This Is Us Star Justin Hartley on Shirtless Scenes and His Soap Opera - Glamour

If you're an avid TV watcher, there's a good chance Justin Hartley has been on your radar for some time—from his breakout four-year run on the supernatural soap opera Passions and his recent two-year stint on The Young and the Restless (for which he earned an Emmy nomination for lead actor) to 16 episodes of Mistresses and 12 episodes of Revenge. His role as 36-year-old Kevin on NBC's critically acclaimed drama This Is Us, however, may prove to be his biggest hit.

"I feel like I've worked for it," says Hartley, 39. "I couldn't be happier."

Sitting on the 1980s-style set that depicts the home of his on-screen parents, Jack and Rebecca (played by Milo Ventimiglia and Mandy Moore), Hartley talked shirtless scenes, his soap opera past, and being a dad. With This Is Us now officially picked up for a full season today from NBC!, it's safe to say you'll be seeing a lot more of Hartley.

GLAMOUR: With so much excitement since the show premiered, how has your life changed?

JUSTIN HARTLEY: It’s interesting because I’ll be out, and someone will say, “I just loved you on Passions! Did you just quit acting after that?” [Laughs] I don’t know what to say so sometimes I’ll just say yes. Some people will say Young and the Restless, Smallville, Revenge…it just depends what they’ve seen. There are people that have watched everything I’ve done, which is so sweet. Sometimes I’m grateful for that; sometimes I feel like I have to apologize. This last week, it’s a little different, because [Kevin] is such a unique role, and the show is so big. People that have recognized me from shows in the past will now say, “I loved you on this, but your new show! This Is Us!” You can tell that it affected them.

GLAMOUR: Kevin reminds me a bit of Vince from Entourage. Where did you take inspiration from?

JH: I took a lot from friends, but also me.

GLAMOUR: Your friend, Michael Rady (Melrose Place, UnREAL), first told you about the role and the script, and your reaction was, “This is me.” But now that I’ve gotten to know you a little bit, I'm noticing plenty of differences. What are your similarities with Kevin and what are your differences?

JH: He’s a lot like me, but all of the stuff that he does that is funny is like a steroid-ed version of me. Like it’s me times 10. And then you find out later in the series that Kevin has a huge heart. He’s basically all heart. I think people have certain preconceived notions of certain people that they’ve never met. And so, that’s sort of what I try to work from. I think his humor comes from his heart. I think he’s very self-aware, and I’d like to think that I am. I wish I had been more self-aware earlier, but I think that just comes with age. Kevin is very self-aware, especially around people that he trusts, like his sister.

GLAMOUR: In the pilot, it’s the guy—in this case, Kevin—who is objectified with the shirtless scene. Have you ever felt that in your career?

JH: Yeah, of course.

GLAMOUR: What did you do about it?

Justin: Oh, what do you do about it? [Takes a deep breath] Not what Kevin did. The thing about it is, the cool thing about that scene was the culmination of him turning 36, going through this mid-life crisis, realizing he doesn’t have sort of anything going on in his personal life or really close friends, or a girlfriend or a fiancée or a wife or kids. I don’t think Kevin is dumb—he probably realized what the job (The Manny) was when he took it, but I think he thought he could influence it and make it change and be a little bit more…I don’t want to say better, but different. And it ended up being that the writers of this sitcom just wanted to tell the cheap joke. They’re not interested in anything else that he has to offer, other than him taking his shirt off or whatever. I think all of those things led to him exploding and I’ve definitely felt like that. I’ve been fortunate...to express those frustrations to my fiancée, or keep them to myself. I don’t bring them to work, but of course, we’ve all felt that way. That said, I have no problem at all taking my shirt off to tell a story. It’s interesting about the pilot because the shirt needed to be off to tell that story [on The Manny]. If you were just talking about it, you need to see him being objectified in order to feel for him a little bit.

PHOTO: Ron Batzdorff/NBC

GLAMOUR: I’m sure you’ve been told countless times, “You’re such a good-looking guy,” but you’re thinking, “OK, but there’s more than that!”

JH: That’s a nice thing to say. I don’t know if I have so many people coming up to me saying that kind of stuff, but we all get pigeon-holed or put in a box, no matter what that might be. I have a 12-year-old daughter, and all the time people will say, ‘Oh, she’s young!” and you’d be so surprised what you can learn from that 12-year-old if you just opened up your mind.

GLAMOUR: You got your start on daytime, and you just came off a lengthy run on Young and the Restless. Did it ever annoy you when people called you a soap opera actor?

JH: No. [Although] I have friends that [that term] really annoys them. People will come up and say—and it is insulting—“Do you ever want to do anything else? Like some real acting? Or a real show?” Here’s the thing: You can either get upset about that, or you can realize that that person isn’t trying to offend you. They’re literally interested, and they’re asking you a question. I know when people are trying to insult me. That’s not an insult. That’s just someone being ignorant—they don’t know. They’re being sweet. And, of course, there are people that will say, “I heard you were on this, but I don’t watch it.” It’s like, “OK, that’s OK too.” But no, I don’t get upset about it. It comes with the territory, and there are worse things. I love acting, and so whenever I get the opportunity to act, I’m happy. I’m easy to please when it comes to that kind of stuff. I don’t know what I’d do without it.

GLAMOUR: You’re 39 now. What do you wish you could tell yourself when you were 36?

JH: Gosh, I don’t know, that’s a tough question. I don’t know if I’ve grown a lot since I was 36. [Laughs] I would tell myself the same thing that I continue to tell myself today, which is don’t sweat the small things.

GLAMOUR: Were you happy where you were at 36?

JH: I was not...I went through a big huge life change when I was 34, 35—I forget how old I was…and that’s a difficult thing. Anytime you go through a divorce, you’re completely lost, whether you want to admit it or not, or whether you know it or not, you’re completely lost. At 36, I think I was pretty happy [actually], but here’s the thing that I think happens…you’re expected to be somewhere at 36, and there’s that feeling: At this particular age—especially for women for God’s sake—you should have this many kids, you should have a husband, or you should have this...and it’s overwhelming. So that perpetuates the feeling that no matter where you are, no matter how much money you have, no matter how many kids you have, no matter how great they’re doing, whether you want kids or not, married or not, it doesn’t matter—you feel behind. I think understanding that is part of being able to be happy at 36 and knowing that. I’m always going to be looking for something artistically or whatever. I think that’s part of being driven, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I’m unhappy.

GLAMOUR: Are you happiest now?

JH: I am. I’m happiest now. My daughter is 12, and we have an amazing relationship. She knows without a doubt that she can literally come to me with anything, and I will stifle myself and realize that if it’s not what I want to hear, it’s more important that she continues to come to me and tell me things and is honest with me than me getting mad at her or giving her my opinion right now. She has figured out a way to make me an amazing parent. She’s a wonderful daughter. I have my fiancée now (actress Chrishell Stause), who I couldn’t be happier with. This job—I’m still waiting for somebody to wake me up. We’re doing something special. My father called me to talk about the show, and I could tell just from his voice that he was affected by the show. He said it was speaking to him. I’ve never heard him say that about anything! So I thought, “This is special.” That made me feel really good.

GLAMOUR: In tonight's episode, you're at quite the Hollywood party. Did you ever live that lifestyle?

JH: Here’s the thing about it...I don’t know. [Laughs] I think I’m lucky that I’ve been working, because when you’re working, you don’t have time to do all that stuff. You’re working. You’re on set all the time. I think that’s a good thing. I worked all through my 20’s, all through my 30’s, so I’ve been lucky to be working. I’ve certainly been to Hollywood parties, and I have friends that are ridiculous—wonderful people—but they’re high rollers with tons of money.

GLAMOUR: What did you think when you found out Mandy Moore and Milo Ventimiglia were playing your parents?

JH: I thought, “That sounds about right. I always saw that happening.” [Laughs] No, that was something else [altogether]. I didn’t consider that until...I read the script and when I got to the end, I was like, “That’s cool,” and I was so focused on the twist at the end and how it all tied together that it never dawned on me that people my age would be cast as my parents until it started happening. That’s crazy, huh? Milo takes playing my father very seriously. He’s not a father, but he has that fatherly instinct. He could easily, easily, be my father—if he was older. He’s an old soul if you know what I mean? And then Mandy is so smart and just...same thing with her, I could see her being a mother. She’s very nurturing.

PHOTO: Frazer Harrison/NBCUniversal

GLAMOUR: Had you ever met them throughout your career before the show?

JH: Oh! I don’t think Mandy knows this actually. I was scheduled to do a chemistry read with her on a project a long, long time ago, and the project ended up not going. So, I guess the answer is no, I didn’t meet her before this. Milo and I have some of the same friends. Mandy and I—I don’t think we moved in the same circles, but now we do. None of my cast mates, as far as I know, I knew prior to this show. None of them. Isn’t that something? They are great. I couldn’t be happier.

GLAMOUR: Well, my mom is still upset your character Adam was killed off on The Young and the Restless. She loves you.

JH: Aww, that’s so nice.

GLAMOUR: So we could see Victor Newman (Eric Braeden) on This Is Us potentially at some point?

JH: [Laughs] Yes, and what would he do?

GLAMOUR: He’d be the evil studio head!

JH: He could be my dad’s dad! [Laughs] Milo’s dad! He would do it probably, [Eric]'s a good guy. We hit it off right away. I think I made him laugh, which he wasn’t expecting. Our characters hated each other and Adam wanted to dethrone his father. He wants all the power. We would go at it in scenes together! He gets loud and I do, too. And then afterwards we’d laugh and tell jokes. [Eric and I] got along great. He’s got to come on This Is Us. He should watch it and do commentary! He should live tweet our show! That’d be awesome!

The next all-new episode of This Is Us airs on Tuesday, October 11 in its new time slot at 9 P.M. ET/PT. For more with the cast, click here.

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