Blue Bloods recently wrapped up its 14th season. The Reagan family has been sitting for dinner in 275 episodes now, but there are still some little-known facts about the actors who play them you might have not heard before. Tom Selleck, Donnie Wahlberg, Bridget Moynahan and other remembers of the cast had careers long before they were cast in the long-running CBS series in 2010.
In Blue Bloods, Selleck stars as Commissioner Frank Reagan, the head of a family dedicated to law enforcement in New York City. Wahlberg, Bridget Moynahan, and Will Estes play Frank’s surviving children, Danny, Erin, and Jamie, respectively. Len Cariou plays Frank’s father, retired Commissioner Henry Reagan. Sami Gayle plays Erin’s daughter Nicky, while Marisa Ramirez stars as Danny’s partner, Detective Maria Baez. Vanessa Ray plays Jamie’s now-wife, Officer Eddie Janko-Reagan.
With more Reagan family adventures to come in the fall of 2023, here’s a look at 10 surprising facts about the cast of Blue Bloods. The series is now streaming in full on Paramount+.
Another Nicky
Sami Gayle, who might be leaving the series before Season 11, is not the only actress to play Nicky Reagan. In the very first episode of the series, Marlene Lawston played Erin’s daughter. Before joining the series, Lawston appeared in Steve Carell’s Dan in Real Life and Flightplan with Jodie Foster. The Blue Bloods pilot turned out to be Lawston’s last acting role.
Marisa Ramirez Started out on MTV
Marisa Ramirez started her career as a model in her teens. After touring the world as a model, she came back to California to be an actress and appeared in several music videos before she co-hosted MTV’s Senseless Acts of Video. Her breakthrough role as an actress was Gia Campbell on General Hospital, and she played the part from 2000 to 2002.
Vanessa Ray Starred on ‘Pretty Little Liars’ While on ‘Blue Bloods’
Vanessa Ray’s tenure on Blue Bloods overlapped with her time on Pretty Little Liars. She appeared on the ABC Family/Freeform series as CeCe Drake, but only in 19 episodes between 2012 and 2017. She joined Blue Bloods in 2013. Ray also starred in eight episodes of Suits from 2011-2012.
Double-Jointed Will Estes
Will Estes revealed to CBS he is double-jointed in 2014. He also loves playing basketball and will play if there is a court nearby. He also said he loves driving in tense chase scenes, so he really drives cars with cameras attached to the hood. Estes does have a Twitter account, although he does not use it frequently.
Tom Selleck’s High-Pitched Voice Made Getting Jobs Hard at the Start of his Career
It’s hard to see Blue Bloods without Tom Selleck, but his career almost did not take off thanks to his voice. “I don’t have a six-foot-four voice,” Selleck told PEOPLE in 1984. “Directors used to tell me to either study voice or get out of the business.” Thankfully, Selleck did not take that advice and he has remained a fixture in television and movies for more than four decades.
Len Cariou Is Only 6 Years Older Than Tom Selleck
Len Cariou is supposed to be playing Tom Selleck’s father in Blue Bloods, but Cariou was only 6 years old when Selleck was born in real life. Cariou is one of the most acclaimed actors from Canada, with more than 80 credits to his name. In 2009, he earned an Emmy nomination for playing President Franklin D. Roosevelt in Into The Storm.
Donnie Wahlberg has Emmy nominations, but not for ‘Blue Bloods’
Donnie Wahlberg has his hands in so many different things, it is sometimes hard to keep track of. The New Kids on the Block singer is a two-time Emmy nominee, but not for Blue Bloods. In 2014 and 2015, he and his brother Mark Wahlberg were nominated for Outstanding Unstructured Reality Program for Wahlburgers, a series on their family’s burger chain. Wahlberg’s other acting credits include The Sixth Sense, Ransom, and Saw II.
Bridget Moynahan Played John Wick’s Wife
Bridget Moynahan can be spotted in John Wick and John Wick: Chapter 2 as the title character’s wife, Helen, whose death is a catalyst in the series. Moynahan has been acting since 1999, making her film debut in Row Your Boat. Her other credits include Sex and the City; The Sum of All Fears; I, Robot; and Lord of War. Moynahan also dated Tom Brady and they are parents to son John Edward Thomas Moynahan.
Tom Selleck Auditioned for Indiana Jones
Tom Selleck famously auditioned for Indiana Jones before Steven Spielberg and George Lucas cast Harrison Ford in the role. Selleck told David Letterman he never really turned down the role.
“They held the offer out about a month. And the more they held out the offer and talked to the network, the more the network said, ‘no,'” Selleck said. “So I go to Hawaii to start Magnum, the actors go on strike, and I had given my deposit to a landlady and I couldn’t afford a security deposit. So I start working as a handyman, in Hawaii, with no job. And guess who comes to Hawaii to finish their movie? Raiders of the Lost Ark. So I could’ve done them both.”
Amy Carlson Has a Daytime Emmy Nomination for ‘Another World’
Amy Carlson, who played Danny’s wife Linda until 2017, gained fame as Josie Watts on the soap opera Another World. She was on the show from 1993 to 1998 and earned a Daytime Emmy nomination for the role in 1998. Carlson left Blue Bloods in 2017 after she decided against signing a new contract.