This Is UsPhoto by Getty; image treatment by Ashley Peña
“Charlie, in a strange way, is similar to myself,” Ventimiglia, who also serves as an executive producer, tellsfrom his hotel room in New York City. “He throws himself into his work as a con artist, strapping on different characters like I do as an actor. I think he’s also a deeply emotional person who is looking for connectivity and loves the ones he’s around.”
I didn’t have to reach to find Charlie. I don’t even think I had to reach that much to find Jack. It was just drawn from a different inspiration. Jack, to me, was from watching my father; Charlie is a bit looking in the mirror and understanding myself. All these characters that I play are [a reflection of] where I am at any given point in my life. It happened with Jess, with Peter, with Rocky Balboa Jr.It’s a tall order, but I want him to be unremarkable as a person.
If you count that I’ve conned a bunch of people into [believing] performances I’ve played through the years… [] Well, listen, as a con man, you’re looking to mirror your target’s emotional state. I think, as an actor, I’m looking to draw out emotions. So maybe conning and acting are [different] sides of the [same] coin. I’ve never been one to pull pranks on people—maybe in a little bit of good fun, but not too much.
When I was building the character of Charlie, I started a playlist with a random mix of things—Massive Attack, Elvis Costello, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Audioslave, Thom Yorke, Dan Auerbach. Killer Mike is in there. There was even a song called “Lose Your Soul,” written and performed by Ryan Gosling when he was doing music [with] his band, The Dead Man’s Bones. We actually ended up getting it for the opening of the show.