Justin Hartley is reflecting on one of his well-known characters. The actor played Kevin Pearson in the 2016 series This Is Us. During his appearance on Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace on Max, he revealed that the audience largely misunderstood his character and expressed empathy for the role he portrayed on screen.
In the story, Kevin is portrayed as an arrogant and selfish teenager struggling with emotional issues. In contrast, the adult version of his character, Randall, played by Sterling K. Brown, gained popularity and presented a milder version of Kevin.
While conversing, the actor revealed, “When you take on characters, a lot of times they become your children and your friends, part of you. And so you sort of feel that.” He further added, “It was just like, the guy can’t get out of his own way, but he’s not a bad guy, but everyone thinks he’s kind of an a–hole, you know what I mean? But he’s really not.”
Hartley starred in the NBC series alongside Mandy Moore, Chrissy Metz, Milo Ventimiglia, and Susan Kelechi Watson.
Further in his conversation, the actor shared, “He’s misunderstood, but maybe kind of an a–hole, you know. So, so you just, you you sit there and you go, Man, I wish I could help this guy, but you just can’t.”
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When asked how much his character relates to Harley in real life, the Small Ville actor shares that there is a little of Kevin in him as well. He also explained, “I think later on, as we saw him grow up and mature, I think we have more—I have more in common with him in that sort of iteration of Kevin.”
Meanwhile, the actor is currently playing Colter Shaw in the CBS show Tracker. He claimed that he immediately said yes to the part in This Is Us because he felt that, as a parent, if his kids had gone through something that Kevin went through, all he could have done was tell Kevin how he felt.
This Is Us is available to stream on Prime Video and the new episodes of Tracker are available to watch on CBS network.
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