Sterling K. Brown Talks NBC’s This is UsPosted by Imani Cruz
August 30, 2016
Emmy-nominated actor and breakout star from “The People vs. OJ Simpson”, Sterling K. Brown has hit the small screen once again in NBC’s new Fall series “This is Us”.
Brown received high praise for his reprisal of prosecutor Christopher Darden in the FX hit show and an Emmy nomination for his work. Now, Brown is set to play a 36-year-old father and husband who struggles with rekindling with his father, who abandoned him as a baby. Along with Brown, who plays Randall, the shows features Mandy Moore, Milo Ventimiglia, and more. The show includes an interesting twist, in which it is revealed that all of the characters are related in some way and share the same age – 36. As viewers delve deeper into the show, shocking revelations appear as characters experience both birth and loss.
Upon its trailer debut, the show broke records all across social media as one of the most watched trailers on Facebook. We spoke with Sterling on why viewers connect with the show deeply and how him losing his father at a young age, prepared him for this role.
How did you first get involved with “This is Us”?
Sterling K. Brown: I read the script, and it was bomb! Dan Fogelman, who wrote ‘Crazy, Stupid, Love’ can write his butt off. Off the page, it’s probably the best network pilot I’ve had the opportunity to read in about 15 years. I’ve worked with the directors on “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot”, which was a Tina Fey film and they introduced me to Dan. We had a meeting and the meeting went well and I came back a couple of weeks later and I auditioned. The audition went well and now I’m speaking to you!
Can you speak more about your character, Randall?
Sterling K. Brown: Well, Randall is just turning 36 years old and has had a void in his life. Everything is seemingly perfect. He’s got a beautiful wife, two beautiful girls, a gorgeous home, a great job. But he’s never met his biological father. He was adopted as a baby and now at 36 years old he just has this itch to reconnect and find out where he came from. So that’s where we find him at the beginning of the pilot. That’s all I can really say!
So, from the pilot we see that all of the characters in the show are intertwined in some way. Can you talk more about that?
Sterling K. Brown: A lot of the characters share the same birthday. We come to find out through the course of the pilot that they share an even more intimate connection than that.
We also see in the pilot that your father leaves you at a fire station when you’re a baby. How does that affect Randall as a man and as a father?
Sterling K. Brown: I think that he has the desire to be everything that his biological father wasn’t. So, present first and foremost. He’s very present for his daughters and for his wife. He’s very hardworking. He’s had to make up a narrative of who this man was, because he doesn’t know anything. I don’t think his adoptive parent shared any information to who his adoptive parents were. A lot of who he is, is an reaction to his biological father was and who his adoptive parents are. They were very loving, very present. I think he’s (Randall) modeled himself, to a certain degree, after his father. Also, as an adoptive child, you often times find that the child that’s adopted has to work twice as hard to gain the love of their parents. So I feel like there’s a part of that which is present in Randall as well as being Black.
Are there any parts of your personal life that you pulled from in relation to this character?
Sterling K. Brown: Absolutely. My father passed away when I was 10 years old. He was a young man, only 45 at the time. So there’s always been a sort of hunger for me to reconnect with a father figure. There are conversations I have with myself all the time. “Oh, if my dad were here right now, how cool would that be to have the talk, etc.” . . . Having lost him at a very young age, it felt like a natural connection for me to be looking for my father in the show.
So, the trailer for “This is Us” shattered records on Facebook for being the most watched trailer on the site. Why do you think audiences relate to this show so much?
Sterling K. Brown: I think in the preview we sent out, people can see glimpses of themselves in either all or particular characters that they see in the show. Life is universal. People in their 30’s are trying to figure out what the next step is. Whether it’s career wise, whether it’s managing their weight, whether it’s reconnecting with their parents, whether it’s beginning parenthood for the first time. Everybody is going through similar things and it’s nice to know that you’re not going through it alone. The show is very funny. You are going to be moved and I think people like to be moved in a way that ultimately makes them feel good.
“This is Us” premieres on NBC Sept. 20, Tuesday 10/9c.
This Is Fatherhood (Preview)
