It Takes a Surprising Amount of People to Apply Torres' Tattoos on Chicago P.D.
Actor Benjamin Levy Aguilar is inked to the max on the show.
It takes a village — specifically, a makeup team — to give Benjamin Levy Aguilar the faux tattoos he wears to play officer Dante Torres on Chicago P.D. A team of three people, in fact. Three!
Since the character is often bundled up against the Chicago weather, the ink isn't visible in every scene, but when it is, the team gets to work.
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Torres' (Benjamin Levy Aguilar) tattoos on Chicago P.D.
The actor took to Instagram on March 28 to post a behind-the-scenes picture of himself patiently sitting on set while three makeup artists apply images to his arms, as his character has two full sleeves of ink. He captioned the post with a simple red heart, showing his love and appreciation for the Chicago P.D. team.
Since joining the series, the Guatemalan-American actor has made sure to thank the people who help him turn into Torres, previously writing in a different Instagram post, "Need to thank @nyctos.tats for showing up for us at short notice. We loved the idea of Ocean having this piece as it is quite literally him carrying a cross on his back, the way he has learned to move through life taking care of his family, the people he loves, and what he stands for. So thank you again, Sarah!...(Also @holbrooktroy everyone on the makeup team having the patience to put all these on every day. Means a lot to me.)"
Which of Torres' tattoos are real?
None of them, actually. As the actor told NBC Insider, "We didn't know [I] was gonna be a series regular, you know? And so I came in with more of a decisive, you know, 'These are the tattoos you're gonna have.' But that back tattoo, we kind of all talked about, and [production] allowed myself a voice, and they contributed with ideas to kind of create that cross in the back in a very short period of time so that it would tell more about the story of his life and this character."
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He continued, "It takes us a while — an hour and a half to put them on, and 40 minutes to take them off every day. So it's definitely a lot of work, but I think it represents a lot of heart and a lot of his story. And it's kind of funny because I'm actually Jewish, but I'm carrying a big cross, which I think is hilarious, but I respect the faith and I respect what he stands for."
