How ‘This Is Us’ star Milo Ventimiglia documented every moment of the show

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — There are only three episodes of NBC’s “This Is Us” left until the hit series comes to an end and to celebrate the beloved drama, the network has released a new featurette with star Milo Ventimiglia.

In the video, Ventimiglia, who plays family patriarch Jack Pearson, shares his love of photography and the images he’s captured on set.

“Since moment one, I’ve been photographing the show,” said Ventimiglia. “I’ve got stacks of hard drives and film contact sheets, everything, but I’ve been documenting the show since moment one.”

The actor also described his creative process behind choosing his camera equipment.

“What I was actually doing in the beginning, I wanted to shoot things through the same lens,” said Ventimiglia. “So I had a film body and a digital body that I could marry the lens and I could just swap it depending on which era I was in. If I was in the past, I was on film. If I was in the present day, I was in digital.”

Ventimiglia said he experienced some serendipity behind the lens, where he captured uncanny similarities between different actors playing the same roles in the show’s past and present timelines. Ventimiglia’s first example involved child actor Lonnie Chavis, who plays the character of Randall from ages 9 to12 and Sterling K. Brown who plays the adult Randall.

“I took this one photo of Lonnie Chavis, in the pool episode Season 1, and he’s kind of leaning against this pole looking out,” explained Ventimiglia. “And then the first time Sterling and I were on set together, we’re filming the exterior of the cabin and I saw Sterle leaning against the pole the same way that Lonnie was, and I took that photo.”

The documentarian’s second instance of a fortuitous photoshoot took place during an episode where three actresses who play Kate Pearson were present. Chrissy Metz, the adult Kate; Hannah Zeile, Kate from 16 to18; and Mackenzie Hancsicsak, Kate from 9 to12.

“You know, I’ve got wonderful photos of Chrissy and Hannah and Mackenzie,” Ventimiglia reminisced. “You know, all three of them together in that kind of trippy, crazy Kate episode where Jack showed up when, when she [Kate] was under anesthesia.”

Wrapping up the two and a half minute clip, Ventimiglia revealed his sentimental feelings about the pictures he took on set.

“For me, there’s the documenting for the show, and there’s actually documenting for me, and I’ve always had a camera in my hands and I’ve always wanted to be able to revisit moments and for me, a visual cue like a photograph will always snap right back into that emotion of what I’m feeling,” he said.

“This Is Us” Episode 616 “Family Meeting” airs Tuesday at 9 p.m. on NBC4.

About “This Is Us”

Everyone has a family. And every family has a story.

“This Is Us” chronicles the Pearson family across the decades: from Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) and Rebecca (Mandy Moore) as young parents in the 1980s to their kids (the big three), Kevin (Justin Hartley), Kate (Chrissy Metz) and Randall (Sterling K. Brown) searching for love and fulfillment in the present day along with Toby (Chris Sullivan) and Beth (Susan Kelechi Watson).

This grounded, life-affirming dramedy reveals how the tiniest events in our lives impact who we become, and how the connections we share with each other can transcend time, distance and even death.