Spotlight: Daniel Kyri

In 2018, Chicago Fire fans met Darren Ritter, a loyal and caring firefighter who never backs down when someone is in need. The man behind the now fan-favorite character is actor Daniel Kyri, who grew up in Chicago and continues to make the city proud. We spoke with Daniel about how he found her way into the world of Wolf Entertainment, what life is like on-set, and what he admires most about his character. 

Q: How did you end up in your role as Darren Ritter on Chicago Fire?

A: In 2018, I was working a series of theater jobs scheduled through the end of the year, and I had decided that I was going to take a break from acting once the year was done — I thought I would get a “real job” and make some money and try to return to acting later on. 

One day, Claire Simon, who was casting for One Chicago at that time, called me in for a role on Chicago PD. I had previously been on an episode of Chicago Med. I went in for it and auditioned, and she paid me a really beautiful compliment and I felt really good about the whole thing. She called later and said, there’s another role I want you to come in for. It’s a director session, which is the next step past the initial audition, only this time it was for Chicago Fire. I went in and auditioned for a possible recurring character, which typically would be just a few episodes. I met now Executive Producer Reza Tabrizi, and he gave me some direction and we really vibed. And then a few days later I had the job.

My first episode was a crossover episode. It was one of the more intimidating experiences that I’d had, just because it was my first time in a situation like this, with the full geat and all the bodies and cast and multiple cameras and smoke and fire — I did the best I could! They continued asking me back, and that’s how Darren Ritter was born.

Q: What does a typical day on set look like for you?

A: I try to arrive on set on the earlier side, just so I can have some time to sit in my trailer and get acclimated. During that time I’ll meditate or put music on and stretch. I just try to see what my body needs so that I can sustain throughout the day. Then I will go through hair and makeup and I will either look at my sides in the chair or I might just start just connecting with my castmates who are in the scenes with me. Next, I’ll go to set and we have a rehearsal and then we do a marking rehearsal and then I get wired, and once lights are all set up, we go for one. That first take is always a little bit of a lesson for me. We don’t do table reads on Fire, so you really are using that as an opportunity to learn as much about how the scene moves and what it wants from you. I try to take the pressure off and I use that as my place to learn, and then from there we go and we start really cooking with gas.

Q: Do you have a favorite onset moment or story that you can share?

A: One of my favorite on-set moments was the day we shot “Dead of Winter” in Season 9. The firehouse is called to a homeless encampment, and Ritter meets and forms a special bond with a victim of the fire, a young woman named Vanessa. The actress who played Vanessa, Samantha Ashley, was brand new to being on a major set like ours. Even so, she was so skilled and so focused and she really wanted to do a good job. Just a couple years before that I was in her shoes, and I still remember what that felt like. So my job for the day became being of service to her, and helping her as much as I could. She and I ended up shooting some great scenes together — they even added scenes for us because our chemistry was so on point. That day taught me a lot about myself and about the job, and opened my eyes to some things that I don’t think I had considered before then. As a performer on this show, I really am in service to the story and overall I am in service to the integrity of the show. Being that support for a fellow actor helped me not only get out of myself for a bit, but to find a little bit more of my character and helped all of us navigate the story.

Q: What do you admire most about your character?

A: What I admire most about Ritter is that has a really good sense of boundaries. Boundaries so important in our healing processes — as we work through various things, boundaries are how we protect our healing. Ritter is the kind of person that respects boundaries, and he doesn’t often cross them without having good reason to do it. He also knows when to negotiate and when to make sacrifices for others, and Ritter does that for the people that he cares about in his life. He’s also often the voice of reason, and I love the value that he adds to the show in that way. There will be instances where they cut to Ritter, and the expression on his face tells us as audience members how to feel about the situation. It’s valuable for comedy, it’s valuable for drama, and it’s valuable for storytelling. And because he’s such a boundaried person, those reactions that he has and those opinions that he forms are so grounded in who he is. 

Q: What is it like to represent Chicago on screen?

A: It’s complicated. Having grown up here and lived here for as long as I have, I’ve known so many different Chicagos, I see the good and the bad in the city. We’re one of the most segregated cities in the nation, and yet I’ve also seen people in many communities reaching across their differences. That’s where we live on Chicago Fire, in those extraordinary instances where people bridge division and come together. Of course it all exists in the context of the city’s history as well, for instance if we show a young Black firefighter saving a cop’s life, we do that with the understanding of the tensions that exist between the Black community and the police in Chicago. However, in those instances, what matters is the characters’ ability to overcome whatever difference and save a life. What’s so poignant about the way One Chicago shows handle representing our city and its citizens are the ways in which we celebrate the best parts of people in crisis. To have any part in showing how you could be having the worst day of your life and you can still show up for your neighbor is something that feels so important to me, and something that’s so quintessentially Chicago. I love this city, and it really is a privilege to be doing what I do, and to be honest in my experiences and use them to benefit our show. 

Q: What is your favorite episode of Chicago Fire? 

A: One of my favorites is S7E4, “This Isn’t Charity.” There’s a scene in it between Mouch, Herrmann, and Ritter that I love, where Mouch tells Ritter “Welcome to 51.” Mouch becomes a real mentor in this episode to Ritter — he’s a seasoned firefighter who sees a young guy who is frustrated and down on himself and he responds by acknowledging the value that he adds to the team. There’s something to be said for the power of positive male mentorship, and you really see that play out on screen. It’s special to have these two experienced firefighters sit with Ritter and say “you can do this,” and watch Ritter start to believe it himself. 

Watch Chicago Fire at 9/8c on NBC and stream episodes the next day on Peacock.