Kevin Atwater didn’t have a ton to do in Chicago PD‘s 11th season, but he made the little bit he had count. The character led one of the most exciting episodes of the season with “Water Line,” and is poised to take on a bigger role next season, given the departure of Hailey Upton (Tracy Spiridakos).
LaRoyce Hawkins, the actor who plays Atwater, also made the most out of his screen time. During a February interview with Men’s Health, Hawkins revealed that he snuck a member of his family into one of the season 11 episodes. Well, technically.
LaRoyce Hawkins snuck a photo of his son onto the set
The actor told Men’s Health that he managed to place a picture of his son, Roman Atwater, on the set. The pretense was that Roman was actually just a younger version of his dad’s character. “[It’s] Little Atwater,” as he described:
“I like to borrow textures from my actual life.”
Hawkins has spoken at length about the challenges of being a father. He told Essence that it completely changed his perspective on life, for the better. “Fatherhood really taught me a couple things,” he explained. “More than a couple of things, but one of the things that I’ve been really taking pride in recently is my patience, just being patient with the small things too. The process of patience more than anything.”
Hawkins tries to strike a balance between parenting and acting
The actor also noted that he’s had to make sacrifices in order to maintain his career on Chicago PD. “I’ve had to sacrifice time with my family to achieve what I wanted as far as my career is concerned,” he admitted. “In order to create moments that I know will ultimately help my family, but sometimes it doesn’t always work out.”
This desire to strike a balance makes it even more touching that Atwater has managed to sneak a photo of his son into the show.
