How old is Jay Halstead on Chicago PD?
Jay Halstead (Jesse Lee Soffer) was a cop who always seemed wise beyond his years. He brought a sense of morality and quiet strength to Chicago PD, which often put him at odds with Hank Voight (Jason Beghe).
Now he’s gone. Well, at least for a while. The veteran officer has given up his badge and left the country, seemingly taking any hope of a normal marriage to Upton (Tracy Spiridakos) with him. How old is Halstead? Is he older than his wife?
These are the kinds of questions that fans have had since he left the show, and they get further complicated by the confusion over whether he’s the older or younger Halstead brother in the One Chicago universe. Let’s break it all down.
How old is Jesse Lee Soffer on Chicago PD?
In the beginning, Jay Halstead was the older brother. He referred to Will (Nick Gehlfuss) as his “little brother” during their first appearance together, and he certainly had the demeanor and attitude of someone who spent their childhood keeping their mischievous sibling in check.
Then, a funny thing happened. The writers for both Chicago PD and Med changed their minds. It’s been flipped canonically, so now Jay is the little brother and Will is the elder Halstead. It gets even more confusing when you take into account that Jesse Lee Soffer is a year older than the man who has been tasked with playing his older brother, Nick Gehlfuss.
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In real life, Soffer is 39 and Gehlfuss is 38. The general rule of thumb, unless a show specifically states otherwise, is to match a character’s age to the actor’s. Since there has been a retroactive change to both characters, we can assume that Jay Halstead is supposed to be 38 and Dr. Will is supposed to be 39.
This slight tweak would allow the new continuity to hold up, while ensuring that the actors aren’t playing men who are drastically older than them. Then again, there’s always the change that the writers could switch things back and confuse us even more. As of 2023, though, Jay Halstead is the older brother in his late 30s.
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