Milo Anthony Ventimiglia ( ; born July 8, 1977) is an American actor. Making his screen acting debut on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air in 1995, he portrayed the lead role on the short-lived series Opposite Sex in 2000 before landing his breakthrough role the following year as Jess Mariano on Gilmore Girls (2001–2007).
Thereafter, he appeared as Chris Pierce on American Dreams (2004–2005) and Richard Thorne on The Bedford Diaries (2006) before starring as Peter Petrelli on Heroes (2006–2010), for which he received nominations for Teen Choice, Saturn and People's Choice Awards. After appearing in main roles on the series Mob City (2013), Chosen (2013), and The Whispers (2015), Ventimiglia starred as Jack Pearson on This Is Us (2016–2022), for which he has received three nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. He also starred in the drama series The Company You Keep (2023).
In film, Ventimiglia made his breakthrough as Rocky Balboa's son in the sixth installment of the Rocky film series, Rocky Balboa (2006), going on to reprise the role in the eighth installment Creed II (2018). He has also appeared in Pathology (2008), That's My Boy (2012), Kiss of the Damned (2013), Grace of Monaco (2014), Devil's Gate (2017), and The Art of Racing in the Rain (2019).
Early life
Ventimiglia was born on July 8, 1977, in Anaheim, California, the youngest child of Carol and Peter Ventimiglia, a Vietnam War veteran. He has two sisters. His father is of Italian-Sicilian descent and his mother is of English and Scottish ancestry. Ventimiglia has a self-described "crooked mouth," having been born with damaged facial nerves causing the left side of his mouth to remain immobile – much like actor Sylvester Stallone, with whom he worked in Rocky Balboa.
Ventimiglia attended El Modena High School in Orange, California. During high school, Ventimiglia wrestled, acted in drama productions and served as student government president, graduating in 1995. At eighteen, Ventimiglia studied at the American Conservatory Theater for their summer program, subsequently attending the University of California, Los Angeles as a theatre major.
Career
Early roles and breakthrough
At eighteen, Ventimiglia pursued an acting career, first starring as a gay teenager in Must Be the Music, a short film released as part of Strand Releasing's Boys Life 2. He enrolled at UCLA before landing a role on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, guest starring on television series including CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Boston Public. He played Jed Perry, in the short-lived Fox TV series, Opposite Sex, which originally aired in 2000.
From 2001 to 2006, Ventimiglia played brooding teen Jess Mariano on Gilmore Girls; he was introduced in the second season as a leading cast member. He signed on for a spin-off of Gilmore Girls called Windward Circle which was to be focused on the relationship between Jess and his estranged father (played by Rob Estes), but the proposed series never made it to air. Afterward, he dropped down to a guest star/recurring cast member, and he came back for four episodes in season four and two episodes in season six. In the third and final season of American Dreams, Ventimiglia played Chris Pierce, the rebellious boyfriend of Meg Pryor (Brittany Snow); Pierce and his single mother, Shelly (Daphne Zuniga), a Playboy bunny, moved into the house next to the Pryors. In 2005, he starred in the mid-season replacement series The Bedford Diaries. The producers had only Ventimiglia in mind, but the show lasted only eight episodes and was one of several shows not picked up by the newly formed network The CW.
Heroes; film and production work
In between television work, Ventimiglia had supporting roles in the horror films Cursed (2005), directed by Wes Craven, and Stay Alive (2006), as well as starring roles in the short film Intelligence and the full-length feature Dirty Deeds (2005). The same year, he was cast as Robert "Rocky Jr." Balboa, the son of Rocky Balboa, in the sixth Rocky installment Rocky Balboa which was released in December 2006.