Aside from the “great memories” and friendships he gained from working on This Is Us, Justin Hartley still has some physical mementos from working on the NBC drama for six seasons.
“When This Is Us wrapped, I was given a yearbook [showing moments from] throughout the years. It’s awesome because so much happened on that show, and you just forget. It’s all really great memories,” Hartley, 48, reveals in his 25 Things You Don’t Know About Me feature in the latest issue of Us Weekly, on newsstands now. “[Show creator] Dan Fogelman also gave me the painting that [my character] Kevin painted.”
Harley is likely referring to his character’s “Painting of Life,” which he shows to his nieces, Annie and Tess, in season 1 episode 5, titled “The Game Plan.”
“I painted this because I felt like the play was about life, and life is full of color, and we each get to come along and we add our own color to the painting,” Hartley, as Kevin, explains in the episode, referencing the play he is in on the show. “And even though it’s not very big, the painting, you sort of have to figure that it goes on forever in each direction. So, like, to infinity, you know? Because that’s kind of like life.”
Keep scrolling for more personal stories from Hartley — who currently stars on Tracker, which airs on CBS Sundays at 8:00 p.m. ET — including his most starstruck moment:
1. The survivalist tactic I’ve learned from Tracker is to be patient and stay calm in times of great stress. When you panic, you make bad decisions. That’s one of the things he lives by, so I try to live by that as well. It’s reinforced every time I play the character, so I guess that helps me in my personal life.
2. Edward Norton was a huge influence for me growing up because he didn’t want to be famous, he just wanted to be a serious, great actor. He just emulated that for me.
3. My dream collaborator — other than my wife, Sofia Pernas — would be Ryan Gosling. He’s a tremendous actor. In the past, I don’t think people understood how funny that guy is. He’s hilarious. And he’s such a great dramatic actor that was overlooked for a while. He might be one of the greatest comedic actors of our generation along with being one of the most talented dramatic actors. That would be a dream collaboration, but there’s so many. Honestly, I’m so proud of the industry that I’m in right now, because when you look around, you see wall-to-wall talent.
4. When This Is Us wrapped, I was given a yearbook [showing moments from] throughout the years. It’s awesome because so much happened on that show, and you just forget. It’s all really great memories. [Show creator] Dan Fogelman also gave me the painting that [my character] Kevin painted.
5. What I remember most from Passions is [the characters] going to L.A. for a summer story line. At the time on the show, the characters would go a year without anything happening. Like, Sheridan was in a hole or something for what seemed like 10 years. Every day was the same. But in L.A., the sets were new — one of them had a pool in it — and the stories evolved. It was a lot of fun. It was almost like being on a different show. It was a great group of people too, we all hung out together and it was a lot of fun.
6. When I need to get out of a funk, I call my wife every time. Sometimes I just hear her voice and I don’t even need to talk about it. Once you have a relationship like that — and it doesn’t have to be a boyfriend, girlfriend, husband or wife, it can be anything — you can just hear their voice and go, “Alright. I don’t know why I was so worried about that. Not a big deal.” There are very, very few things in life that really, truly matter. And most of them, unfortunately, you can’t control. Sometimes the sound or someone’s voice or just the tenor in their voice helps you remember that.
7. I can sleep anywhere. I could go in the snow or in the heat, lay down and I will not [have to count] to 10 before I’m asleep.
8. My first car that I purchased with my own money was a red, two-door Toyota MR2. It had a spoiler on the back. It was what I could afford, it was probably like $3,000. I thought it looked like a really old vintage Ferrari, and it kind of did. The paint was a little oxidized, but if you spent 15 minutes waxing the car in those oxidized spots every day, it wasn’t oxidized for the rest of the day.
9. My celebrity crush growing up was Alyssa Milano [because] my brother had her posters in his room. The posters weren’t scandalous or anything, they were just really pretty girls and you have those crushes when you’re 9. I remember walking by his room and being like, “Wow. Look at that. He’s got posters of women on his wall.” It was pretty awesome. I had Michael Jordan on my wall.
10. My most starstruck moment was seeing [Chicago Bears legend] Walter Payton at an auto show in Chicago when I was 10 or 11. He chose me to ask him a question, but I didn’t know what to ask, so my dad whispered, “Ask him what his most memorable game is!” I’ll never forget what he said. It stuck with me, even now. He was such a humble guy — this is a man who has a Super Bowl ring. He said his most memorable game was a loss that he had to the then-Redskins, now-Commanders, because of the pain and the loss. And I was like, “Wow.” That’s really great because what still pushes him is to never feel that way again.
11. My first job was mowing lawns when my brother and I had a lawn mowing business. We started off with one [client] and got up to, like, 15 a week.
12. If I wasn’t an actor, I’d be one hell of a school teacher. I would enjoy that.
13. The proudest moment of my career is building Tracker from the ground up with [director] Ken Olin and having people believe in us enough to give us money to shoot it. Seeing the response from the people that watch it, that love it, that’s it. You never think you’re gonna be able to do something like that, but it’s been remarkable.
14. My favorite place to vacation is Maui. It’s a quick flight from L.A. and then you feel like you’re on another planet.
15. I don’t really eat fast food, but when I do, it’s Taco Bell. But if I could have anything delivered, it would be Del Taco because there’s usually not one close enough.
16. As Good as It Gets is the one movie I’d watch for the rest of my life. I think it’s a perfect movie. It’s a road movie. It’s a friendship movie. It’s a coming of age movie. It’s a comedy. It’s a drama. It’s everything.
Related: Justin Hartley Teases More Cameos From His ‘This Is Us’ Costars on ‘Tracker’
Justin Hartley appears to have plans for more of his former This Is Us costars to make appearances on CBS’ hit series Tracker. In Us Weekly‘s exclusive clip from the Tuesday, October 15, episode of Tommy DiDario‘s “I’ve Never Said This Before” podcast, Hartley, 47, was asked whether viewers would see additional This Is Us […]
17. When we were dating, my wife introduced me to the band Morcheeba. Anytime I hear their songs, it brings back fond memories of new love.
18. When I was a kid, I collected baseball cards. I still have all of them and some are worth incredible numbers. They’re so expensive that I [keep] them in a bank.
19. I’m looking forward to binge-watching the rest of Paradise. I love Dan Fogelman and Sterling K. Brown.
20. The childhood memory that makes me smile is how much effort my mother would put into my birthdays. If it weren’t for her, I think I would just have forgotten about my own birthday. But she put so much effort in for all of our birthdays. And at Christmas, she writes us letters, and I have all of those too.
21. I’d love to revisit [playing a] superhero. I’d have a completely different take on it now that I’m a little older. There have been so many iterations of Green Arrow in the comics, so I think I’m at the age now where I could offer a different perspective on who he is.
22. My favorite comfort meal is spaghetti bolognese. It’s hard to beat. I also really like a good bowl of chili or a steak or chicken parmesan. All this stuff is probably not great for you.
23. The one thing that’s left on my bucket list to maybe have more kids.
24. My ideal date night is staying at home. I’d take care of the cocktails, my wife takes care of the food and we watch a movie.
25. My favorite place to hang out as a teenager in Illinois was the ballpark. I was lucky because I was next to [what was] Comiskey Park, where the White Sox played, and Wrigley Field, where the Cubs play. There’s nothing better than that.
With reporting by Andrea Simpson
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