What Jesse Lee Soffer Was Doing Before Chicago P.D.

Actor Jesse Lee Soffer is perhaps best known for his longstanding role as Detective Jay Halstead on NBC's "Chicago P.D." As it turns out though, Soffer's resume extends far past the procedural drama series. Per TV Over Mind, Soffer caught his first big break at the ripe old age of six when he starred in a Kix cereal commercial. After that, it was simply onward and upward for the budding star. According to IMDb, Soffer snagged his first film role in 1993, starring as Dennis Loomis in the comedy film "Matinee." Not too shabby for an eight-year-old, huh?!

Still, Soffer credits his later work on soap operas as what truly prepared him for primetime television. "The soaps are like being shot out of a cannon," Soffer revealed during an interview on Yahoo Entertainment's BUILD series. "It is like boot camp. It was an education for me for sure," he added.

Perhaps, however, there was another role that helped mold Soffer into the talented thespian that fans have come to know and love... 

Here's the story... of a man named Jesse Lee Soffer... who played the role of Bobby Brady in "The Brady Bunch Movie" and its follow-up, "A Very Brady Sequel."

Yep, that's right. Prior to playing the role of everyone's favorite detective on "Chicago P.D." Soffer portrayed the role of the youngest Brady brother. "I started acting when I was about six," Soffer dished to "Popcorn Talk" host Rick Hong in 2018. "It's been a whole life journey. The Brady Bunch movies — I think I was 11 years old — and now to be playing a cop it's like a whole other lifetime ago... I don't even remember it," he confessed. "I do remember that Bobby was a safety monitor or a hall monitor at school and now he's a cop. He's really graduated, ya know?" Soffer joked.

In another interview, however, Soffer was adamant that he was quite fond of his time as Bobby Brady. "I have good memories of being in those movies," he recalled to TV Insider in 2019. "We were [spoofing] the Brady Bunch in the films, placing them in the [then] modern era of teenage problems and all their angst. I loved the cast. We had such a great time," he gushed.

Reunited and it feels so good!

"Chicago P.D." star Jesse Lee Soffer probably thought his Brady Bunch movie days were well behind him... until he ran into a blast from the Brady Bunch past, that is. "Gary Cole [who played Mike Brady, Bobby's dad] was just on 'Chicago Fire' [as Carl Grissom]. I worked with him." Soffer once dished to TV Insider about being reunited with his former castmate. "I said, 'Gary, I'm Jesse Lee from the Brady Bunch movies' and he asked me who did I play. I said, 'Bobby.' He [joked], 'Jesse if you look like this, I should be dead!'" Soffer remembered of the chance encounter. "He was awesome! It was a great experience to work with actors like him and Shelley Long [who played Cheryl Brady] when I was younger," he recalled.

Perhaps it's high time that the powers that be start working on another Brady Bunch movie. Fingers crossed!!!