Jason Beghe is reminiscing about his teenage modeling days — and once going shirtless for a fashion legend.
In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE, the Chicago P.D. star, 64, reflected on the time he shot a major, 50-page ad campaign with designer Giorgio Armani for Italian magazine L’Uomo Vogue in 1980. “Oh, my god. That thing. Wow!” he says when asked about one of the shots, in which he sports a red leather vest worn open to show off his chiseled chest.
“I was 19 in that picture,” he recalls. “Interestingly, Giorgio Armani was the stylist. So he did the clothes choice and put ’em on me and I think he actually put some makeup on to give me a little bit more color because it was in the middle of winter.”
Beghe says the entire campaign — which involved 25 different setups — was shot in a single day in Milan. “The way they did it, they bought one page of white because they said the pictures were like paintings, like an art book,” he explains.
Once that campaign was shot, he returned the next day for another round.
“The next day was Armani Jeans, which was me and then me with a girl and another guy. And so we did the whole Armani campaign in two days and it was shot by this fabulous photographer named Aldo Fallai, who was hysterical and a great photographer,” Beghe tells PEOPLE.
Now that more than 40 years have passed, the actor says he’s ready to get in front of the camera again for Armani, now 90 — only this time, he wants it to be a family affair.
“If Giorgio Armani’s listening, I have a great idea: My two beautiful sons, I’d love you to … we should do one more campaign with old Jason and his two beautiful sons,” he says, referring to Bix and Bo Bear, the two children he shares with his ex-wife Angie Janu.
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As for his sons’ reaction to his decades-old Armani campaign, Beghe says they think it’s “cool.”
The actor has starred as Sergeant Hank Voight on Chicago P.D. for more than 200 episodes since 2014. Elsewhere in his conversation with PEOPLE, he described the show’s cast — including Patrick John Flueger and Marina Squerciati — as being like “family” and shared that he’s enjoyed watching everyone grow and evolve over the years.
“Being on a TV show, it’s like living a year in a day,” Beghe says. “I’ve been with these people and I’m pretty sure they love me. I know that I love them, and I don’t use that word loosely. I mean, it’s a whole other family.”
He continues: “And just like your friends and your children and yourself, you see these moments when people evolve, go to the next level, whatever it is, change. It’s natural and normal, but it’s still beautiful and inspiring.”
Beghe also shared his hope that Chicago P.D. gets renewed by NBC for a 13th season — especially as he knows that the fans are keen and the driving force behind the long-running series’ success.
“I know for me and I think for a lot of us, one of the reasons why we’re still on the air is that we’re really grateful and we really care, and we we want to do a good job,” he tells PEOPLE. “We understand that it’s not really about us. It’s about you, the fans. This is your show. It’s for you. … The bottom line is there’s no point in telling a story unless there’s somebody listening. So it’s really about you, we’re telling you the story, and it’s an honor.”
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