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This Is Us Cast Gushing About "Captain" Milo Ventimiglia Will Make Your Day

Mandy Moore, Sterling K. Brown and Chrissy Metz shower their co-star with praise

By Billy Nilles Jan 19, 2017 10:28 PMTags
Watch: Milo Ventimiglia Is the Captain of "This Is Us" Cast

There is no shortage of love for Milo Ventimiglia among his This Is Us co-stars.

Following the breakout NBC hit's panel at the 2017 Winter TCA Press Tour—where the network announced that the show had been renewed for not one, but two more seasons—E! News caught up the cast and they couldn't stop singing the praises of the man who they lovingly look to as their leader. 

"He's the best captain of any ship," Chrissy Metz, who stars as Ventimiglia's grown daughter Kate, gushed. "I am so grateful for his friendship, for his advice, for his knowledge. And he does it without ego. When I say I have this connection to him, it's honest."

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For Mandy Moore, who shares most of her screentime with the Gilmore Girls vet as his wife Rebecca, Ventimiglia is not only a leader, but also a source of crucial information while on set. "He's the one that galvanizes everyone to hang out together. Somehow information makes its way to him first," she said. "I'm surprised he didn't know about the pick-up before any of us. He's that guy. He knows everyone. Everybody loves him. He talks to everybody."

It's perhaps Sterling K. Brown, who stars as Jack and Rebecca's adopted son Randall in the present day storyline, who put his adoration of his co-star into the most succinct terms, though. "He's really one of the best human beings I've met in my life, truly," the Emmy winner told us.

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Of course, the Pearson family love is no one-way street. For as much praise as he got, Ventimiglia was ready to give even more. "I've done a lot of work and I've been around a lot
of talented kind people, and it's just one of those things where I think to myself, 'Damn it, I'm here again with the kindest and most talented,'" he admitted. "To know that we're going to be her for a little while doing this is, of course, just really exciting."

As for that whole "leader" thing, Ventimiglia characteristically downplayed things—which is such a Jack thing to do! "So, if you know anything about the structure of production, they'll have a department head," he explained. "I've kind of been coined the acting department head. So, I guess means I've got to give the good news and the bad news, as well as make sure there's support and everybody's heard. Again, I'm lucky to be around this talented group of people."

No, Milo. We're the lucky ones.

This Is Us also stars Justin Hartley, Susan Kelechi Watson, Chris Sullivan and Ron Cephas Jones. In the next new episode, Jack and Rebecca will find themselves in over their heads when they decide to throw Randal, Kevin and Kate three separate parties for their 10th birthday. In present day, Randall struggles to make time for William as his work life grows intense, while Kevin makes a major decision in his romantic life and Kate's gastric bypass journey takes an unexpected turn.

This Is Us airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on NBC.

(E! and NBC are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)