We were on the scene for NBC’s Cocktail Reception with cast members of NBC’s mid-season shows at The Four Seasons.
Milo Ventimiglia was the most popular guy in the room. He graciously snapped selfies with everyone and is in awe of and humbled by the monster success of This Is Us.
We met at the first cocktail reception in New York, and at the time we didn’t know how big the show was going to be.
Milo Ventimiglia: I know. It’s kind of one of those things that jumps out and bites you.
This must be surreal. You’ve been in the business for over 20 years, it’s like overnight success.
Milo Ventimiglia: No, it doesn’t feel like overnight success. I mean, like I said, I’ve said before, I take measured steps, you know. I’ve been here before. I’ve been on hits. I’ve been on shows that have struggled. You know for me, the fact that I’ve continued to just work, I’m happy with that. You know, success to me is being a working actor, and I’m a working actor, so I guess I’m succeeding.
I know you’ve been on hit shows, but I feel like this is different. Fame is different now.
Milo Ventimiglia: The other shows … I think that I’ve been apart of shows and movies, they felt like entertainment. This one feels more important. Feels like we’re doing important work, you know. Knowing that we’re cracking people open everyday and forcing them to look at their own lives, look at themselves, and hopefully approach their life a little better … a little easier, be a little kinder, be a little more forgiving in their own lives.
And the fans are so avid. Do you have a fun fan story?
Milo Ventimiglia: I mean I posted it on Twitter when the guy was watching our show next door to where we were filming. I knock on the door.
And you surprised him.
Milo Ventimiglia: By the way, that surprised me as much as it surprised him.
You talked about it being a show about kindness? Does it feel like now more than ever … like certainly in these times that that’s a really important thing?
Milo Ventimiglia: Very much so. You know … I mean there’s a big world out there that is split apart, you know. Fractured by opposing politics, by opposing colors of our skin, you know. Having a sexual preference that’s different from someone that you may know. There’s so much opposition in the world that it makes me feel very good to be apart of something positive. You know, to kind of contribute to the better side of life and hopefully get those people that are so split apart feeling a little more inspired to be a human being in this day and age.
Are there any actors that you would like to see guest star on the show?
Milo Ventimiglia: I mean, we get blessed with a lot of great actors, you know. It started with Gerald McRaney, and then you know of course we had Katey Sagal and Alan Thicke, you know. There’s been a lot of great actors that have come through our show and I think we’re going to continue to hopefully attract through good story-telling, some great actors and great talent.
I saw that you do a lot of work with veterans.
Milo Ventimiglia: I do, you know. I mean, these are men and women that put on a uniform and defend the freedoms I think that a majority of our country take for granted. And you have to factor in the family — sacrificing their own time away from their families. It’s a very big honor, I think, to be apart of the American military force and what they’re truly out doing in the world. It’s something that I know like my father’s a Vietnam veteran and I’ve got a lot of friends that are back from the current conflicts and I know that some of them have a hard time and I just try and shine a spotlight on the subject of helping re-acclimate and support the needs of a combat veteran. Or even the veterans of the armed forces. I’m blown away by the sacrifice many of these men and women do for our country, you know, in the name of patriotism. I feel like I’m in service to them.
On this show, can you share what you admire about the writing?
Milo Ventimiglia: It’s honest, it’s real, it tackles subject matters that I think other people are afraid and tip toe around. But it’s not really attacking them head-on. It’s kind of sliding the dial about 15 degrees to the left and approaching it in a different way. You know, a way that we never saw it coming although it’s something we deal with every day, you know, from racism, to age-ism, to gender-ism, to socioeconomic and weight and sexual preference, you know and then just like life and birth and life and death. You know it’s like there’s a relativity to what our show explores that we can all connect to. And I think all draw from and all are putting into practice how we live our lives on a daily basis.
This Is Us on NBC – Returns Tuesday at 9/8c.