Jesse Lee Soffer's Impression Of Hank Voight Is Downright Hilarious
As TV cop-show partnerships go, "Chicago P.D." Intelligence Unit Chief Hank Voight (Jason Beghe) and I.U. detective Jay Halstead (Jesse Lee Soffer) are an indispensable double-act in the high-risk, crime-busting life of the show's 21st District police department. Earning a special place in the hearts of Chi-Hard fans for being reliably bad but still more or less fair, rogue cop Voight takes every crime as a personal affront and sees every criminal as deserving only one fate: Voight-administered justice. On the other hand, Halstead is initially very much by the book and, even in later seasons, tries to keep a steady hand on the wheel when the volatile Voight threatens to go off the rails, which is basically whenever rails are involved.
As reported by TV Insider in an article about Soffer's impending exit from the show, Beghe declared, "I'm worried about Jason without having Jesse to pull him back," then adding that "I've always said that we're one organism, so it's kind of like an amputation for all of us."
So, with the two stars' tight-knit dynamic on the series to consider, just what is it about Jesse Lee Soffer's dead-on impression of Beghe's Hank Voight that makes it so laugh-out-loud funny?
Soffer's take on Voight's character is hilarious because it's perfect
The truth is, it's no surprise that actors on any given show will eventually pick up on the physical and vocal attributes of their fellow actors. After all, they live much of their lives not only in each other's company, but they spend hours and hours observing each other's work, both in rehearsals and on camera. And with "Chicago P.D." now in its tenth season on NBC, the cast members have had even more opportunities than most to zero in on their co-stars' tics and traits and maybe try their hand at impersonating them.
As it turns out, Jesse Lee Soffer showed off his emulation chops in this 2017 interview with Nekia Nichelle on YouTube. Asked if he could do an impression of "Chicago P.D." favorite Trudy Platt (Amy Morton), Soffer said he could do a pretty good Hank Voight. The actor then took a breath, tweaked his face into a Voight-like grimace, took a drag off an imaginary cigarette, threw the cigarette down, did a squint-eyed take to the camera, and croaked, "Hit it!" And that was it, lasting all of three seconds total. But, if, as the Bard tells us, "brevity is the soul of wit," then Soffer's impression of Voight was about as witty and hilarious as it gets.