Milo Ventimiglia Says Producers Wanted Someone 'Completely Different' for 'This Is Us'

05/31/2017 05:58 pm EDT

It's hard to imagine anyone other than Milo Ventimiglia playing the family patriarch in our favorite tear-jerking drama, This Is Us.

But in an interview with Variety, the actor revealed he wasn't initially who producers of the hit NBC series had in mind when they were looking to cast Jack Pearson.

"They wanted somebody completely different," he shared. "I walked in with my beard and my long hair and set my motorcycle helmet down and they went, 'Who is this guy?'"

As we know, he ended up nailing the part.

"I think they just saw something different than someone who had practiced the words, and they picked me," he said.

Of the role, Ventimiglia said, "I don't think it was so much choosing it as it choosing me."

The audition came just after the Gilmore Girls star finished an indie movie and two TV gigs that didn't work out. Subsequently, the actor began to focus on his personal life, rather than going after new work.

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"It's kind of art imitating life," he said. "I was just trying to be just a man existing as a man, and here's this man who's just trying to provide for his wife and his family and all of that. It was so simple and beautiful that I thought, 'I'd just love to do it. I'd love to be a part of it. ' "

It turns out that growing his hair out in between roles worked out well for the part, too.

"You're in the right place at the right time as you're supposed to be," he said.

We can't argue with that!

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Photo Credit: NBC

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