After stealing hearts as Lt. Kelly Severide at the helm of Chicago Fire for 14 years and counting, it’s hard to imagine a time before Taylor
Kinney played the valiant firefighter. But it’s far from Kinney’s first time playing a character who will go above and beyond to save civilians.
Case in point: Kinney’s starring role as an EMT in Trauma, a 2009 drama series that followed San Francisco paramedics. Kinney played EMT Glenn Morrison, a charming young paramedic who flexed his heroic dedication in all 18 episodes of the series.
In a throwback photo from Kinney’s Trauma era, he can be seen donning a mustache and goatee, a bit of a far cry from the shaved salt-and-pepper style he’s embraced at Firehouse 51 in recent seasons of Chicago Fire. After all, it is a snapshot from 2009, just a few years after Kinney broke into the entertainment industry and before he made his 2012 Chicago Fire debut.
Taylor Kinney as Glenn Morris in Trauma Episode 3 Season 1.
Photo: Paul Drinkwater/NBCU Photo Bank
Taylor Kinney reflects on his Chicago Fire audition: “I was excited”
Kinney’s role on Trauma came just a few years before he helped launch the One Chicago franchise in the mothership series, but Chicago Fire‘s Kelly Severide isn’t his only iconic role.
Aside from dynamite guest roles in hit series like Castle, CSI: NY, Shameless, and Bones, many audiences know Kinney for his recurring role as werewolf Mason Lockwood in the supernatural thriller The Vampire Diaries. Kinney has also appeared in big-screen projects like Zero Dark Thirty and Here and Now.
Kinney made his way to Dick Wolf’s Windy City-based drama after several years spent in the television circuit, giving him the know-how and experience to successfully nail his first-ever Chicago Fire audition. That quiet confidence and assurance no doubt helped Kinney score the leading role of Severide, a firefighter who boasts infallible confidence and unbridled determination.
“My first audition for Chicago Fire? I was in the circuit of auditioning a lot, so I was decent at it. I remember never having any anxiety. I was excited about it, and then you kind of leave it up to the powers that be,” Kinney revealed during a 2023 NBC interview. “It went well, and 10 years later I’m still here bugging you through your televisions while you fold laundry.”
After stealing hearts as Lt. Kelly Severide at the helm of Chicago Fire for 14 years and counting, it’s hard to imagine a time before Taylor Kinney played the valiant firefighter. But it’s far from Kinney’s first time playing a character who will go above and beyond to save civilians.
Case in point: Kinney’s starring role as an EMT in Trauma, a 2009 drama series that followed San Francisco paramedics. Kinney played EMT Glenn Morrison, a charming young paramedic who flexed his heroic dedication in all 18 episodes of the series.
In a throwback photo from Kinney’s Trauma era, he can be seen donning a mustache and goatee, a bit of a far cry from the shaved salt-and-pepper style he’s embraced at Firehouse 51 in recent seasons of Chicago Fire. After all, it is a snapshot from 2009, just a few years after Kinney broke into the entertainment industry and before he made his 2012 Chicago Fire debut.
Taylor Kinney as Glenn Morris in Trauma Episode 3 Season 1.
Photo: Paul Drinkwater/NBCU Photo Bank
Taylor Kinney reflects on his Chicago Fire audition: “I was excited”
Kinney’s role on Trauma came just a few years before he helped launch the One Chicago franchise in the mothership series, but Chicago Fire‘s Kelly Severide isn’t his only iconic role.
Aside from dynamite guest roles in hit series like Castle, CSI: NY, Shameless, and Bones, many audiences know Kinney for his recurring role as werewolf Mason Lockwood in the supernatural thriller The Vampire Diaries. Kinney has also appeared in big-screen projects like Zero Dark Thirty and Here and Now.
Kinney made his way to Dick Wolf’s Windy City-based drama after several years spent in the television circuit, giving him the know-how and experience to successfully nail his first-ever Chicago Fire audition. That quiet confidence and assurance no doubt helped Kinney score the leading role of Severide, a firefighter who boasts infallible confidence and unbridled determination.
“My first audition for Chicago Fire? I was in the circuit of auditioning a lot, so I was decent at it. I remember never having any anxiety. I was excited about it, and then you kind of leave it up to the powers that be,” Kinney revealed during a 2023 NBC interview. “It went well, and 10 years later I’m still here bugging you through your televisions while you fold laundry.”
In the ongoing debate over whether the nature of Drew Sidora and Dennis McKinley’s relationship is business and/or pleasure on The Real Housewives of Atlanta Season 16, Ralph Pittman entered the chat with some new intel.
During a dinner with Porsha Williams and Shamea Morton on Episode 10, Ralph weighed in on his estranged wife’s music partnership, revealing, “Dennis reached out to me to get the blessing.”
When Shamea, who called Dennis and Drew’s friendship “so inappropriate,” noted, “That’s big,” Ralph replied, “No, that’s respect.”
Porsha, for her part, went on to inform him that Dennis had texted her about Drew supposedly “trying to sleep with” him for free studio services. (Dennis previously denied the claim on Episode 9, insisting that Porsha was “interpreting that incorrectly.”) The Go Naked Hair founder added in a confessional that she simply wanted Ralph to know that “Drew and Dennis had not had sex because he was basically telling her no.”
Shamea asked Ralph if he believed they were “romantically linked,” to which he responded, “I don’t know. I thought she had somebody else that she was dealing with.”
The purpose of the dinner meeting, Shamea explained, was for Ralph to run a podcast idea by her, since she hosted a previous Atlanta Househusbands show he’d done with Todd Tucker and Aaron Ross. She ultimately invited Porsha to join them as a “witness” that nothing out of pocket was going down.
“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with meeting up with Ralph,” Shamea said in a confessional. “Honestly, I don’t know if Ralph had any ill intent in reaching out to me, but you know what, I’m a concerned citizen. And if [the] people of the United States of Atlanta want to know if Ralph’s wife and Dennis are making hot dogs, it’s gonna be gotten to the bottom of.”
Ralph, meanwhile, claimed that he “had no idea” Porsha was going to be joining them. And after she had vehemently opposed Dennis filming with Drew, Porsha also took the opportunity to clear up any misconceptions about her motives.
“I’m not hangin’ with Ralph, OK?” she told producers. “I didn’t call him and ask him to come to dinner tonight. This is not tit for tat. … I’m just hungry.”
Viewers only got a brief glimpse of Angela Oakley telling Drew about the trio’s get-together. Though she was taken aback by the news — and didn’t even know Ralph had a podcast — the “I Did It to Me” singer was more concerned about Dennis’ supposed text allegation to Porsha that she “wanted to sleep with him in an effort to not pay for services,” as Angela put it, repeating the phrase, “Girl, bye.” (According to Porsha, Dennis’ text said, “I told Drew I wouldn’t “f” her, and run me my money.”)
Continuing to maintain that there is nothing romantic going on with Dennis, later on RHOA’s May 11 episode, Drew vented to her life coach, Dr, Ken, “It just feels so unfair. It just feels like music is my safe space, but now that’s been compromised.”
As the mom of three — who had already “ceased communication” with Ralph three weeks earlier — elaborated in a confessional, “Why would Dennis make up this lie? We are building something we both believe in, and I felt like he was supporting my desires and my passion in music.”