Before actor Jesse Metcalfe became a household name as a shirtless hunk on “Desperate Housewives” and a daily on Hallmark, he was a Little League slugger within the Nutmeg State idolizing Yankee great Don Mattingly.
“I had a fairly idyllic childhood,” he told me on this week’s episode of “Renaissance Man,” adding, “Connecticut’s an incredible place to grow up. I used to be a public school kid, played sports.”
Baseball and hoops were his passion — as were the Bronx Bombers.
“My favorite baseball player growing up was Donnie Baseball. I used to be a giant Yankees fan growing up,” he said. “And, as a whole lot of people know, for those who live in Connecticut, between Massachusetts and Recent York, there’s an enormous Red Sox-Yankees rivalry occurring. So, I had a whole lot of fun with that with my friends growing up.”
Jesse’s favorite show was “The Wonder Years,” but he was also drawn to “Three’s Company” for the comedy. And, let’s be honest, the theme song was also dope. He needed to sneak episodes because his mom thought the show was “sexist and somewhat too adult for me on the time.”
But it surely was a visit to the flicks together with his father to see “The Breakfast Club” that sparked his interest in acting. He later attended NYU, where he studied the craft.
Now, he’s starring in “On a Wing and a Prayer” alongside Heather Graham and Dennis Quaid. The movie, which premieres Friday on Amazon Prime, is predicated on the true story of a family who needed to land their small plane after the pilot dies mid-flight. Jesse plays Kari Sorenson, an authority in that specific aircraft who helps save the day.
“The icing on the cake was that it was a real story. And, mockingly, I could be playing a personality that was from Danbury, Connecticut, my home state. I did a whole lot of research about his real life. He lost each his father and his stepfather to plane crashes. And as a substitute of coping with a whole lot of that survivor’s guilt, he just form of form of packed it down,” he said. “He was taking out a whole lot of those unresolved feelings on his companion. And thru helping save Doug White and his family, he experienced a certain level of healing. It was a cathartic experience for him.”
Jesse is a fan of one other high-flying flick, “Top Gun,” and whilst his profession soars, he still loves his childhood cinema comforts. There’s “Real Genius” and each John Hughes movie like “Pretty in Pink,” “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and “Sixteen Candles.” Anything from the Brat Pack.
“I actually love Nineteen Eighties comedies. I believed they were incredibly well-written,” he said. “I liked how irreverent they were, and I believed the actors of that point period were incredibly talented.”
He starred in his own teen classic with “John Tucker Must Die” — and the 2006 flick stays his favorite role.
“I feel like that film was squarely on my shoulders. Although we had an incredible ensemble forged and although the film was critically panned on the time, it’s gone on to change into a teen comedy cult classic and I believe it stood the test of time.”
And he has some advice for standing the test of time as an actor or, shall I say, borrowed wisdom from a Hollywood icon.
“I believe it’s best to just eat, sleep and breathe acting and change into the perfect actor you could possibly be,” Jesse said. “And like Eddie Murphy once said in an interview, ‘Keep your mouth shut.’”
