Daniel Kyri says starring in "Chicago Fire" has "forced" him to widen an otherwise narrow view of what he thought was possible for him as a queer actor.
In the NBC legacy show, he plays a gay firefighter, Darren Ritter, who reckons with imposter syndrome and leans on veteran firefighters to champion his presence. The 28-year-old actor, who identifies as queer, tells TODAY.com how experiencing that on set has impacted his confidence.
"In a lot of ways, it's forced me to grow up," he says. "I was a person who had a lot of outdated, maybe even preconceived, notions about how to be a successful actor and the ways in which I imagined I'd have to twist myself out of shape to fit into some kind of mold. The opportunity to just fully go there (on set) and be the representation that I needed when I was growing up is really, truly something that has made me as Daniel Kyri the actor blossom."
Kyri joined "Chicago Fire" in Season Seven in 2018 and says he hopes both new and longtime viewers learn empathy from his character.
"I don't like words like 'tolerance' and things like that because I believe the implications are dangerous and one-sided as if there is a majority group that we have to beg approval from," he explains. "I reject that idea. However, I still say I just think empathy and an opportunity to really learn from someone like Ritter, someone who, sure — represents a lot of things for the LGBTQ+ community — but is also just a person."
The opportunity to just fully go there (on set) and be the representation that I needed when I was growing up is really, truly something that has made me as Daniel Kyri the actor blossom.
daniel kyri
Ritter has certainly impacted Kyri beyond representation, Kyri says. He is now a self-deputized fire authority.
"I am a person now when I've been invited into someone's home, I'm looking for the fire extinguisher and checking the batteries in the smoke detector just to be like, 'OK, everything's good here,'" he describes. "It's up to code."
And for anyone questioning the authenticity of the fires on the hit NBC drama, Kyri says the crew quite literally brings the heat.
"We have a burn stage designed to facilitate controlled burns. ... The fire that you're seeing when you watch the show is real," he says. "The heat is also very real. ... You'll see us sweating on camera and you're like, 'It's so realistic.' Nah, that's because it's hot."
“Chicago Fire” fans now even have the chance to see some of Ritter’s bunker gear on display at a special Paley Center exhibit in New York through July 9.
In the show, Mouch (Christian Stolte) consistently shows up for Ritter and pours into him when self-doubt makes him question himself as a firefighter. Ritter even leaves at one point, but he does rejoin the fire station later on. Kyri says he has a Mouch in his real life.
"My Mouch is me, and it’s also my community," he says. "I think I’ve earned the right to say that."
Those champions in his life emerged out of a dearth of support from his biological family.
"As a queer man, I have had and gone through a lot of tumult in my own interpersonal relationships, especially where it concerns my family of origin," he explains. "For a long while, as I was becoming the man that I am today, I was on my own."
He was estranged from his family for about five years and had to ride for himself, he says.
"Then, along the way, I began to attract people who I affectionately call my tribe because vibe attracts tribe," he says. "I began to attract folks around me who shared a lot of (my) same principles. It became a thing of like I lead the way for teaching people how to be there for me and how to love me. And then I gave it right back to them."
Kyri applied the same approach to his biological family.
"We had a reckoning where they communicated that they missed me, and they wanted me back in their lives," he recalls. "And I said, 'That's so wonderful to hear. But, if I come back, I am going to be who I am, and then it's up to you to acclimate. I have to accept you, not the other way around.'"
He says his family agreed to his terms.
"They responded the only way they could: It was either that or I wouldn't be in their lives," he says. "That stance for me was me being in my power, but also being — more importantly — in a place of self-love."
These days, Kyri is being his most authentic self yet.
"I am more and more in my unapologetic era currently," he says. "I am celebrating my own personal growth within my identity. I feel really settled into myself in a way that just feels hard-earned."
"Now, it's time to just appreciate and celebrate the parts of me that make me who I am."
