Taylor Kinney is widely recognized today as Lieutenant Kelly Severide on NBC’s “Chicago Fire,” but no one could’ve predicted his rise to Hollywood stardom. Born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and raised by a single mother, Kinney was a volleyball star in high school and studied business management at West Virginia University.

In college, Kinney took up boxing and enrolled in a theater elective that would spark his interest in acting, but he dropped out during his junior year. He moved to Hawaii where he surfed, skydived, and made money from carpentry jobs, before returning to the mainland in 2006 and starting his acting career.

Starting with a recurring role in “Fashion House,” he starred in increasingly substantial roles in shows like “Bones,” “Trauma, “CSI: NY,” and “The Vampire Diaries” before he got his big break on “Chicago Fire” in 2012. He was also the subject of tabloid attention during his relationship with Lady Gaga, which ended in 2016 after four years.