and made a name for himself in the local theater community, earning a Joseph Jefferson Equity Award nomination for Principal Actor in a Play for Objects in the Mirror and receiving strong reviews for his performance as Hamlet at the Gift Theatre. Fun fact: Prior to landing the role of Ritter on Chicago Fire, Kyri appeared as the son of a patient in a 2018 episode of Chicago Med.

Since joining the crew of Firehouse 51, he’s lent his voice to the narrative podcast Lake Song and starred in movies like Killing Eleanor (2020) with castmate David Eigenberg, The Thing About Harry (2020), and Night’s End (2022). The openly queer Kyri has also co-directed, co-written, and costarred in the LGBT-focused series The T.

Playing a gay firefighter has been instrumental to his personal and professional growth as well. "In a lot of ways, it's forced me to grow up,” Kyri told Today in 2023. “I was a person who had a lot of outdated, maybe even preconceived, notions about how to be a successful actor… I imagined I'd have to twist myself out of shape to fit into some kind of mold. The opportunity to just fully go there [on set] and be the representation that I needed when I was growing up is really, truly something that has made me as Daniel Kyri the actor blossom."