Eva Imani and Dante Torres are just starting to get to know one another on Chicago PD, but the two actors who play those characters actually have a long-lived connection. It turns out Arienne Mandi and Benjamin Levy Aguilar have known each other since 2020, when they met in a jiu-jitsu class, per a joint interview with both actors published by People Magazine.
“He was late every single time. Then we became training partners, and we both realized that we were both actors, and we loved working out. So, we joined basically every gym in Los Angeles. And, yeah, just became the best of friends," Mandi said.
Aguilar added that the two of them were so amused by the fact that they’d been paired together, he couldn’t keep a straight face during their first few times on-camera as acting partners.
“The first time we did a scene together, we couldn’t lock eyes because it was, like, chaos. It’s been the best," he said.
Eva Imani and Dante Torres—the characters Aguilar and Mandi portray—are both lonely souls looking for a deeper connection. Imani’s entire family was rocked by the trafficking and kidnapping of her little sister—even though that sister has been recovered as an adult, she has bonded with her captor and believes herself to be his wife. A rift has developed between Imani and her sister, ruining a long-hoped-for and dreamed-of reunion.
Torres ended up being the one to offer a shoulder to his colleague when things got rough, and he was the one who hung out with her at the precinct and in safehouses during season 13, partnering with Voight to offer her an ear. Torres himself has had a hard time of things; his romantic history has been littered with connections formed in the field and then lost through violence. He had formed a connection in the previous season to a woman who operated a tattoo shop, but that doesn’t seem to be going anywhere during season 14. That leaves the door wide open for romance between these two—a possibility that Mandi and Aguilar both acknowledge might be a big possibility in this
coming season.
Platonic or not, be prepared to see more of the twosome. “We’re definitely interested in strengthening that friendship this year and sort of exploring it and exploring the connection that they have,” Gwen Sigan, showrunner of Chicago PD, revealed to People Magazine. Sigan notes that both characters are extremely independent people, which might complicate any bonhomie that develops between them down the line.
While it seems the show seems to be content with keeping Imani and Torres friends and nothing more right now, there’s a distinct possibility that sometime in the future their connection might become romantic in the distant future. But there’s always hope that somewhere and somehow, love can bloom between this odd couple—reflecting the real-life friendship between the two actors playing them, if things just end up staying platonic between them on a personal level.
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