How old is Hailey Upton on Chicago PD?
Hailey Upton (Tracy Spiridakos) is one of the youngest members of the IU. She brings a strong sense of optimism to Chicago PD, even though she’s struggled to maintain it in light of recent events. The dissolution of her marriage to Jay Halstead (Jesse Lee Soffer) has been especially hard on her, given that the latter seems to have no plan to return to Chicago or even stay in touch with her.
Because Upton is the least experienced member of the IU, and was the last member canonically to join, there are some fans who might be curious about her age, and how long she’s been an officer. Her birthday has not been directly stated on the show, but there have been some clues that can help us narrow it down. Here’s what we know.
How old is Tracy Spiridakos?
Generally, the writers of a show like to align the age of the characters with the age of the actors who play them. It makes it easier to follow continuity, and ensure that the actors are not playing characters who are radically different in age.
The assumption may be that Upton is the same age as Tracy Spiridakos, who is 35. Interestingly, this is not the case. Upton is 30 years old canonically, which means there’s a five year difference between character and actor.
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Why? Well, there’s a specific story reason. In the season 9 episode “Still Water”, Upton recalls an incident that happened to her when she was 10 years old. She says that an armed robbery went down at her father’s restaurant, and that Trudy Platt (Amy Morton) was the responding officer who saved their lives.
The robbery was said to have taken place in 2003, which means that Upton was born in 1993. It also means that she was 24 when she made her debut in Chicago PD in season 4.
The five year gap is significant, especially in comparison to the rest of the cast. Most of the actors on Chicago PD plays their own ages, but Spiridakos is able to pull off playing several years younger than she actually is.
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