LOS ANGELES 鈥� This Is Us was easily the most surprising show of the 2016-17 network television season, capturing the praise of critics, waves of appreciation from viewers and attention from others in the business.
Justin Hartley, who plays sibling Kevin Pearson, knew immediately that This Is Us would be a game changer.
鈥淚 love this show,鈥� Hartley says.
鈥淚 love that it鈥檚 not just a television show. After I saw the pilot, I said this program will change people鈥檚 lives. I was right. It transcends being a television show. I hear people saying their children are off doing stuff and we are working but we find time to watch this show together.
鈥淎fter, they talk about the show and that evolves into talking about their own lives. That鈥檚 more than a television show.鈥�
Love for the NBC series that looks at the lives of members of the Pearson family from the birth of the young couple鈥檚 children to present day comes from storylines that weave in and out of the past to offer the kind of deep insights that other shows would only be able to mention in passing.
Couple that with the much-heralded acting by Mandy Moore, Hartley, Sterling K. Brown, Chrissy Metz and Ron Cephas Jones and the end result is a series that critics agree rides a massive wave of creativity in the sea of mediocrity that is network programing.
For Hartley, his role has been a little bit of a reflection of his own life, as he鈥檚 playing the member of the Pearson family who has found success in acting. In the first season, his character went through some very dramatic moments as he began to question the quality of acting work he鈥檚 been doing.
Hartley understands how his character could settle into a job that was so easy and comfortable that there was no challenge to grow. He鈥檚 had jobs over the years where he could have just settled into the groove and not been pushed, but there has always been a part of him that has made him want to get out of his comfort zone.
The key for him 鈥� and what he鈥檚 playing in Kevin鈥� is having enough courage and confidence to be willing to get up and try something else. That kind of storytelling parallel is just one of the reasons Hartley will never feel like he鈥檚 settled into a comfortable area no matter how long the series runs.
Hartley believes that because the odds are so long of finding success as an actor, anyone who has any acting job should wake up each morning, think about how lucky they are and be grateful to be working. Those thanks should be even larger when the job is one that is being universally applauded.
鈥淭here are jobs like this that come along that are one in a bazillion,鈥� Hartley says. 鈥淚鈥檝e taken jobs because I have bills to pay. I鈥檓 also lucky I鈥檝e taken some good jobs that I鈥檓 really proud of. But I think anybody in any profession could probably say that.
鈥淎s an actor, I hope my character still takes two steps forward and one step back. That鈥檚 life,鈥� Hartley says. 鈥淟ife is a series of follies and trying to figure out how to make the mistake less and less as you go forward. I鈥檝e never met anyone who bettered themselves overnight.
鈥淚 like the idea that things come so easily for Kevin but he鈥檚 not really aware of it because that鈥檚 all he knows. I like the idea of maybe showing him finally realizing that things that had come so easily for him are now so hard. That鈥檚 how he will be able to go through life so when he has kids, he can teach them all of those lessons.鈥�
