The Untold Truth Of Taylor Kinney

While actor and model Taylor Kinney has been in the public eye for years, it would be easy for celebrity tabloid readers to know him solely for his 10-season (and counting) run as Lieutenant Kelly Severide on NBC's popular "Chicago Fire" or his past relationship with Lady Gaga. Kinney is, after all, rather private compared to many celebs. But Kinney — who hails from Amish country, attended a Mennonite high school, and has a background in carpentry — is anything but your average Hollywood heartthrob. The actor did not start acting until his mid-20s, has an intense amount of hobbies, and is an adrenaline junkie. In between shooting his own scenes, surfing, and riding motorcycles, Kinney does crossword puzzles (in case you were trying to box him in).

Kinney's acting career started with the nighttime soap opera "Fashion House" back in 2006, and he has been working consistently ever since. In addition to "Chicago Fire" and its various spin-offs, on which he has also appeared as Severide, Kinney's other television credits include playing an EMT in the medical drama "Trauma," a werewolf on "The Vampire Diaries," and one of Fiona's short-lived dalliances on "Shameless." In film, Kinney's most notable credits are the war thriller "Zero Dark Thirty," where he played a DEVGRU operator in the Navy, and "The Other Woman," where he played the charming brother of one of the main characters. Here are some untold truths to help you learn a bit more about the charismatic, handsome, and outdoorsy Taylor Kinney.

Acting was not the only thing Kinney began to explore in college, as it turns out that he also took up a new sport — boxing. Kinney's initial interest in boxing was at least partially developed years before, when he bonded with his grandfather over the sport as a child. "My grandfather was a big boxing fan," he told Assignment X in a 2013 interview. "... you would see a fighter in the sixth, seventh round start to get fatigued, and then you'd cheer for this fighter and you can get carried away without a firsthand experience of what that's like in a ring in the seventh round."

In the interview, Kinney likens his time training as a boxer to his training to play a firefighter in "Chicago Fire," which makes sense, as both fighting and firefighting require a great deal of energy and endurance. "I started out doing three-minute rounds and by the end of that third round, you could barely put your hands up," Kinney said of his early memories in the ring. "It's the same thing with a firefighter. I'd look at it and say, 'I really want to do that. And I could do that.' And then the first onslaught of an experience training, you realize how difficult it is and how much training they have."

Kinney had to make money in between all of the surfing and fun while in Hawaii, and so he decided to frame houses to earn cash (per USA Today). This was a logical job for him, as he already had a background in roofing from his youth. "I spent a lot of summers on roofs and framing and I like to see my work," Kinney told Assignment X. "I like to sweat, I like to use my hands."

Like boxing, Kinney feels that roofing helped prepare him to take on the physically demanding role of a firefighter. He told the blog Talking with Tami that he is used to dealing with heights from his previous construction work, and so shooting physical scenes that require him to be far off the ground don't faze him. "I always enjoy it," he said. According to the interview, Kinney was at one point rigged as high as 20 stories up from ground level.

Perhaps the reason Kinney really feels so confident taking on a variety of stunts is that he has had a great deal of actual firefighter training. Along with the rest of the "Chicago Fire" cast, Kinney trained with the Chicago Fire Department. According to Entertainment Tonight, this included actual simulations that required the actors to "put on the gear, pry open doors, use the Jaws of Life to dismantle a car, and enter a zero-visibility room filled with smoke to gain a better grasp of what being a fire fighter entails." Kinney recalled to Assignment X wearing 65 pounds of gear and entering a smoke-filled, extremely hot room to search for victims while barely being able to see.

In addition to simulations, Kinney also went on ride-alongs with Chicago firefighters to see what a typical shift entailed. Kinney recalled spending 24 hours at a time with the firefighters and going out on a variety of emergency calls, though he was clear to add that the actors did not actually go inside any burning buildings or bust through any crime scenes. He also stated that he could imagine becoming a firefighter himself, telling the blog, "I could see myself in that profession. I have a high respect for these guys."

There is no question that Kinney absolutely loves playing a first responder — he makes that clear in just about every interview about "Chicago Fire." He even played an EMT before, when he was a regular on NBC's "Trauma" a couple of years before he rose to "Chicago" stardom. Then again, the actor may simply be the kind of guy who likes whatever is thrown at him, because he seemed similarly enthused to play a supernatural character in "The Vampire Diaries" back in the day.

Kinney played werewolf Mason Lockwood on "The Vampire Diaries" in 2010 and 2011. "To do something at the other end of the spectrum (from 'Trauma') is amazing. Being a supernatural character really brings out the kid in you," Kinney told Page Six in 2010. He especially seemed to appreciate the transformation scenes, wherein his character would convert into a werewolf. "As an actor, it's all about showing that internal struggle and making it real. To let those demons out is such a huge cross to bear. And to do it once a month is excruciating," he said. All told, Kinney appeared in 10 episodes of "The Vampire Diaries," which went off the air in 2017.

Kinney's acting is his bread and butter, but the "Chicago Fire" actor was not exactly a tabloid phenom until he started dating one of the world's biggest pop stars, Lady Gaga, back in 2011. The two met on the set of Gaga's video for "You and I," and they were engaged in 2015 (per Us magazine). "I really can't imagine being with anyone other than who I'm with right now," Lady Gaga told Howard Stern in an interview around the time of their engagement. While her instincts for music are great, it turns out that Gaga's not the best at love. She and Kinney broke up in 2016, and she has since had another failed engagement (with Christian Carino).

At one point, it seemed as though there may be some bad blood between Kinney and Gaga. In February 2017, Kinney was criticized for "liking" a negative tweet about the singer, which patted him on the back for escaping her clutches (per Us magazine). Kinney quickly clarified that he liked the tweet by accident, though only after fans began to call him out for being shady. Just a year before, he spoke quite highly about his former flame. "I'll tell you that I'm really proud. I don't know. It's watching someone live their dream, so, continued success and I hope it keeps climbing," he told Entertainment Weekly in response to Lady Gaga's "A Star is Born" accomplishments.

As one of four sons of a working single mother, Kinney grew up eating easy meals — "I grew up on fish sticks and meatloaf and leftover fish sticks," he recalled on Jimmy Fallon's show – and it was not until he was older that he started to make more active choices in his food consumption. He started grilling in high school and eventually even started having grilling competitions with his three brothers.

Though he may cook for himself now, Kinney does mention eating out in many interviews — like one in Chicago magazine, where he namechecked the clams at his favorite restaurant, Viaggio. But because he lives in one of the big pizza cities, Kinney also fields many questions about deep dish — of which he is not a fan. "Overrated," he told the New York Daily News in 2017. "Sorry Chicago, it's the only thing I don't like." He discussed pizza again with daytime talk show host Kelly Clarkson in January 2021, telling the talk show host he preferred thin crust, adding, "Which doesn't really bode well for the locals in Chicago. They like the deep-dish stuff." Honestly, we are surprised they have let him work and live in the Windy City talking like that.