‘This Is Us’: How Milo Ventimiglia Is Not Like Jack Pearson in Real Life
When people see Milo Ventimiglia on the street they often mistake him for Jack Pearson, the character he plays in the NBC hit show This Is Us. And, Ventimiglia has to remind fans that he is not the patriarchal father that he portrays in the show.
“I can’t take Jack’s face off. I wear it every day. Even though I, Milo, was here before Jack, I can’t take off the association,” Ventimiglia told Good Housekeeping. “So when people out on the streets see me, first they see Jack and then I have to patiently let them know that, no, hey, I’m Milo.”
Here’s a look at the ways Ventimiglia differs from his on-screen counterpart.
Jack Pearson is a family man while Ventimiglia has no commitments
In the award-winning drama, This is Us, Jack Pearson is an all-around great husband and father of three children. Throughout season 1, we found out how Jack and Rebecca (Mandy Moore) met, and how their romantic dating life gave way to marriage and eventually triplets.
Off-screen, Ventimiglia is quite the opposite of Pearson. He has dated several different women, including a few costars. He dated his costar in Gilmore Girls, Alexis Bledel from December 2002 to June 2006. He also dated his Heros costar, Hayden Panettiere from December 2007 to February 2009.
Ventimiglia is currently rumored to be dating Kelly Egarian, a marketing coordinator for Stella McCartney. The pair was spotted at the 2017 Emmys together, but have not been photographed together since. There has not been a confirmation from either party, but there is widespread speculation that the two are still an item.
It looks as though Ventimiglia is completely different from his character in the relationship aspect.
Ventimiglia was upset by Pearson’s lack of a relationship with his brother on ‘This Is Us’
In season 3 of This Is Us, viewers learn the truth about Pearson’s younger brother, Nicky. As it turns out, Nicky did not die in Vietnam and is currently still living. Pearson cut Nicky out of his life because of an incident that occurred while the two were stationed in Vietnam.
“There have been very few things that Jack has done that I haven’t agreed with, but not talking to his brother was definitely one that upset me,” Ventimiglia told Variety during an interview.
Ventimiglia clearly would have made amends with his brother if he were in the same situation, so we can see again how he differs from his character on the show.
Pearson is an alcoholic, Ventimiglia doesn’t drink at all
Ventimiglia shared with the Los Angeles Times, “I’m not an alcoholic, so I don’t think I’m like him in that way.” He continued, “My parents didn’t drink, and it was never anything I was raised around, so it just, it never factored into my life.”
He was raised as a Lacto-vegetarian by his parents and continues to eat that way today. He also does not drink alcohol or smoke cigarettes.
On the show, Pearsonearson struggles with alcoholism and was raised by an alcoholic father, so he came from quite a different family life than Ventimiglia.
Although Ventimiglia has a few similarities to the character he plays, he wants fans to know that he is his own person.
We can continue to look for those similarities and differences between Pearson and Ventimiglia when the show returns on September 24, 2019.
