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9-1-1
"The sexiest thing about playing a firefighter on TV is getting to sit next to these guys," says Oliver Stark, with his costars on the Fox drama: (from left) Ryan Guzman, Peter Krause and Kenneth Choi. "No, I think the fact that we get to honor and tell the stories of these real heroes and shine a light on what they do. Because I think, as a regular civilian, you don't necessarily think of first responders day in, day out, so to be able to shine that light on them I think is a really important — and sexy — part of what we do."
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Station 19
"[Firefighters are] on the front lines and putting their life on the line every single day for us," says Boris Kodjoe (who plays Robert Sullivan on the ABC hit), with Jay Hayden (Travis Montgomery). "To be able to play them and to pay homage to them is truly an honor for us."
9-1-1: Lone Star
"Sun's out, guns out," Brian Michael Smith (left) jokes about the perks of playing a firefighter on TV in the Fox drama. "There's something really cool about being able to do all these elements of the job we've come to respect—without the danger." Adds Works: "We use real tools, we're riding in a fire truck, and we get to work with live fires."
Chicago Fire
"There's not a lot of people that walk into harm's way willingly, day in, day out — and that's the job," Taylor Kinney (right) says of real firefighters. "So, thank you." Adds Joe Miñoso, his costar on the NBC drama, "I think one of the great things that our show portrays is how much of a family this group is. And I think that's something we learned from watching these men and women support each other through some really horrific stuff."
Peter Krause
"We've gained an appreciation of what firefighters go through in a day on the job," says the 9-1-1 star. "They have to keep a sense of humor about everything they face as dangerous or as gruesome as it is, as well, just to be able to keep moving forward. I think the brotherhood of firefighting is sexy as well, whether it's on TV, as we do it, or in reality. They depend on each other."
Boris Kodjoe
"To have a job like this where you play make believe every single day, and you can be a firefighter, it should be illegal," says the Station 19 star. "It's literally a dream come true. That's what everybody wanted to do when they were kids. I wanted to be a firefighter when I was five. And to be able to do [this now], it's a dream come true."
Taylor Kinney
For 11 seasons on NBC, "we've been fortunate enough to go forward and do something really special: tell great stories," Kinney says of Chicago Fire. "I got called Samurai the other day," he adds with a laugh, referring to a mispronunciation of his character, Severide. "The guy's like, 'Yo, what's up, Samurai?'"
Brian Michael Smith
"Physically what it takes to actually do the job of a firefighter, you have to be in pretty good shape," the 9-1-1: Lone Star actor says of what he's learned about the occupation. "Even if you're not necessarily aesthetically in the greatest shape, physically you have to be able to do the job. And we found out as we were training for it, it really is demanding to do that."
Oliver Stark
"They put themselves on the line for complete strangers day in, day out. I don't think there's anything more you can give, as a human, than that," says the 9-1-1 star, who plays Evan "Buck" Buckley. "I also think about just the wide variety of calls and therefore skill sets that they have to have. I think I quite naively starting the show thought that firefighters just fight fire. When in actual fact, the scope of what they end up dealing with is so much greater. So their own skill set has to be equally as great."
Jay Hayden
"It's what our kids, our daughters, need to say," the Station 19 star says of the show's representation of strong female characters — specifically female firefighters. "They need to see these strong, powerful women being able to do the job and do it in an amazing way."
Joe Miñoso
"Did I ever dream of being a firefighter? I think every boy, at some point, sees a fire truck and is like, 'That's dope,'" says Miñoso, who plays Joe Cruz on NBC's Chicago Fire. "I think I was more excited when I got the role. I was more a kid about being a firefighter in my 30s than I would've been in my teens. I remember when I got cast ... and I hung up the phone, and I was like, 'I'm going to be a firefighter!' I'm turning a fake wheel to a truck. Because I was so excited about the potential. I don't think we could ever imagine that this is where we would've gone."
Kenneth Choi
"The sexiest thing about firefighters is they're actual heroes," says the 9-1-1 star. "They run into danger when everybody else is running away."
Ryan Guzman
"Some people could say being a family man is sexy, and I think there's no greater family than the one you find in extreme environments like in firefighting," says the 9-1-1 star.
Julian Works
"We just got a small glimpse of what [firefighters] go through on a day-to-day basis. The real ones that go out there, I salute them," says the 9-1-1: Lone Star actor. "There's been many episodes that we show these huge fires and stuff going on, but they're all based off of somewhat true stories that they find in certain newspapers. So I commend the real firefighters out there that do their job very well. All respect to them."
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