Why One Chicago's Hank Voight Looks So Familiar

2012 marked the humble beginnings of the One Chicago franchise, straight from the mind of Law & Order's Dick Wolf. Focused on the everyday heroes of the Windy City, initial show Chicago Fire was quickly followed by Chicago P.D. and Chicago Med. A fourth show, Chicago Justice, didn't gain enough traction to last more than a season. With all three shows still running in 2020 and the multitude of casting and story crossovers between them, One Chicago stands as one of television's greatest success stories.

In all the time it's been around, One Chicago has featured an enormous number of actors and actresses on its roster. Some, like Oliver Platt (Chicago Med's Daniel Charles), are well-known faces even outside of their One Chicago roles. Others, like Jason Beghe (Chicago P.D.'s Hank Voight), may take a second or two to recognize. Beghe's been around the block, though. Here's where you may have seen him before.

Fiction has a prevailing tendency to portray artists as deeply depressed people who drown their sorrows in, ah, earthly delights, shall we say. Californication is no exception to the trend, focusing on the easily tempted Hank Moody (David Duchovny), a novelist who's lost his way yet wants to convince his family that he's still on track. To say the least, there are some complications standing in the way of harmony and happiness for the Moody clan.

Beghe's Richard Bates is one of those complications. A former college professor of Karen's (Natascha McElhone) — Hank's on-again, off-again lover and mother of his daughter Rebecca (Madeleine Martin) — he unexpectedly returns to her life years later. The alumni reunion goes beyond a simple hello and goodbye, however: The two fall in love and get married. Hank still loves Karen, though, which is where those aforementioned complications come in.

Bates is not your run-of-the-mill college professor, either: he's quite the personality. A writer himself, he believes that experiencing what you're going to write about before you write about it is the key to success. That enthusiasm leaks into all of his lectures and spills over into his personal life, making him as entertaining to watch as he is hard to control. He's a great foil for Hank, thanks in large part to Beghe's playful interpretation of his larger-than-life way of doing things.

Ridley Scott may be best known for the Alien films, but Thelma and Louise stands out on the legendary director's long and impressive resume just as much. Part buddy film, part road movie, part crime thriller, it has a lot of moving parts for beginning with such a simple premise: Wanting to escape her husband Darryl (Christopher McDonald) for a weekend, Thelma Dickinson (Geena Davis) invites her best friend Louise Sawyer (Susan Sarandon) to a mountain fishing cabin where they can decompress. Things get messy when a man named Harlan (Timothy Carhart) attempts to rape Thelma and Louise shoots him for it, sending the pair on the run.

Their journey doesn't get any easier, and the two women change from it — not for the better. They harbor a thief, rob a convenience store, blow up a truck — anything if it means surviving and eluding the authorities for one more day. They can't run and hide forever, though, and eventually a lone state trooper catches them speeding. He has sunglasses on, but it's unmistakably Beghe under those shades.

In one of Thelma and Louise's most intense scenes, the titular ladies discuss what they think they should do as the state trooper slowly pulls them over and walks towards their roofless car. He doesn't know who they are or what they've done, but finding out is as easy as a call to the station. Just before he does so, Thelma holds him at gunpoint and forces him into the trunk of his car. His fear is palpable, Beghe making the most of the short time he has on screen. It's a hard scene to watch, and harder to forget.

George Romero will forever be remembered for revolutionizing the zombie genre with the Living Dead series of films, but not all of his work focuses on the undead. Monkey Shines, based on the book of the same name by British author Michael Stewart, is a very different kind of scary — no zombies involved. The main source of the film's psychological horror is, of all things, a monkey named Ella.

Beghe's Allan Mann, an athlete in his prime, is hit by a truck one day, leaving him quadriplegic, unable to use his torso or limbs. Ella is a service monkey, and the two work extremely well together at first, developing a strong bond. Ella even seems privy to Allan's pain and the anger it causes him, but things take a turn for the worse when Melanie Parker (Kate McNeil), an expert on both service monkeys and quadriplegia, starts developing feelings of her own for Allan. Ella's jealousy of the pair morphs into murderous intent, and then straight up murder. Yep. A homicidal monkey is on the loose.

The concept may sound silly, but don't forget Romero is at the helm — the man knows how to frighten an audience. Beghe's Allan certainly amps up the fear factor as well. After all, what is an immobilized quadriplegic to do in a situation like this? All he has is his wits and the people around him, all of whom are in as much danger from Ella as he is. Beghe hasn't had many lead roles in film since, but this movie proves he's more than capable of taking charge.

Beghe's next appearance won't be an appearance at all, but a voice role in the upcoming animated film Dawgtown. It's anybody's guess after that, but Beghe is a man of no small talent, so he's sure to pop up again soon.