Milo Ventimiglia is doing his best just to love. The Emmy nominee told E! News' Giuliana Rancic that would the motto if his life had one: "Live with love."
Ventimiglia, who is nominated for playing Jack Pearson on This Is Us, said he relates to the Pearson family patriarch in that aspect as well.
"I try personally to just simplify my life as much as I can… I try to lead with love I try to be kind," Ventimiglia said on the Emmys red carpet about the similarities to Jack. But like Jack, he said, "I'm not without my mistakes, but I think in the end I really try to be an agent of love and kindness and goodness."
Ventimiglia, who was also nominated in 2017, said he was inspired to be the leading man on and off set by Will Smith on set of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air when he had a small part on the comedy.
"He didn't give me talking to. He met me. I was a kid with one line on his show…what I saw him doing was treating everyone with kindness and respect…at 18 I watched one of the biggest movie and TV stars just being cool and kind. I thought, ‘I want to be like him. I want to be just like him,'" Ventimiglia said.
As for this season of This Is Us, expect to learn more about Jack's time in Vietnam and see his early relationship with Rebecca (Mandy Moore). "What I hear from Dan Fogelman [the series creator], it is our best work yet."
This Is Us returns Tuesday, Sept. 25 at 9 p.m. on NBC.
(E! and NBC are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)