Milo Ventimiglia, America's Favorite Dad: Story of This Is Us Actor Who Refused to Change His Last Name

Tissue companies owe him the surplus from all five seasons of This is Us. By dint of paternity lessons, Milo Ventimiglia loosened the tear duct of the United States. He knew how to puncture the emotion of the spectator, between notions of affiliation, links and Oedipus. His grace elevated him to TV's favorite dad, but the title didn't betray his "religion": "earthly" life indoors.

The king of sensitivity, the Big Daddy as American as he is universal, has become the great rear-view mirror of the spectators. The world does not cry for his character (Jack) and the creatures that surround him: the camera turns on and works as a reflection so that each one travels towards the fabric of his own family.

How to know how to say "no" and, at the same time, learn from the dominoes of "no". That's what the (true) life story of the 21st century Charles Ingalls is about. "Too Italian", some Hollywood agents first warned him about that surname that refers to a city convulsed by Romans, Goths, Byzantines, Lombards and that today is a tourist paradise of Imperia, Liguria. They suggested shortening such a sonority of eleven letters by four.

"You're going to be called Milo Vent," someone resolved decades ago, as if the number of characters helped the marquee. There was no agreement. It was planted. "Ventimiglia or nothing".

At the age of 12 Milo (like the Greek volcanic island in the Aegean Sea) knew what it felt like to hear the first Hollywood "thank you for coming." It was his debut in a camera test, he went through several casting stages, but finally saw Elijah Wood triumphant. Happy for his first audition for a movie (The Force of Illusion), he bewitched among 3,000 candidates, became one of the eight finalists, but the little boy who a decade later would sweep theaters by storm with The Lord of the Rings ended up winning the role. .

The second movie "no" slapped his ego at 17. He got an audition for the role of Robin/Dick Grayson in Batman Forever (1995), but the casting chief chose Chris O'Donnell. Deep breath and reset. Something good would come.

The son of Peter Ventimiglia, a Vietnam War veteran, Milo preferred to be the flag of that half of the Sicilian bloodstream (of British origin on his mother's side), despite the fact that his father didn't give a shit about his career. He told it sparkling on the Jimmy Kimmel show, in 2019. "I needed three nominations before they agreed to go to the Emmys, he wanted the Oscars." The driver himself joked that Don Ventimiglia cared more about National French Fry Day than his offspring's first nomination.

Her first acting job came on an NBC series, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (herein known as The Prince of Rap). With a childish face, he played at being invited to a party. He didn't have to try harder than to go downstairs and say less than ten words and, far from the pennies he received, he says he took "a lesson" from Will Smith: "He took the time to know everyone's name on set. , even if they had a line. Being 18 and seeing that gives you hope: a star that does not lose its sensitivity. "

The first bricks of this artistic construction were stacked in fleeting appearances in fashion products. He was a postman in Sabrina, the teenage witch, or an extra in the Saved by the Bell spin-off (The new Class), while he was an actor in Apple commercials. Graduated from El Modena High School, in Orange, and from the University of California, his first leading role, at 23, came with the Fox series Opposite Sex, in which he had to play a teenager.

Before his emotional setback with the self-sacrificing Pearson, he was popular as Jess Mariano, Rory's (Alexis Bledelen) boyfriend on Gilmore Girls, and as Peter, the superhumanly-powered caretaker on NBC's Heroes. He was also seen as the son of Rocky Balboa (Silvester Stallone) in Creed II. Already a specialist in dehydrating viewers, in 2019, he made them runny again, but in cinema, interacting with a Golden Retriever in My friend Enzo.

He laughs at an aesthetic detail that only the most observant perceive, his mouth a few "crooked millimeters". He was born on July 8, 1977 in Anaheim, California, and grew up "crying with Steel Magnolias." In his office hangs a framed copy of the email Dan Fogelman, creator of This is Us, sent to casting execs when they cast him. Milo tells with grace that he showed up "misaligned" to the test of that drama that would make him go down in television history.

Long hair, unkempt beard, sweat, and motorcycle helmet in hand didn't seem like much of a calling card, but something made the producers look at each other: "Who is this guy?"

Owner of the production company Divide Pictures, an entertainment company founded in 2003 with his best friend Russ Cundiff, Milo Anthony has photography as his second vocation. He can't stop watching The Godfather, he's a vegetarian, he's amassed two million followers on Instagram so far, and he often tours Orange County (where his parents still live) on a black Harley-Davidson.

After her on-set performance with the triplets, many are surprised to learn that she doesn't have any children. "I flex the parenting muscle with my nephews," she jokes. He once went to court with colleagues like Eric Roberts and singer John Mayer to harangue "tighter rules against aggressive paparazzi." In interviews, he does not tire of answering about the reason for that wall built around his personal life: "If that life begins to look and weigh more than work, your work suffers. People stop seeing the character. How is he my privacy? I go to the store, I fix my car, but nobody needs to know. I'm the same as anyone. And I'm better in my kitchen than a party."

His childhood was marked by a powerful feminine universe, that of his mother, teacher, Carol, and those two older sisters (Leslie and Laurel) who used to dress him up as Madonna. Linked to his former co-stars Alexis Bledel and Hayden Panettiere, he has also been linked to a woman in the marketing world, Kelly Egarian. There are not too many clues on his social networks and that makes him an actor who answers the same four words when he flies over the question. "We won't talk about it."

With a generous wallet, "Venti" doesn't skimp when he donates to the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation. Or when he contributes money to a political conviction; in 2008 he participated with several zeros in the campaign of Barack Obama.

One of his most precious personal jewels was put at the service of the recording of This is Us. She was scripted to drive a Camaro, but she offered to sit in her own "ship," a 1967 Chevette that accompanies that family's wanderings. Evelyn (that's what he called the "machine") helped him better understand this character who spends much of his short existence behind the wheel. In real life, he swears, he drives "like a granny."

"I'm not a celebrity," parrots the one who takes off and puts on his mustache more often than his shirt. It is that he films each chapter -without order of years- of the next season of This is Us (today the complete series on Star + and up to the fourth season on Amazon). With or without a mustache, Milo is making history. His Jack challenges various ideas about parental idealization and death as a dissipator of defects. And it confirms that we must not trust that dangerous construction that is memory. Nothing more treacherous than a memory.