John Huertas
Appearances
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
Mine started six hours because they were acting like fools putting all that stuff on me.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
It was everything, the hair, the prosthetics, it was all like, the whole process was long. It became a well-oiled machine. Yeah, it finally became. You did request those full body prosthetics just to get you in the character. I wanted my knees to be bullish and stuff. Just your knees, yeah. I don't care if the audience can't see it. I see it. I know it. I feel it. It's my character.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
But yeah, I think they put a lot, like at the beginning, I had a lot of prosthetics on. I had like a full long jaw thing. So they lighten everything. You had the waddle.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
But I came in once at like two in the morning to start my process. Two? Yeah, like first season or second season. I went to, crew call was at seven. I went to lunch, because SAG-AFTRA. I had to go to lunch after six hours. So I'm at lunch while everybody's at breakfast. And then at work, we break for lunch. We only have them for three hours today. You did that at two o'clock call?
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
It was like two or three. I remember. You had a threesome before.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
She wanted to do like a spa day at the end of the day. I'm like, I've been in shit for 12 hours. Like, what chemicals do you have? I want that one. Yeah, yeah. That one's got the skull and crossbones on it. Is that Liza to get it off?
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
The money is perfect. All we could talk about, like, we're going to get CO2 laser treatment. It's going to be on the production.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
Resurfacing. CO2 resurfacing. Yeah, you're going to fix my skin for this. Yeah. Didn't happen. It did not happen. Did not happen.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. I got so much, you know, love after the Miguel episode. I mean, so many people reached out and was and they saw like themselves in the character story, especially when it comes to the, you know, the caretaker. Yeah.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
storyline, but then also the, the being Afro-Latino and like, you know, some, you know, finally telling a story that was pretty complete around that kind of identity.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
But she wasn't directing. She was taking a break from doing episodic. She was trying to just do pilots and features. And she was like, yeah, my agents don't really want me. And then I said, this is an episode that speaks to who you and I are. There's a lot of Afro-Latino elements in this. And it's all Puerto Rico all the time. And she was like, what? And she said, let me talk to my people.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
And then I told Dan and Jess, I was like, hey, I saw Zetna and they're like, we can't get her. We've been trying to get her back. And I was like, she coming back, y'all.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
You want to speak to it a little bit? Yeah, I mean, first of all, Johnny, who wrote that episode, did such a great job. We, in the writers room, broke the episode, broke the story. And I remember just talking about all the ideas that we wanted to try to, you know, like a list of ideas for the episode that I thought three of these will make in the episode.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
And somehow Johnny got almost everything in there. And so that was a big thing. And a lot of it came from, you know, my own personal experience being, you know, an Afro Latino from, you know, moving from one city to another and having to kind of give up a piece of his identity to
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
fit in and not be bullied or to hopefully, you know, make something of myself and, you know, the whole blow drying my hair thing was, you know, from an incident where this kid called me pubic head. He said, because the hair on his, my head looked like the hair on his And on his penis. Well, the hair doesn't actually grow on the penis. No, we understood. The nickname was enough.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
You know what I mean? So anyway, I got in a fight, and I got in trouble, and started blow-drying. Well, the fix was a woman who my mom knew blew-dried my hair straight, and now he looks more white, so he won't get picked on. So then I did that every day through high school. I need pictures, by the way. I don't need to see this. I'll have some pictures when I do my one-man musical. Copy that.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
But I gave up a piece of myself to appease oppression, really.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
And so we wanted to kind of try to bring some sort of element of that into the Miguel story and show that he gave up a part of who he was to become a capitalist. And, you know, if you remember, and especially in season one and two, like he was always trying to get Jack to kind of toe the line and do the same thing.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
Like, hey man, it's gonna be better for your family if you gotta join the country club or you gotta, you know, all of these things. And, And what was great is that, you know, Jack didn't really give up himself like that. But Miguel was. And he lost his family due to it. And, you know, I like that Miguel ended up having a full kind of circle moment.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
Because once, I think once Jack died, once he started getting too close to Rebecca, he had to go and find himself. So that when he comes back, he's a better version of himself. And he's, you know, even more wealthy.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
It was a really good feeling, and what really felt good is that the execution of that episode to me was near perfect. It was like the direction, the writing, the casting, everything was just... Proof... positive was the reaction that you guys had and that I had. Because I didn't cry that much watching This Is Us. I cried, I think, a total of three episodes. That was one of them. Really? Yeah.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
You know, I think, first of all, when the audience reacts the way that they react, it's something that we as actors can sometimes take personally. Sure, sure, absolutely. And you know, you learn, when you study acting, you learn that, you know... You studied? I did, a little bit. I did, a little bit. How dare you? First of all, how very dare you.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
You should try re-watching it because we are a mess.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
I mean, everything is so, every moment was just amazing. So everything kind of blends together. I mean, I think there's one scene when we were at that, when we were in Paso Robles and you and I were like in the back of this building kind of overlooking this vineyard. And it was just like this kind of like bonding moment between a stepdad and his stepson.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
Of course, right after that, we ended up getting into an argument. But before that, it was just the beauty of this place that we were filming in and the moment. It's just an image that is plastered in my brain somewhere.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
But you want people to like, you want people to like your character, even if you're the villain. Like, you know, you want them to, you know, love to hate you or whatever. And so... that reaction was something that was a little bit jarring, but at the same time, as an actor, you like to be challenged too.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
It's gorgeous. Well, it was all on the page. I mean, incredible writers, so it's easy. No, no, no.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
One was called Four Fathers. And what was the other one called?
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
It was when he came back after he had his lung transplant. He was much heavier. We were trying to match something from season two.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
So I wanted to take on the challenge of saying, all right, you guys don't like this character now, but watch this. Exactly.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
And we were shooting something that was a direct cut from one of those driving scenes. It was incredible to, first of all, just direct him, because he was so, I mean, a powerhouse of an actor, right? My experience directing on the show was, first of all, you guys are all so talented and so good. Especially you, Chris. I was like, I'm a first-time director. How are they gonna feel?
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
Sterling K. Brown, multi-Emmy winning, taking some directing from John Huertas. Hey Sterling, let me talk to you about this moment.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
I thought he was gonna look at me like, John, come back over there to the chair. But he was very, very, very open.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
I've been on a show where it was like that. Really? A couple times on Castle. Why is this? And this director would ask me, hey, can you try this? And it's something I know I just did. But they obviously, you know, because sometimes when you're directing, I will say this, you know, you've got three actors on, you know, it's a wide shot, right? You've got three actors.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
And I'm watching, you know, I might watch one actor. I'm focusing on this one because this is like kind of the fulcrum of the scene or whatever. So I'm watching this, and then I might, you know, and then... I would say that maybe when I would be like, why is this person walking up on me is because I know that they probably weren't paying attention to what I was doing.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
And now they're saying, try this. And you did that already. And I did that already. And then I'd be like, so they'd walk away and I'd turn to the guy who played my partner, Seamus. I'd be like, I'm gonna do the same shit. And I would do it. And then I'd yell behind the camera. How was that? Was that what you were looking for? That was perfect, John. Thanks. And I'd look at Seamus like...
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
Yeah, and that's the thing. You don't want to be the one bogging it down. And that's why I always say to directors that are coming from behind the camera or coming from the editing bay, I'm like, yo, man, have you taken an acting class? because it would be really beneficial if you knew our language.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
So if you want to get something from an actor to understand how to ask them for it, instead of saying like, you know, can you do it again? But maybe this time, I don't know.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
So I was on a show before that. What was the name of that show? Castle.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
Yeah, an episode of television. Yeah, yeah. It's definitely my first experience directing. Just traffic before that. Yeah, I used to be... Over this way. Get out of here. Air traffic control.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
It's fine. Ken doesn't know what a podcast is.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
I did an episode of Castle when we got a chance to kick it. It was fun. That's right, that's right. So that show had gone down and I was like, oh shit. And I needed a job. I needed a job. And so, you know, calls started coming in and I was doing this chemistry read with Justina Mercado for... Love Justina. Yeah, she's great. For One Day at a Time for Netflix.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
No, I learned a lot of great stuff. Look, he's so sweet. He's so sweet.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
I did The Company You Keep. You did The Company You Keep with Milo. A couple episodes of The Rookie, Rookie Feds. Okay. Yeah, I'm doing The Irrational.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
Only if it's something that a friend is doing. Something very, very, very interesting or something I'm developing. I like being behind the camera.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
Not as much. It's got to be something cool. I'm doing an animated show, which is cool. For Disney, it's a lot of fun. It's a Latinx show. It's with Rita Moreno. I'll best be doing that show. Okay, okay. That's, you know, it's like, it's got to be really, really interesting for me.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
I'm not trying to, you know, I'm not going to, I'm not really guest starring on shows or trying to get another, you know, long run on a procedural or something like that. Unless it's something that I've developed. We have a couple of shows set up when I, like Amazon Alliance Gates. We'll take them out and see what happens.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
While I was in the Air Force, I studied musical theater. Musical theater? Yeah, because they paid for it, for most of it.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
So same casting director as This Is Us. And so you guys shot the pilot. I was still doing Castle, whatever. And so I didn't know what the show was, but I kept doing this. I did two chemistry reads and Norman Lear, who I think we're going to bring up later, I didn't realize he was in the room when I was doing it. I just thought it was Bring Your Grandpa to Work Day.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
I was like, I got to get to work. I want to see and do and try everything. everything this planet has to offer. And so, you know, I want to go see things, I travel. But then I also want to try things. I might not be an expert at anything, but I'll be pretty good at a lot of things. Oh, yeah.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
Because, you know, I know that the best way to learn is from failure or from mistakes. So even if I do try something and it doesn't work out, I've learned something, obviously. And it's going to be a piece of information that I can always come back to and use in life. So, yeah, I'm going to try everything. I'm going to do everything. Except golf. I really don't know what I'm talking about.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
It was like lightning struck, you know, like the way that everything, every element of this show, every single department head, every single crew member, every single, you know, most writers, there might've been one. You know, all the writers. All of them. 100% of the writers.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
I swear to God, there was an old dude sitting over there with a hat on. And I was like doing my thing with Justina. By the way, I know Justina for like two weeks.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
That was so much fun. We had so much fun.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
Anyway. I did. I was like, who's this dude? So I'm talking to Justina. And suddenly, the old dude was like, John, can you do it again? But I want you. Why is he talking to me right now? Director's here. Showrunner's here.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
Right. And it's, and it's lit, you know, it's, it's a, they've got almost, it's like a set. So it's me and her on set. So it's lit and it's kind of dark like this. No, I'm white to some extent, but just so you know, Norman Lee. Nobody told me a legend was in it. I was like, I got it, bro. Thanks, man. He goes, and by the way, it's a sitcom, a multi-cam sitcom, double-spaced words.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
okay and so i did it again and i wouldn't so i didn't do his no i didn't do his note you didn't do it i just did my thing i'll do it i do it my way you know what i mean i'm making my choices bro if you don't like it cool uh but i didn't know it was him so because everybody else is liking my so then i um so then i leave and they uh they i get a call and they're like yeah john they want you to come back and do it again because
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
Everyone loved what you were doing, except Norman Lear thought that you just weren't getting to where he wanted. I was like, who? Norman what? That was the old man? Because I thought Norman Lear was like, he was 94 when we were sitting in that room.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
So then I go back, but I still didn't want to, because I didn't want to play a Latinx character. I hear you. That was, you know, an abuser. I didn't want to portray that type of character at that time in my career. Yeah. I did it the second time, the exact same way. Norman was there again. This time I knew who he was. I was like, yes, Mr. Lear. And he gave me the note.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
He was like, I just don't feel like you want to kill her because it's not on the page, man.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
so i was like and i don't like to go in for anything unprepared yeah i was like i but it was you know it was yeah tells you i was like you know their office and i like i love them so yeah they were like they think they think you could do this and so i drove up there and to Paramount, and they were having meetings with other guys.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
But I was driving back to Venice, and then I got the call to turn around and go back to Paramount. Okay, got you. And so they were seeing people. LA geography, got you. Yep. They were seeing people and I walked in and I was like, is there any material? Do I need to read? They were like, yeah, yeah. And I see other guys there. All the other guys are like 45 to 50, salt and pepper hair and white.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
And I was like, oh, they want to make sure they see at least one. Yeah. So they could say, we tried. That's what I thought it was. I literally did. And they're all looking at their side. Look at all these sides.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
Right. And so I go down the hall asking somebody, so is there sides for me? I mean, they were like, yeah, yeah, yeah. We'll go get you some real quick. And then all the other guys were like... Yeah, just four pages. So they literally handed me some sides. And I was like...
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
and like 10 minutes I'm going into the room and I go into the room and it's John and Glenn and Norman Lear and Dan Fogelman how did he get here faster than me so all those guys were in there and I walked in and then they just started like talking to me and like we started laughing Dan Fogelman was like my dad's a huge fan of yours he loves Castle it was this whole thing and they were like do you want to read
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
And I was like, not really. Because I just got this stuff. And they were like, don't worry about it.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
I don't want to. This is it. No, and so then I left. This is what you're asking for. I left. I got a call. They're like, yeah, man, you're the one. They're going to put you on the show. And then I was like, so then I was chilling for a couple of weeks.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
And then I get a call. They want you to go up to the valley, Deep Valley, to this makeup, special effects makeup house. And they're going to do a live cast. I was like, this isn't Star Trek. This is us.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
I was one of the 50 million people that watched the trailer. I'm not an alien. And so I go up there and I'm like, I'm asking them when I get there, I'm like, why are you doing a life cast? And they're like, oh, for the old age makeup. And I was like, old age makeup? They're like, yeah, you're married to Rebecca in the future. And I'm like... They think I'm Milo. No, I don't play Jack. I play Mike.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
I play Mike. That was you initially. Michael. That was it. Michael with the salt and pepper hair. And they were like, no, no, no, no. You're married to Rebecca in the future. What? I didn't even know.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
Yes, they broke it to me while I'm getting stuff slathered on my face. You probably knew before a lot of us. You knew before I did, that's for sure. Oh, really? Yeah, clearly. So that's how I got on the show. That's the story. I'll see you guys later.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
Because I didn't have any time to prepare it.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
I mean, I felt it, but I loved, I wanted to embrace that challenge. Like, it's like, yeah, let's turn him around. Let's figure it out. Like, it's going to be fun.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, Dan, I would have a sit down with him at the beginning of every season and Isaac and Elizabeth as well once they took over. And we would just talk about, like, you know, they would assure me, like, we're going to turn people around.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
Well, do you remember when we first were in our old age makeup and we were like, all right, how do we play old people? Older people. And we kind of didn't like, cause you know, there's the Saturday Night Live version where it's like, hey, come here. We didn't do that, but we talked about it and we did. And I think we like, I would just stare at Steve Beers. I can't.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
Steve Beers has been working in television since 1932.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
He worked with a lot of people that I worked with before, but he worked on the A-Team. He worked on the A-Team.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
He was 21 Jump Street. Yes. Oh, you know, the elder on our set like he was. Yeah. Anybody was going to be a model for me. Yeah, it was going to be him.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
Yeah, I would. That's why you guys didn't see me.
That Was Us
RE-RELEASE - Jon Huertas and Us | Miguel Rivas
But but also I think we talked about it. We were like, if we could just Take our time. We know that people who are older take their time with everything. When they speak, before they answer, they would just... So I think that was the vibe.