50 Fun Facts About This is Us

Who created This Is Us?

Dan Fogelman. He started it as a film whose ending revealed that its scattered characters were born together as multiples, gave up about 80 pages in, and later rebuilt it for television.

In the This Is Us pilot, where does Kate first meet her future husband Toby?

A support group. Kate giggles at Toby's off-color jokes during a weight-loss meeting, and he asks her out again and again until she agrees to a date.

What is the surname of the family at the center of This Is Us?

Pearson. The pilot follows Jack and Rebecca alongside three apparent strangers, and only its closing minutes reveal that the couple are their parents, decades earlier.

In This Is Us, what name had Jack and Rebecca chosen for the triplet who was stillborn?

Kyle. Jack and Rebecca first gave the name to the baby they adopted, until Rebecca took his birth father's advice to give the boy a name of his own, and he became Randall.

In This Is Us, where is the newborn Randall abandoned before being taken to the hospital?

A fire station. Firefighter Joe first takes the baby home to his wife, then drives him to the hospital where Jack and Rebecca have just lost one of their triplets.

In This Is Us, the Big Three lose Jack during what?

High school. The Big Three are 17, and Randall gives up the university he had planned on to stay near his grieving family, which is how he comes to meet Beth at a college close to home.

In This Is Us, whom does Rebecca marry years after Jack's death?

Miguel Rivas. Jack's best friend had been out of Rebecca's life for years when she joined Facebook to share photos of her first grandchild and he sent her a message.

In which city are the Big Three of This Is Us born and raised?

Pittsburgh. The family's love of the Steelers outlives Jack: as an adult, Kate insists on watching every game alone beside the urn that holds his ashes.

In This Is Us, what are the names of Randall and Beth's two biological daughters?

Tess and Annie. Tess arrives in such a hurry that there is no time to reach a hospital, so Randall delivers her himself on the living-room floor.

What is Kevin's profession in This Is Us?

Actor. Kevin is the star of the hit sitcom The Manny until the pilot, when he quits mid-taping with a rant in front of the live studio audience.

In This Is Us, which career does Kate pursue?

Music. Kate starts out singing at small gigs, and ends up teaching at the music school for blind children that her own son Jack attends.

In This Is Us, what nickname does Randall's biological father, William Hill, go by?

Shakespeare. A bus driver gives Rebecca the nickname when she goes looking for her adopted baby's father, a poetry lover he knows from his bus.

Griffin Dunne plays which relative of the family in This Is Us?

Jack's brother Nicky. Jack let his family believe Nicky had died in the war, and decades later the Big Three find their uncle alive, living alone in a trailer.

In This Is Us, who is the mother of Kevin's twins, Franny and Nick?

Madison Simons. Kate's best friend gets pregnant after one night with Kevin, and on the morning of their wedding she calls it off because he can't say he loves her.

In This Is Us, Kate's colleague Philip becomes what to her?

Her second husband. The show gives it away early: a flash-forward puts Kate in a wedding dress about to marry Philip while she is still married to Toby.

Where was This Is Us mainly filmed?

Los Angeles. Most of it was shot on the Paramount lot, and actress Alyson Hannigan, who had vowed never to rent out her home for filming, made an exception for the show.

Which illness is Rebecca found to have in the later seasons of This Is Us?

Alzheimer's disease. Randall goes behind Kevin's back to beg her to join a clinical trial in St. Louis, and the brothers' furious fight over it closes season 4.

In This Is Us, a blown tire and a night in a roadside lodge begin the family's traditions for which holiday?

Thanksgiving. Stranded on the way to Rebecca's parents, Jack puts on the lodge owner's pilgrim hat, and the family re-creates the cheese dogs and Police Academy 3 every year.

In This Is Us, Jack comes home as a veteran of which war?

Vietnam War. Jack told his family he was just a mechanic there, and only after his death does Kevin learn he was a staff sergeant who led men in combat.

Why was much of the This Is Us finale filmed years before it aired?

The child actors were growing up. The creator had already planned the ending, so he shot its flashbacks years early and kept the footage under wraps until the finale.

The This Is Us episode revealing how Jack died aired straight after which sporting event in February 2018?

The NFL championship game. Editors cut footage of the Super Bowl that had just ended into the episode's present-day scenes, so the family seemed to be watching the same game as viewers.

In This Is Us, what does Jack go back into the burning house to rescue for Kate?

Her dog. Jack walks back out carrying Louie and a bundle of family mementos, and Kate goes on telling herself for years that his death was her fault.

In This Is Us, Jack escapes the house fire but dies hours later in the hospital of what?

A heart attack. Smoke inhalation brings on a sudden 'widowmaker' cardiac arrest while Rebecca is down the hall at a vending machine, so she is not in the room when he dies.

Which appliance starts the house fire in This Is Us?

An old slow cooker with a faulty switch, a neighbor's hand-me-down. Viewers tweeted about throwing theirs out, and Crock-Pot had to put out a statement insisting its products were safe.

In This Is Us, where is Kevin on the night of the fire?

At Sophie's house. After lashing out at his parents, Kevin phones home to apologize but says he'll talk to his dad tomorrow, and he never gets the chance.

A This Is Us flash-forward shows Randall's firstborn daughter grown up and doing which job?

A social worker. Viewers are led to think a boy waiting for a foster family is in the present day, until a greying Randall arrives to take the woman handling his case to dinner.

Milo Ventimiglia, who plays Jack, first broke through as brooding teen Jess Mariano on which series?

Gilmore Girls. Jess left Stars Hollow to front his own spin-off, Windward Circle, but after a backdoor pilot aired the series was never picked up and he came back only as a guest.

This Is Us star Milo Ventimiglia's slightly crooked mouth is the result of what?

Damaged facial nerves from birth. Sylvester Stallone noticed at an audition that the lip hooked down just like his own, and cast him as Rocky's son in Rocky Balboa.

Mandy Moore, who plays Rebecca, first found fame in 1999 with which debut single?

Candy. Moore was 15 when it came out, later called that first album 'just awful', and once handed a radio host his money back for buying it.

Which Disney princess did Mandy Moore voice?

Rapunzel. Tangled's screenwriter went on to create This Is Us, where Rebecca and Randall repeat the film's 'I love you more', 'I love you most' exchange in one episode.

Two days before This Is Us premiered, Sterling K. Brown won an Emmy for playing which real-life lawyer?

Christopher Darden. Brown asked the real O. J. Simpson prosecutor for a meeting more than once and never heard back, and said playing him showed him why Darden would not want to relive the trial.

In 2018 Sterling K. Brown became the first Black actor to win which award for leading a TV drama?

A Golden Globe. On stage he thanked the show's creator for writing a role for a Black man that only a Black man could play, saying he was being seen for who he is.

Before This Is Us, Chrissy Metz played Ima Wiggles in which anthology series?

American Horror Story: Freak Show. Metz wore a prosthetic fat suit for the part, then went a year without work and had 81 cents in the bank when This Is Us called.

Justin Hartley, who plays Kevin, played which DC hero on Smallville?

Green Arrow. Hartley had just starred as Aquaman in a 2006 pilot that the network turned down, and joined Smallville as Oliver Queen later that same year.

Susan Kelechi Watson, who plays Beth, earlier had a recurring role on which comedian's FX series?

Louis C.K.'s Louie. Watson played his ex-wife Janet, and the show never explained how the couple came to have two blonde daughters, a puzzle it left in on purpose.

Chris Sullivan, who plays Toby, also played which alien villain in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2?

Taserface. Sullivan is disguised in both roles: about three and a half hours of alien prosthetics here, and a fat suit to play Toby that drew a backlash when viewers found out.

Ron Cephas Jones won two Emmys as which This Is Us character?

William Hill. The character dies in season 1, but Jones kept returning in flashbacks, and both of his guest-actor Emmys, in 2018 and 2020, came after William's death.

Which Oscar-winning actress directed a season 2 episode of This Is Us?

Regina King. She spent years directing episodes of shows like Scandal and This Is Us before making her first feature, One Night in Miami, which earned three Oscar nominations.

Kate's weight storyline in This Is Us draws on the life of which relative of the show's creator?

His sister. Deborah reads every script and sends notes on Kate's scenes, and a remark of hers grew into Kate's speech about how it will always be about weight for her.

In the next-to-last episode of This Is Us, Rebecca's dying mind pictures her final journey aboard what?

A train. William is her conductor, walking her car by car through scenes from her life until she reaches the caboose, where Jack is waiting.

Which streaming service bought the subscription streaming rights to This Is Us in May 2017?

Hulu. Its hold on the show lasted for years: all six seasons reached Netflix in the US only in January 2024, more than a year and a half after the finale.

Before This Is Us, its creator wrote which romantic comedy?

Crazy, Stupid, Love. Its directors, Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, followed him to television and directed the This Is Us pilot, which saves its family reveal for the final minutes.

The Big Three of This Is Us are born in 1980 on whose birthday?

Jack's 36th. The pilot follows four people all turning 36 on the same day, and the script was simply titled 36 until its writer, who came to hate the name, thought of This Is Us.

Which girl do Randall and Beth first foster and then adopt in This Is Us?

Deja. She first comes to them as a wary foster placement, goes back to her mother Shauna for a while, and is adopted after Shauna gives up her parental rights.

Fox's studio sold This Is Us to NBC, which scheduled it right behind which hit show?

The Voice. NBC later announced it would move the drama to Thursdays for season 2 to rebuild its Must See TV night, then reversed itself within weeks and kept the Tuesday pairing.

In This Is Us, Randall drives his dying father William on a last road trip to which city?

Memphis. William shows Randall the house he grew up in and sits in with his cousin's band one last time, then dies in a hospital there with his son beside him.

Before college and an office career, Beth of This Is Us trained for years to become what?

A ballet dancer. Beth won a place at a prestigious academy, but her mother stopped paying when she missed out on a showcase solo, and decades later she opens a dance studio of her own.

In season 3 of This Is Us, Randall runs for which office in Philadelphia?

City council. Randall lives two hours away in New Jersey when he decides to take on the sitting councilman in his birth father's old neighborhood.

Which Oscar-winning director plays himself in This Is Us?

Ron Howard. Sylvester Stallone turns up as himself too, and a starstruck Kate tells him how much his movies meant to her late father.

In the final season of This Is Us, Kevin revives his father's old dream by starting what kind of business?

A construction company. Jack shelved his plan for Big Three Homes to take a steady desk job, and Kevin launches it decades later with a crew of military veterans.