ST. LOUIS — He stars in the show people can’t get enough of and he’s a St. Louis native people can’t stop talking about.
He’s also 5 On Your Side’s Anthony Slaughter’s uncle…
Sterling K. Brown is quite busy these days, but never too busy for family.
He sat down with his nephew Anthony Slaughter for an exclusive interview while he was back in St. Louis for the ‘Champions of Hope Gala.’
On Nov. 19, ‘This Is Us’ will have its fall finale. Sterling has starred in the NBC drama as Randall Pearson since 2016.
It’s no surprise, ‘This Is Us’ was renewed earlier this year and will take us through at least six seasons. The show is currently in its fourth season.
Throughout the fourth season, Sterling’s favorite change to Randall Pearson has been that he and his wife, Beth, are ‘united’ once again following the turmoil of the couple in Season 3.
‘I’m happy to see them [Randall and Beth] operating as more of a more cohesive unit. I got stressed out when things weren’t working out between Beth and Randall. My real-life wife got stressed out. I know the fans were, so I’m happy to see that we’re in a united place,’ He said.
Sterling said there are some ‘big things’ happening going into the back half off the season and fans might be upset with this fall finale.
‘Ah, listen there’s some big things that are happening going into the back half of this season. There’s some tension that develops within the family,’ He said. ‘So, there’s Rebecca, there’s Kevin, Kate, Randall something happens in the present day that causes people to sort of fall away from one another a little bit. That’s really all I can say.’
When Sterling read the fall finale, he said he knew fans would be upset. ‘I was like they’re gonna be, they’re gonna be upset,’ He said.
But, when the next half of the season comes along, fans are going to go on a ‘rollercoaster ride.’
‘The fans are gonna be upset, but in a way that like because we’re gonna leave them like 6 or 7 weeks before we a chance to see what happens next. But when we come back, they’re gonna go on a rollercoaster ride. Yeah.’
Fans of the show will have ‘a lot’ to look forward to next season.
‘There's a lot. What I can say is this - Dan Fogelman, the creator of our show has an end point in mind. Like there are things that we've actually already shot for our series finale right, that we're banking so that when it comes time to like show them, it'll be fun,’ He said.
"I think we want to be on for a long time, but also, we don't want to wear out or welcome, so hopefully when we go folks will be like aw man, they should've stuck around. Like a good house guest, they leave before you get tired of them."
As an avid fan of ‘This Is Us’ and Sterling K. Brown, when I met him, it kind of felt like I had just met Randall. In fact, Sterling said in real life, he does have a few characteristics that Randall has.
‘You know so he’s [Randall] lived on in Jersey for a long time with his wife, raised his children there. Moving his family from Jersey to Philadelphia. So, I’m from St. Louis. Big up to the Lou. Lived here for 18 years and then I uprooted myself to go to Stanford and then left Stanford to go to New York City where I lived for 8 years and then I now I live in Los Angeles for what will now be 14 years this December, which is kind of mind blowing because it’s almost the same amount of time that I’ve lived in St. Louis, but it’s not always for the Lou.’
Sterling has recently taken on a new career opportunity. He became a producer and started his own production company. The name of his production company is an ode to where he grew up.
‘Taking on a new career opportunity I think later on in life was an interesting sort of thing. I just recently became a producer and started my own production company.’
Sterling’s new production company is named ‘Indian Meadows,’ which is where he grew up, in Olivette. ‘I carry where I came from with me and don’t forget my roots,’ He said. ‘But there’s something daunting about trying something new later on in life. It’s exhilarating, and there’s a little bit of fear involved as well.’
Full interview with Sterling K. Brown:
5 On Your Side has a ‘This Is Us STL Fans’ page on Facebook. Sterling answered a few questions from our group members.
Watch the video below
Q: What is one characteristic Randall has in the show, that you would want in your real life?
A: A lot of Randall is me, but one thing Randall can do infinitely is better than yours truly is cook. You can cook, your dad can cook, Sterl can get away with somethings, but it’s mostly for sustenance. Randall can burn. I wish I can burn.
Q: Alright, what do you miss about St. Louis?
A: I miss Midwestern hospitality. I miss, I appreciate people looking you in the eye. As a matter fact, a friend of mine saw a billboard when he came in that said ‘please and thank you’ and I always say please and thank you and its things that you think everybody does and everybody doesn’t all the time. Um I miss my family, you know what I mean?
I do not miss summer.
Q: What’s your favorite St. Louis spot?
A: I like going to The Loop, love going to the landing, like sometimes just randomly I love running down the landing and running underneath the Arch late and nobody else is around and you have it all to yourself, that feels really really cool. The Loop and the landing are 2 places I love to kick it and then just random things. Like I’ll go back and visit high school, I’ll go back and visit Spoede just to see what it looks like sometimes, so just taking trips through nostalgia.
Q: Besides family, what’s your favorite thing to do when you’re not working?
A: Favorite thing to do when I’m not working? I exercise. I do find that I get a chance to sort of meld mind, body, and soul together when I keep fit, so that’s a big one. I love going to the movies. I love watching TV, like I’m a big fan. Like before, I think this was just the natural progression was getting into it because I just love watching stuff all the time so yeah. Also, I love playing pool and ping pong.
Q: The holidays are around the corner. What family tradition means the most to you?
A: You know what’s interesting I’ve bounced around so much, I don’t know if I’ve established too many traditions, so my traditions are like the traditions from home. I love eating your dad’s [Anthony Slaughter’s dad] dressing at Thanksgiving. It is delicious. I’m thankful that Aunt Vera stopped trying to make chitterlings because that’s no bueno for nobody.
Q: What one bit of advice would you give young people, old people, people who look up to you as a role model. What’s one thing that you would say to them?
A: Self-confidence is one thing that nobody else can give to you. You’ve got to believe it for yourself and even when nobody is paying attention to you, and nobody is shining the light on you, you have to know as an individual that you are of value and what you bring to the world is beautiful, unique and don’t let anybody take it away from you.