NBC's critically acclaimed, award-winning series, This Is Us is a passionate timeline following the Pearson family. It focuses on the ties between a unique set of triplets, their parents’ relationship, and the world around them that they encounter. For six seasons Jon Huertas starred as Miguel Rivas, a character who shifts through the decade-spanning plot.
The family sits at the center of the drama and episodes often focus on the shifting dynamics of familial relationships and how they exist in the real world.
What does the real Jon Huertas like to do with his own family?
Seeing the world.
"I didn't have a typical family upbringing, but I have a wonderful wife and three dogs. I think our favorite thing to do is get away. We give ourselves an opportunity to see something new every year. Every year we go somewhere different, where we've never been before, and it's usually always at Christmas time."
While Jon’s travels have taken him to different corners of the globe, his personal journey has taken him down the road of military service into acting and now into the director’s seat.
This Is Us: Miguel Rivas
This Is Us aired its’ season finale in May 2022 after six seasons. In the final season episode titled “Miguel”, showrunners focused on the story of a young boy whose father loses his job in Puerto Rico and decides to move his family to Pennsylvania. Throughout the show, the character shares how he struggled as a Latino town balancing his Puerto Rican heritage and the American standards he was now living in.
In the character’s final episode, Miguel’s health continues to decrease as his main priority continues to be caring for his wife Rebecca as her Alzheimer’s disease progresses until his untimely passing.
Somos Nosotros, a Latinx-Focused Fund
The audience may have had to say goodbye to the This Is Us cast on their TVs every week but that doesn’t mean the cast stopped collaborating in the real world. Huertas and his co-stars Mandy Moore, Milo Ventimiglia, Sterling K. Brown, Justin Hartley, Chrissy Metz, Chris Sullivan, Susan Kelechi-Watson, and showrunner Dan Fogelman partnered with the art advocacy group Nosotros. They went on the create of the Somos Nosotros Fund (Spanish for “This Is Us”). It aims to reinforce the quality of inclusion from a creative perspective.
"Somos Nosotros means “This Is Us” and we wanted to create hope and light with what we thought was still an overlooked group in the creative space (Latinx) who lack the opportunity to take up the positions of people who make big decisions in the entertainment industry,” said Huertas. “There is still a lack of Latinx representation at the executive level and in development [roles].”
While those numbers are improving, Latinx leads on television still sit at 5 – 7% of the total industry, while directors make up 3 – 5% of that profession. Considering that the U.S. population is 18.5% Latinx, the group hopes to create a real impact throughout Hollywood.
Working with his castmates, Huertas hopes to give an advantage to emerging Latinx writers who are pursuing a masters’ degree. By investing in writers from a Latinx background, he hopes to increase the number of individuals from diverse backgrounds in writers’ rooms to help invest in, protect, and share stories from the community.
For Huertas, it comes down to who’s doing the writing and the characters and content being created. This fund aims to get Latinx creators in the rooms where casting decisions are made.
Educate yourself and work for it
In addition to his 27-year acting career, Huertas is a filmmaker and has directed episodes of This Is Us, The Rookie, The Rookie: Feds, The Company You Keep, DVD special features, and holiday specials. He’s also worked on music videos and award-winning short films. He's produced several feature films, earning him an appointment to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He founded the production company WestSide Stories with his fellow Groundlings alum Kenny Stevenson and has a variety of media projects in different stages of development.
One thing that he wants the Latinx community to know is how to prepare for what you want to be.
"I believe in luck,” he said. “Luck is when opportunity meets preparation. If you are lucky enough to get an opportunity, you need to be prepared. Whether it’s acting, writing, or directing—even editors and visual effects artists. Train hard and be driven. Be focused independently. It’s about constantly educating yourself. If you want to be an actor, stop saying you want be one. Say ‘I am an actor’ and go train to be valuable and get in there.”
Growing up in New York and all over the U.S.
Huertas grew up in New York and Virginia until he landed in the military, which gave him a chance to live all over the United States. Los Angeles is the place he calls home the most because he's been there the longest.
"I'm definitely an Angeleno."
The 1970s and 80s were a difficult time for families who lived in urban areas. For Huertas, there were two options: stay there and adapt or leave and see what the world would bring.
"I don't really like to go into the details,” he said. “It's tough. There was a tragedy and I try to keep that stuff close to the vest. My childhood wasn't Leave It to Beaver or any city or anything like that. It was a childhood just like most kids of color. A lot of kids of color can come from an inner-city background in the 70s and 80s and for me it kind of started changing as rapidly for the better throughout the 90s and 2000s."
The Great Escape
Huertas’s guardian angel came in the form of a nun.
"I started at a Catholic School as a kid,” he said. “I used to get in trouble a lot [and] a nun recognized that I needed an outlet. She kind of forced me to be in the Christmas show. When I started performing, I didn't know how acting could affect people in an emotional way. If an actor can have the ability to do that, that's what I wanted to do and I really enjoyed bringing character to life. Then all through school, I wanted to be in any show and anything that was performance. I sang, I danced, I acted."
After graduation, Huertas enlisted in the United States Air Force but managed to keep his acting dream alive throughout his military service.
"My plan was always to move to L.A. and work in tv and film. My love for tv and film, it's always been an escape to whatever life was throwing at me,” said Huertas. “There were a lot of men in my family who had served and I always had that desire to serve my country and thought that it was a rite of passage to do for myself and to become an adult. It's selfless. You volunteer in service to your country."
Huertas earned his college degree while still enlisted and landed his first guest-starring role in 1995 on Beverly Hills 90210. In 1998, he played Joe Negroni in the drama Why Do Fools Fall in Love? alongside Halle Berry, Paul Mazursky, and Ben Vereen. That same year, he landed the role of Antonio in the television series Moesha. He later played Brad—a witch hunter—in the popular ABC television hit Sabrina the Teenage Witch. That role landed him a 2000 ALMA Award nomination.
Air Force Veteran
Huertas has drawn on his own military experience while playing the roles of the tough but affable Detective Javier Esposito on ABC's hit dramedy Castle, retired Marine Sergeant Jack Kale in NCIS, and his stand-out performance as Sgt. Tony "Poke" Espera in HBO's miniseries Generation Kill which offered an unflinching view of the USMC's 1st Recon invasion of Iraq. The veteran calls the role of Poke the most meaningful one of his career.
“When I auditioned for a military role, it helped know how to carry a weapon. I didn’t book a military role for many years but it’s a part of my experience that will always be close to my heart,” he said. “Working with David Simon on Generation Kill in particular was definitely a career defining moment because, moving forward from that, I felt very lucky in being allowed to say, ‘Let’s make this important so we can continue to talk about us, as veterans,’ and not always in a negative story.”
“In fact,” he continued, “I did the same with my character on Castle. They allowed me to create that backstory that he was an Army veteran and showed that he had a positive transition from a combat veteran into law enforcement and he thrived.”
Huertas regularly supports charities that benefit veterans, including BaseCamp for Veterans. The Wildlands Network and the Aware Foundation are other organizations close to his heart.
The Annual Imagen Awards
Jon attended the 36th Annual Imagen Awards, presented by the Imagen Foundation, to honor Latino talent and contributions within television and film.
He was nominated for both directing and supporting actor in This Is Us. While he didn't come away with a win, he was still happy to be selected and loved that there is an award show for the Latino community in the industry.
"It was cool. This is my fourth time being nominated. It's always great to see great minds again in one setting, new faces that are getting celebrated. I think it's great to inspire other people that they can be here too one day. As a Latino culture, we honor ourselves and other people.
That's a wrap; what's up next for Jon?
After This Is Us wrapped, Huertas took time to wind down and settle into the director’s seat, while focusing on other production activities.
“I’ve been working for 15 years…since Generation Kill. I feel like the luckiest person in the world for so many reasons. I established a production company (WestSide Stories) a few years back and we have several projects we’re excited about. For now, I’m focusing on directing an episode of The Rookie spinoff Rookie: Feds and more into the year of 2023.”
One of his projects—The Prisoner’s Daughter starring Kate Beckinsale—premiered at the Toronto Film Festival. But Huertas has plans to relax.
He feels a sense of responsibility to the Latinx community when considering future roles. He wants to ensure it’s the right type of character and that is satisfies his requirements regarding the quality of representation for Latinx people.
“There should be far more of us in front of and behind the camera but currently, as a director, I hope other Latinx talent will see me on the other side of the lens and know that the choices they make are understood by someone with a similar background and, one day, they may land in the same spot.”
Creative Credits
- Written by
- Marshelle R. Sanders
- Associate Editor
- Katie Mikesell
- Photography
- Meagan Shuptar
- Retouching
- Brianna Kish
- Grooming
- Saraibeautyy of Kim Bosso Makeup
- Clothing provided by
- Regard Style House
- Fashion Direction
- Katie Schuppler
- Styling
- Christina Rosas Anastasiou
