March 25, 2025 • 35 mins
This week, Tommy is joined by actor Luke Macfarlane! Luke has tackled scripted TV, film, Broadway, and now the unscripted world. He is currently hosting and starring in Hallmark+’s home renovation series, HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS, where he is using his impressive wood-working skills to make dreams come true. He recently completed production on the second season of Apple’s PLATONIC, returning in the fan favorite, third-wheel role of Charlie. You also know and love Luke from his breakout role in BROTHERS & SISTERS, starring opposite Billy Eichner in Universal’s romcom BROS, and from 15 beloved Hallmark movies… just to name a few of his credits. Today, Luke opens up about his career highs, why working in television holds a special place in his heart, how he’s now showing the world his passion for wood work, why he wants to keep growing in all different aspects of his career, which superhero he would want to play in a movie, a role he auditioned for that led him to an incredible opportunity he never could have imagined, a franchise that he would jump at the chance to be in, what his relationship with rejection is like, one of the best pieces of advice Seth Rogen ever gave him, why the 40s have given him a new wave of confidence and peace, his journey being an out actor in Hollywood, why he doesn’t mind being asked about being gay, why he is allowing for surprises in life rather than trying to plan everything out, the one thing he hopes his daughter learns at an early age, and so much more.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hey guys, welcome to I've never said this before with
me Tommy di Dario. Today I am joined by a
man of many, many talents. Luke McFarlane has tackled TV
and film, Broadway and now the unscripted world. He is
currently hosting and starring in Hallmark plus his home renovation
series Home Is Where the Heart Is, which is out
(00:24):
right now. And yes he is rolling up the sleeves,
and yes he is getting dirty because he is showcasing
his very impressive skills in woodwork to help bring some
magic to some incredible human beings. I love feel good
shows like this. You guys are in for such a
treat with this one.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Now.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Luke has done fifteen fan favorite Hallmark movies, so it's
pretty cool to see him in a totally different role,
still bringing that same joy to many. You may know
and love Luke from his role in Brothers and Sisters
or the Apple series Platonic, which he just finished filming
season two of. Then there's the movie Bros. Which was
a big studio rom com featuring a same sex love story,
which was pretty groundbreaking for the time, and I would
(01:04):
argue that it still very much is. And Luke added
Broadway to his resume performing in the very moving play
The Normal Heart. And this is just naming a few
of his many many credits. So let's see if today
we can get Luke to say something that he has
never said before. Luke, how you doing, my man?
Speaker 2 (01:28):
I'm good, Tommy, thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
I am so happy to see you. A lot has
changed since I saw you last.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
It is correct, it's been met. When I was doing
the Bros.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Press tour yep, yep, on my show Extra and you
were not a parent, then you're a parent now.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Yes, that's correct. I walked into I will say this,
when I walked into the theater. You were sitting down
in the theater and I walked and I turned to
Billy Eichner and said, like, who is this guy? He's
very very handsome. Oh god, Billy immediately made a joke
about that. But it's true. And you look fantastic. You
look great.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Thank you well likewise, my man. Likewise, I saw your
promo stills for the new show, and you're clearly staying
on top of your fitness game. Oh yes, you have
not let that slip in two years. I haven't you know.
I did just have a daughter.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
She's going to be two years old soon, and I
still make time to sort of have a little time
to myself, to go to the gym. It's a big
part of what I do. And yeah, even having any kid,
it just becomes a little bit earlier in the morning.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Yeah, I'm sure, I'm sure. But you're carving out the
time for you, which is great.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Well, we have lots of cover and obviously we're going
to get to the show. A lot of people know
you from the acting world. You know, you're rolling up
your sleeves or getting dirty in the unscripted world, and
we're going to talk all about that. But to begin, Luke,
you have such an impressive career. You've done projects that
are so wonderful and that means so much to so
many people. So in your perspective, what for you is
(02:48):
a career high?
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Oh gosh, you know, it's always funny to look back
at your career because you never quite know where it's
going to go. I mean, if you told me that
would become this amazing home for me, and it has.
I've done fifteen movies with them, I would be really
I'd probably ask first of all, what is Hallmark And
now it's become this amazing platform for me to do
(03:10):
movies and to work on movies and to be a
romantic lead in these movies. But now it's been a
place for me to go. Can I executive produce something?
And I did executive produce the show which is going
to be Well, which is live now where I get
to show another part of myself, which is my passion
for home renovation and woodworking. So career highlight. Trying to
(03:33):
answer your question, sorry rambling, Gosh, I got to work
on Broadway. That was huge. You never thought that that
would happen. I worked an amazing production of The Normal Heart,
which won a Tony Award almost ten years ago. That
was amazing, beautiful story. Yeah, gosh, I don't know. It's
been so varied. I worked on a sci fi series
which I loved. I worked on Brothers and Sisters for
(03:54):
one hundred episodes with Sally Field and Cliss of Lockhart
and Rob Lowe and the amazing Matthew. So it's been
very It's been all over the place. I don't even know.
Sometimes I look back on my IMDb page and try
to remember the plot of some of the movies that
I've been in.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
It's pretty cool that you've touched kind of everything, right,
I mean, you've done the Broadway, You've now done film,
you've done TV, you're doing unscripted. Is that something you
always wanted for yourself? Or you just kinda are a
yes person and took the opportunities as they came.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
I mean, I love TV from the very beginning. I've
always loved TV. I think it speaks to my generation.
You know, TV was where my family sat down and
watched things together, so it always had a sense of
like togetherness. TV was that for us. Movies were not
as much part of growing up. It was Mom went
to Blockbuster and came back with three videos and we
(04:45):
debated forever, and then she would fall asleep and no
one would ever watch Jade or some weird psycho sexual
movie that she always sem to come home with. So
TV is important, and I actually really love being on
TV because it also, as an an actor, creates a
space that you get to return to again and again,
a group of people that you see every single day.
(05:06):
Movies aren't as much like that. That's interesting.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
What a perspective, And you strike me as someone who
likes to form relationships and nurture those bonds. So I imagine
you do that more in television.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Absolutely. You get to know the carpenters, you get to
know the set painters, you get to know the wardrobe
people in a much more intimate way. And yes, I
do like that. I think it makes you a better
actor to just understand where people come from a little
bit more.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
And your work means so much to so many for
many reasons. But I just saw you posted minutes before
the interview you're out magazine cover. Yes, and you've been
such a prominent figure for that community for many reasons.
What I kind of take from your career and from
you is you're someone who shows people that you can
go after your wildest dreams, no matter what background you
(05:50):
come from. And I think that's pretty cool. And like
you said, we met during Bros. And that's a movie
that means a lot to many people today. Does that
hold a special place in your heart?
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Oh my god? Absolutely. I mean only was it my
first opportunity to be part of a feature film put
up by his studio, which just means a different thing.
You know, a lot more money, a lot more pressure,
you know, working with people like Judd Apatau and you know,
guest stars that were you know, household names. That was
the first time for that, So that definitely holds a
special spot for me too.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
I mean clearly, I see you reminiscing, Yeah, and you're
thinking about that time, and I imagine doing something that
with Billy and working on a project like that and
being such a pioneer for that is pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Oh, I know you're gonna say you're talking about Out magazine.
It's funny actually because just you know, I posted that
and Guy Brendan just sent me a text. Guy Brendan,
who is also in Bros. Along with Billy, played Billy
Aikner's best friend in the movie, sent me a text.
He said, I saw your Out magazine. I can always
tell when you really care about a project because you
take your shirt off.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
I was like, God, So what incorrect? Or I mean,
is that accurate?
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Well, I mean, look, there's something about skin that you know,
just you know, gets people's attention. We all know about
the scroll and we all know what makes people stop.
And I care so much about the show that I'm
executive producing homes Where the Heart Is. And yeah, maybe
I did want a couple extra eyes, and maybe I
was willing to take the shirt off to get a
little bit more attention on something I care so much about.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Listen and an oversaturate of market. You Gotta do, you
Gotta do, You Gotta do, you Gotta do. Yeah, that's awesome,
And with that series, I think it's so cool for
many reasons that you're doing it, because it's so different
than what we're used to from you, right, And when
I first saw it, I thought, huh yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
I mean I knew you loved board work.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
I saw, especially during COVID a lot of your videos
you put up doing all of that. But what for
you made you say I need to be a part
of this project, like sign me up.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
So it began with an amazing woman named Jessica Sebastian
and she had always wanted to do a home renovation
show and she came to me because she knew she
wanted to do it a Hallmark and Hallmark is starting
to get into the nonscripted space and they said to her,
you got to work with one of our talent, and
(08:01):
we know who that's going to be. It's Luke McFarlane.
It's got this interest, so Jessica and I began talking.
We began talking about what the show want to be
and our sort of idea about wanting to create spaces
for people that reflected who they were, where they're coming from,
and then specifically for me. I said, but I want
to add something personal to every home that we renovate.
(08:24):
I want to build something specifically for them, because word,
working for me is something I've done for a long time.
It's been professional. Sometimes sometimes it's about paying the bills.
Sometimes it's reminiscing about, like you know, working with my
dad where I was a kid, it's a big part
of what we did. We always built stuff together. So
I knew I wanted to add that because I think
(08:45):
when you design a space for someone, it has to
be personal. It has to be intimate. It's not just
about this is the it color, this is the right paper,
these are the things you need. It's not that, it's
who are you? And how can your space represent you.
I think we look at clothing as a way of
expressing ourselves a lot, but we don't do it I
(09:08):
think with as much intention as our physical space. You know,
we want our physical space to represent who we are
as well. So that's what the show is really about.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Home is where the heart is Palmark. Plus that's right out. Now,
what about this show feels different than an acting job?
Like what fulfills you in a different way doing this
versus that kind of work?
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Oh my god, tell me. It was so hard. It
was also so hot. And look, we did not have
all the money in the world. So like I found myself,
you know, finishing up an interview with a family and
then being like, Okay, I gotta, I gotta, I gotta
build this thing. I gotta get dirty and dusty, and
you know, some some days my day would start at
(09:51):
six am and I was like literally on the table
saw until the sun went down. Like it was very
different that way. I expected there'd be a whole team
that would kind of help me. It was like, if
you really care about something, you have to do it.
So it was hard and it was hot. We filmed
it in Atlanta in the summer, so if you look
carefully at the show, you can see some sweaty shirts.
H for sure, Uh huh.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
That wasn't production throwing water over you making you look
extra steaming.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
One percent. I actually I did make a comment. I
think a lot of home run. Those shows, there's a
what I like to call sort of like a carpenter drag,
where like they'll go in and like maybe knock one
wall down and lift one thing. But I swear to
you I was doing it all with some help, but
I had my hands super dirty.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
Really, yes, okay, all right, well you enjoy it too.
You don't want to fake it?
Speaker 2 (10:39):
No, I do, and I do. And I walking into
a reveal and making sure that like the thing that
you're showing them is good is a different kind of
stress for me. It's very much reflective of myself.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
And these shows for me, are always very emotional. And
I'm an Italian from Jerseys, so I can like cry
when wind blows, but I no, no, I imagine for
you when you see the faces of these families and
whoever you're profiling, you must feel that too. Did you
catch yourself getting emotional at all?
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Oh? Absolutely? I think I got the most emotional in
one of the episodes it's streaming now, where it was
really important. It was a mother and daughter and the
mother was having a hard time. Oh it's making emotional now.
She was having a hard time letting go of something
(11:29):
that her late husband had built. So it was his
conversation of like, how can you let go of this
thing while letting your daughter make this space for herself.
And we were in a cabinet chop and we were
trying to convince this lovely mother to sort of let
(11:51):
go of these old cabinets so we could give her
some new cabinets. And it was very emotional.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
Actually, wow, yeah, wow, that's hard to let go. I
mean home, Your home is sacred, right, It's a space.
I always say it to my husband, like when we
move or when we design a home, like I want
it to feel like our sanctuary. We can turn out
the world and come home and.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Just be safe.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
And there are things that you bring with you from
loved ones who have passed or you know that you
collect along the way, and I just I think there's
something so magical when you can help facilitate creating that
that knew something for someone else because you know how
important it is totally.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
And I think it's important to remember. And this is
something I talked about a lot, but homes are also
time traveling machines. And you know, when I first bought
my home in Los Angeles, which is one hundred years old.
You literally take off the wallpaper and you see what
was there before. So you're actually going back in time
and you're going this was once somebody's idea of what
(12:47):
you were describing with your husband as a cozy space.
And you're like, oh God, should I be removing this?
Should I be taking this away? But the home travels
through time. We just get to inhabit it for a
brief moment. So yeah, trying to honor about all those things,
it can get very emotional.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
Do you want to do more in this space? I
mean it's a whole new category for you.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
I mean it is. I will say my real passion
is furniture building. I've built a lot of furniture, and look,
I've done everything from framing to trimwork, to hang indoors
to even painting. God bless me, I hate painting so much.
I hate painting. But furniture building is really my passion.
I get to work in my workshop, I get to
(13:33):
stay in one place, I get to work with sort
of beautiful special woods. So that's what I'd like to
do more. But I didn't like to sort of encourage
people and talk more about what makes great pieces of furniture.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
That's so cool that you're such an entrepreneur in doing
it all. And I think that's the way of twenty
and twenty five and going forward.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
I mean, the.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
Idea of doing one thing and staying in one lane,
to me is very dated. And I love that you
can go do a show right like Platonic and film
season two, and go jump into the some scriptive worlds
and go work on your furniture. You know, your wo
would work and all of it well, like.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
You honestly tell me, like to watch you. You know,
when I first met you, you were doing these you know,
fifteen to five minute, twenty minute interviews, and now we
get this opportunity to sit down and actually talk. And
I know that's probably a part of yourself that you've
always want to share. Yeah. If we like somebody, we
want to see them grow. Yeah, and Hallmark has done
that for me. Yeah, give me the opportunity to grow.
Trust me.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
I've seen a few of those Christmas moves like many
people have.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
Many people.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
Actually, I was just texting with a friend here we go.
I'm very close with Jennifer a few and she said
she watches catch me if you claws. Oh, all the time,
like year round when she's having a bad day.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
Oh that was a favorite one. Yeah, amazing Italia Richie,
I love making that one. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
See you bring so much joy to people, not even
during just the holidays with your work, but year round.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
And Jennifer love Cwett No less, there we go. It
was a soft name drop. You know.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
That's what we do on this show. We just slide
them in sometimes. But that's awesome. I think it's really cool.
I'm really excited for this series, and I love that
hall Hallmark is now expanding into this category because it's
so hot. People want it. My dad, he just turned
seventies and Italian from Jersey. He watches like those those
home Rhino shows on streaming all the time just because
(15:13):
for him he has anxiety. That's another story, but it
gives him such calm.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
You know, I got to ask you, this Old House
is that what your dad watches? What does your dad watch?
Do you know any of the titles?
Speaker 1 (15:24):
I don't know any of the titles. I will get
them for it.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
I'm curious because like I grew up, this Old House
was like, yeah, me and my dad used to watch that.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
Yeah, yeah, it's something though, because he likes sold Western,
So like when I started seeing him watching these I'm like, Okay,
I see you.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
But that's that's the power of these shows. It transcends
all demographics and ages and people just want to feel
that joy and connection and you're bringing that, which is
so damn cool.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
Well, also the home renovation shows this beautiful built in
thing where you get up before and then as right right,
so that after takes you all the way to the
end of the episode. Yeah, and that's really what we
want to see.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
Okay, but you're not hanging up your hat in the acting.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
World, correct, No, I am not. I just finished film
in the second season of Apple's Platonic with the amazing
Rose Byrne and the incredibly funny and talk about someone
who's got his hands and everything Seth Rogan. Now he's great,
he's amazing. Yeah, he's like truly a genius. Can't wait
to see his new show. But yeah, so I just
(16:23):
finished doing the second season. That really excited about that.
Just finished making a little horror film with an actress
I know you interviewed Olivia Holt, and that was really
fun playing a playing a teacher who may or may
not be a zombie.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
Oh yeah, is this your first kind of step into horror?
Speaker 2 (16:40):
I made one horror film. I'll let people look it up.
It was yeah, it was what is it? Come on?
Come on? It's called rock paper Dead had an amazing cast.
Oh god, Michael Madson and Tatum O'Neill in that movie.
It was wild. So it's been a minute. It's been
(17:01):
a minute.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
All right, Well we look forward to that. You know
what I announced? It was my guest. A lot of
people were writing saying they want to see you play
a superhero, specifically Captain America.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
I'd take it. I'd take it.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
You want to turned that down?
Speaker 2 (17:14):
I love doing action. I don't know, I mean, yeah, sure,
I'll take it. Captain America sign up. Although I am Canadian.
I don't know if you knew that. So maybe Captain Canuck,
which is actually an old comic book, So Marvel, if
you're listening, Captain Canuck is probably available, very inexpensive if
you want to turn that franchise into something. We're onto
(17:36):
something here, let's do it. We're manifesting that right now.
For trying to think what Captain Canuck's like superpower would be.
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
He's a Canadian. I don't want to say something offensive.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
No, I'm not going to say, Joe, I'm not going
to make a joke disappear. There we go.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
All right, we're gonna we're gonna plush that idea out
a little bit.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
It's a big legal sort of you know, polit a
cool show.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
All right, Okay, you never know. Is there a role
that you auditioned for that you really wanted that you
were super bummed didn't work out?
Speaker 2 (18:08):
God, that's that's a super fair question. You learn so
quickly to let go of things. Yeah, you just have to.
I always like make the joke with with my friends
when I'm driving and I see the billboard for the
thing that I auditioned for. I was like, oh, I guess,
I guess I didn't get that part, because you know,
you find out that they cast somebody else. But well,
(18:30):
here's something and this is this is true, and this
is this is not the thing that I've never told
anyone because I have something special for that later. But
I actually auditioned originally for Matthew Reese's part in Brothers
and Sisters. We both went in together. I was actually
in New York doing a play at that time. They
flew me out to do the test. Me and Matthew
(18:52):
went in to audition for Kevin, who became you know,
Sallyfield's son, and I auditioned for Kevin as well. Matthew
got the part I didn't. They said, we loved you, you
thought you were wonderful. We want to give you this,
this sort of door price, which became Scotty and yeah,
so low and behold. I wanted Kevin. I became Scotty
so and it worked out pretty well. It worked out
(19:13):
pretty well. Hundred episodes later. Yeah, that character's beloved. Yeah,
it was fun. It was a fun gig. That's funny.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
You never know where it will take you, right, I
mean you walk in the room thinking it's one thing,
and then something else happens, which may very well be
even better than you imagined, which is pretty cool as
an actor.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Do you watch I.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
Mean, there's so many there's so much content out there now, right,
series and movies and streaming and all of it. Is
there a series or a film franchise that you will
you would think would be so cool to be a
part of.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
I am a deep Star Trek fan.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
Oh really?
Speaker 2 (19:45):
Yeah, like really deep. It's like weird actually, like I
fall asleep to Star Trek Next Generation every night, have
been doing it for five years. I could tell you
any episode, any character. I know the titles of them.
I've watched Star Trek Voyager, I've watched you know, the
New one, Brave New World. But Star Trek Next Generation
is like one of the like all time favorite comfort
(20:09):
foods for me.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
Have you ever been able to audition for anything Star
Trek related?
Speaker 2 (20:14):
It's funny, I'm just remembering this now. I actually did
audition for Captain Kirk.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
That must have been a pinch me moment.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
Come on, I mean, yeah, but that was a long
time ago. It was also like when you look back
at these things, I was like, I didn't know what
the heck I was doing, and that became of course
Chris Pine's you know, huge breakout roll. But yeah, I
auditioned for that one. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
How did you keep your cool?
Speaker 2 (20:33):
If I like you, you're such a fan, I think
at that point you just sort of walk in blindly. Yeah,
And there is there is a part of me that
wishes I could go back and go, like, you know,
do things differently. I don't know, I don't think I
realized how how big these opportunities were at the time,
and then maybe that's a survival technique thing. You just
(20:54):
you try to not get too worked out, so.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
You seem to be someone who can handle rejection well,
because in the business there's a lot of it and
in life, I mean, yeah, but add in all the
career stuff you have to deal with. It's not your
usual nine to five where you go in and do
your job and constantly have to hear no right, And
that's just a different, a different thing. So you've always
been someone seemingly that can let that roll off your back.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
I haven't. I don't know where that comes from. Like
I don't. I'm having a memory of like a dear
actor friend of mine who you know, we kind of
sort of started out together, and I remember he went
in for this audition for something and he didn't get
it and he broke down and it was so profound,
and I of course was comforting my friend, and you know,
I'm so sorry, But in the back of my head,
I was thinking, uh, oh, uh oh, this is this
(21:44):
is going to be tough for you because this is
a big, big part of it. And I don't know
some people let things roll. Some people don't. And I
don't want to put a judgment on that, because certainly
like it's cool to have big emotions about things, but
for me, there was a lot of rejection before.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
There was a lot of yeses, and you never let
it stop you. Nope, look at you here today. Seth
Rogan's had a really smart thing about that once too.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
He's like, you know, the one thing about successful actors
is they just kept doing it. And I think that's true.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
That's amazing, and I think we need to hear that
more and more because people look at you and they think,
oh my god, he's probably never had to deal with that,
and now he's transitioning to this unscriptive world and he's
touching every kind of market of the industry. So it
must be so nice.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
But you're like, we all go through it. Yeah, we
totally do. There is no shortage of you know, forty
five year old dudes that you know do crunches.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
So forty five year old dudes who do crunches that
should be your Instagram bio.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Yeah, I'm just a forty five year old dude.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
It does yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
Do you feel do you feel that though, I mean,
you bring up age and I'm turning forty in January myself,
and it's such an interesting time in my life because
I feel like you ask yourself a lot of questions
at that point, and you're very reflective, and you know,
you go through what you go through, and I'm like,
I'm welcoming of it. I'm not weird out or freaked
out by it, but you do start thinking things a
little differently, right, and taking inventory.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
Absolutely. I think that thirties are hard like that. I
think the thirties are hard. So like, you get to
your forties, you get a new kind of confidence. I
think about yourself and you're like, okay, like Tommy, you've
done it. Yeah, Like you have this career, You've made
this thing happen. You've been the host of multiple shows now,
like so it's all worked out. And I think when
you get to your forties and you've kind of pursued
that passion and you've gotten to a place, you get
(23:34):
to go like, ah, all right, yeah it's gonna be okay. Yeah,
and then you can start about start thinking about a
family and that that's a whole other panic.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
Yeah, Well, you kind of give yourself permission to do that. Right,
It's like you don't have to wrap your entire identity
around one thing. Not that you did that or not,
but I do that, but like it's you allow yourself
space to make room for those things that maybe you've
always wanted to do.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
That's right, yeah, completely, and admit to your that it's
okay or it's going to be okay. I think when
I first graduated from school, I was like, I'm never
going to make any money ever. I'm going to get
like kicked out of the country because again I'm Canadian.
I'm going to get kicked out of the country and
it's all gonna be disaster and I'm going to live
in a car. But that didn't happen.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
Yeah, Yeah, it worked out pretty well. And you did
it all while being true to yourself, which I know
wasn't always easy, and you had to make some difficult
decisions along the way, and you very much wore I
think a pioneer for showing people it's okay to be
who you are. But I know that came with probably
a lot of sacrifice along the way.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
I mean I came out when I was that came
out like eighteen years ago. And it was a different time,
and it was before streamers, and it was before Timothy Shalomeh.
I know, it was before there was just a different
relationship to what you know, a guy could and couldn't wear,
and whether they could paint their nails or not. So
I do I do look back at that eighteen year
(25:00):
old and go like, wow, that was that was some determination,
or that eighteen years ago with some that was a
guy with determination.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
Do you wish that today, when you're doing press and
doing interviews that there was I guess less of a
focus on that part of you, like it was just
something that just was in your life. Or do you
feel like okay talking about that part of you?
Speaker 2 (25:26):
I totally feel okay. But we're all looking for ways
to relate to each other. I don't know about you,
but when I meet people who are queer, I always
want to know, like, ohlways, your coming out story. Yeah,
it's just a story. That's an important story. So like, yeah,
I totally get that people want to talk about that,
and if you stick around long enough, I can tell
you lots of other stuff about myself. Yeah, you know.
So I'm never going to fault somebody for a wanting
(25:48):
to know about that. It's a big part of who
I am, but there's other parts of me too.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
Right, I think it's important to also be able to
share those parts, yes, and show that you're a well
rounded person.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
Totally right again, Like you're just going back to Hallmark,
Like they gave me that opportunity. Yeah, you know, they
let me be a sort of romantic lead to many
a lovely ladies, and then they let me be a
romantic lead to a man, and then they let me
produce a show where I get to talk about woodwork,
and so I'm so incredibly grateful. Yeah, as far as
(26:22):
like a partner that's going to lean in and keep
asking questions about who you are, that's who you want.
It's one partner that keeps going like but what else
are you? Who else are you? What else can you be? Yeah,
they've been amazing.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
I think that's really cool to note about Hallmark because
I think sometimes I've heard from friends like, oh, are
they cool with the gay community or is that something
they're comfortable with? And it's like, yes, the proof is there.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
You know. That was the joke that people used to
make you know, and.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
I'm sure they had to get to the point like
many companies, I mean, times change, and you have to
allow grace for people to realize what is right and wrong.
And you can't. You can't hold someone's feed to the
fire forever if they didn't necessarily do one thing and
now they're doing something else, because that's growth and change
and evolvement, and we all deserve that and we all
go through it.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
That's right. You know, you got to do that for
people too.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
Let them go through their evolvement, let them go through
their change, let them go through their learning.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
Yeah. Yeah, I think that's so cool. It's it's it's
such an important show. I'm so psych that everybody gets
to enjoy it and and watch it.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
How do people watch Hallmark Plus for Yeah, you go
to Hallmark Plus dot com. Huh, and you sign up
for a very reasonable price. Oh okay, it's cheaper than Netflix.
I'm going to tell you that much. I'll have to
find out how much cheaper, but it's significantly cheaper. And
you can also, you know, visit the Luke McFarland Criterion there.
There's all my movies are up there, so you can
(27:49):
go and check out.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
Okay, plug in your movies I see you, I see.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
It was plugging Hallmark. They've been so good to be
and it was a joke. My friend text me, She's like, Oh,
it's the McFarlane Criterion, where you can see you know
all my movies, from Shoe Atticts Christmas to Jennifer Love
Hewitt's favorite one catch Alas anymore coming up. I haven't
got one in the can for Hallmark. Yeah, but you
(28:15):
know I like to try to do on every Christmas.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
Okay, very cool, very cool. So we're at that point
of the show Boy where apparently you know what's coming
and the show is called I've never said this before,
and that was born from wanting to just have these
more real moments in real conversation with artists like yourself
that you don't get to have on a carpet for
two minutes or sit down junket for six minutes. So
(28:39):
I like to give my guests the opportunity to share
something that's important to them that they've never really said before.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
So take it away. Yeah, well, I wanted to talk
about my eagle tattoo on my back. No, I'm kidding,
I don't have any back. Well, gosh, you know, I
was thinking about it. It's really lovely to be back
here in New York's. New York City is a very
important place to me. I left London, Ontario as an
eighteen year old and came out here and I auditioned
(29:07):
for Juilliard, which was where I trained as an actor.
And actually, this morning I went on a run, I
went past Lincoln Center. And this is going to sound
like very boastful, but I knew I was going to
get into Juilliard. I just knew it, which is a
(29:30):
crazy thing to think. It's like harder to get into
Juilliard than it is to get into like Princeton and Yale.
And I guess I'm telling you that because well, it
sounds embarrassing and boastful, but it also kind of points
to that thing that you know you need at a
certain time in your life and that you can kind
(29:51):
of make it happen if you can get really clear
about what it is you need. Look, I was like
a closeted kid living in you know, a mid size
city in Canada, and I thought, if I get to
New York, I can be gay. So they're just going
to take care of that. If I get to New
York and get the approval that I can be an actor,
(30:11):
I can do that. So I was like, oh, this
is my opportunity to do that. So I guess the
thing that I'm never telling, but it is like I
just knew I was going to get in to Juilliard.
Is that a dumb thing to share?
Speaker 1 (30:23):
No, it's not. I feel like I'm looking at your
face and you feel you seem so well.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
It's like I'm'm boastful guys, like, rarely do I have
that much confidence about outcomes? You know, maybe that's what
is embarrassing.
Speaker 1 (30:36):
I think that's a pretty cool thing. I think we
need to allow ourselves to feel like we're the boss
and can achieve what we put our mind to.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
And like figuring out for ourselves what exactly it is
we want, Yeah, and not just be beat around by
like well over here and make this happen, but like
getting really clear about what it is we want. Like
that's almost harder. And maybe that's like what's harder as
I get older? What is it I really want? Now?
(31:04):
You know?
Speaker 1 (31:05):
Is that a question you keep asking yourself all the time?
You know you asked me earlier in this interview, like
what do you want to do? Next, or like what's
the dream role or something like that. I don't have
that same kind of clarity I did when I was
an eighteen year old kid that wanted to go to
the greatest acting school in the world. You know, do
you feel like, because you're so fulfilled in what you've accomplished,
(31:26):
that you're not putting that weight or pressure on yourself
says think about what's next?
Speaker 2 (31:31):
Maybe, but maybe I'm also a little more afraid to
put myself into the scarier, the unknown or the like difficult.
So I don't know, but I can't remember a time
later in my career when I was so sure about
(31:52):
what I wanted next, so sure that I knew I
was going to make it happen. Yeah, that's interesting, is it?
Speaker 1 (31:59):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (32:00):
It is? It is.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
I think, especially at this point of your life. You mentioned,
you know, forty five and new dad, and it's like,
what do I want in this chapter?
Speaker 2 (32:09):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (32:10):
And I think it's okay to ask yourself that I
really don't subscribe to the idea that you're born and
there's one thing that you have to only do and
stick to. Kind of what I said earlier, because I
think interest change and evolve, and the world changes and evolves,
and there might be something out there that you see
and want to do that you're like, oh, I want
to do that. Did you ever imagine you'd be doing
an unscripted show at this point in your life?
Speaker 2 (32:31):
Totally? I mean absolutely. I think the thing that was
the closest to sort of I know I'm going to
get into Julliard was like I know I'm going to
be a parent. That was the second always closest thing
that I knew was going to happen, except for with
you know, creating. Life is there's so many things that
can happen, and you know, so it's also harder to
(32:52):
be deterministic about it.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
What is the one thing that you hope your daughter learns?
I don't early age.
Speaker 2 (33:04):
The big word that comes up for me in my
favorite people in the world are curious people Like if
you're not curious, I am checked out. So curiosity is
number one. I want to foster that in her at
every step of the step of it, Like, you just
have to be curious about people, the world, buildings, would, architecture, music,
(33:26):
whatever you want to be in, but be curious and
be kind. Be kind. That's it. Be kind.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
Can't say that enough, you know for a man that's
you know, rapping Season two of Platonic. Just did a
Hallmark Plus series helping people with their dream homes. A
dad of two, a two year old almost you're pretty
put together. You're pretty put together. Don't know what secret
you have going on, but.
Speaker 2 (33:46):
You don't simulate it. Wondering what's going on?
Speaker 1 (33:51):
Crying in a pillow.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
Episodes of The Star trek Luke.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
This has been so nice. Remind us all how to
watch your new series, what it is all the things.
Speaker 2 (34:01):
The show is called Home Is Where the Heart Is
and you can find it on Hallmarkplus dot com.
Speaker 1 (34:07):
Okay, we can't wait for that. It's so good to
catch up with you. What a treat when I found
out we would be talking, you know, a couple of
years after our first interview. It's really cool to see
you continuing to do things that fuels your soul and
I love to see it.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
Thank you and you too, and let's pick up again
in a couple of years.
Speaker 1 (34:26):
Sounds good, one man, Thank you, all right, thank you.
I've never said this before. Is hosted by me Tommy Dederio.
This podcast is executive produced by Andrew Piglisi at iHeartRadio
and by Me Tommy, with editing by Joshua Colaudney. I've
Never Said this Before is part of the Elvis Duran
(34:46):
podcast Network on iHeart Podcasts. For more rate, review and
subscribe to our show and if you liked this episode,
tell your friends. Until next time, I'm Tommy Dedario
Hey guys, welcome to I've never said this before with
me Tommy di Dario. Today I am joined by a
man of many, many talents. Luke McFarlane has tackled TV
and film, Broadway and now the unscripted world. He is
currently hosting and starring in Hallmark plus his home renovation
series Home Is Where the Heart Is, which is out
(00:24):
right now. And yes he is rolling up the sleeves,
and yes he is getting dirty because he is showcasing
his very impressive skills in woodwork to help bring some
magic to some incredible human beings. I love feel good
shows like this. You guys are in for such a
treat with this one.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Now.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Luke has done fifteen fan favorite Hallmark movies, so it's
pretty cool to see him in a totally different role,
still bringing that same joy to many. You may know
and love Luke from his role in Brothers and Sisters
or the Apple series Platonic, which he just finished filming
season two of. Then there's the movie Bros. Which was
a big studio rom com featuring a same sex love story,
which was pretty groundbreaking for the time, and I would
(01:04):
argue that it still very much is. And Luke added
Broadway to his resume performing in the very moving play
The Normal Heart. And this is just naming a few
of his many many credits. So let's see if today
we can get Luke to say something that he has
never said before. Luke, how you doing, my man?
Speaker 2 (01:28):
I'm good, Tommy, thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
I am so happy to see you. A lot has
changed since I saw you last.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
It is correct, it's been met. When I was doing
the Bros.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Press tour yep, yep, on my show Extra and you
were not a parent, then you're a parent now.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Yes, that's correct. I walked into I will say this,
when I walked into the theater. You were sitting down
in the theater and I walked and I turned to
Billy Eichner and said, like, who is this guy? He's
very very handsome. Oh god, Billy immediately made a joke
about that. But it's true. And you look fantastic. You
look great.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Thank you well likewise, my man. Likewise, I saw your
promo stills for the new show, and you're clearly staying
on top of your fitness game. Oh yes, you have
not let that slip in two years. I haven't you know.
I did just have a daughter.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
She's going to be two years old soon, and I
still make time to sort of have a little time
to myself, to go to the gym. It's a big
part of what I do. And yeah, even having any kid,
it just becomes a little bit earlier in the morning.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Yeah, I'm sure, I'm sure. But you're carving out the
time for you, which is great.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Well, we have lots of cover and obviously we're going
to get to the show. A lot of people know
you from the acting world. You know, you're rolling up
your sleeves or getting dirty in the unscripted world, and
we're going to talk all about that. But to begin, Luke,
you have such an impressive career. You've done projects that
are so wonderful and that means so much to so
many people. So in your perspective, what for you is
(02:48):
a career high?
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Oh gosh, you know, it's always funny to look back
at your career because you never quite know where it's
going to go. I mean, if you told me that
would become this amazing home for me, and it has.
I've done fifteen movies with them, I would be really
I'd probably ask first of all, what is Hallmark And
now it's become this amazing platform for me to do
(03:10):
movies and to work on movies and to be a
romantic lead in these movies. But now it's been a
place for me to go. Can I executive produce something?
And I did executive produce the show which is going
to be Well, which is live now where I get
to show another part of myself, which is my passion
for home renovation and woodworking. So career highlight. Trying to
(03:33):
answer your question, sorry rambling, Gosh, I got to work
on Broadway. That was huge. You never thought that that
would happen. I worked an amazing production of The Normal Heart,
which won a Tony Award almost ten years ago. That
was amazing, beautiful story. Yeah, gosh, I don't know. It's
been so varied. I worked on a sci fi series
which I loved. I worked on Brothers and Sisters for
(03:54):
one hundred episodes with Sally Field and Cliss of Lockhart
and Rob Lowe and the amazing Matthew. So it's been
very It's been all over the place. I don't even know.
Sometimes I look back on my IMDb page and try
to remember the plot of some of the movies that
I've been in.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
It's pretty cool that you've touched kind of everything, right,
I mean, you've done the Broadway, You've now done film,
you've done TV, you're doing unscripted. Is that something you
always wanted for yourself? Or you just kinda are a
yes person and took the opportunities as they came.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
I mean, I love TV from the very beginning. I've
always loved TV. I think it speaks to my generation.
You know, TV was where my family sat down and
watched things together, so it always had a sense of
like togetherness. TV was that for us. Movies were not
as much part of growing up. It was Mom went
to Blockbuster and came back with three videos and we
(04:45):
debated forever, and then she would fall asleep and no
one would ever watch Jade or some weird psycho sexual
movie that she always sem to come home with. So
TV is important, and I actually really love being on
TV because it also, as an an actor, creates a
space that you get to return to again and again,
a group of people that you see every single day.
(05:06):
Movies aren't as much like that. That's interesting.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
What a perspective, And you strike me as someone who
likes to form relationships and nurture those bonds. So I imagine
you do that more in television.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Absolutely. You get to know the carpenters, you get to
know the set painters, you get to know the wardrobe
people in a much more intimate way. And yes, I
do like that. I think it makes you a better
actor to just understand where people come from a little
bit more.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
And your work means so much to so many for
many reasons. But I just saw you posted minutes before
the interview you're out magazine cover. Yes, and you've been
such a prominent figure for that community for many reasons.
What I kind of take from your career and from
you is you're someone who shows people that you can
go after your wildest dreams, no matter what background you
(05:50):
come from. And I think that's pretty cool. And like
you said, we met during Bros. And that's a movie
that means a lot to many people today. Does that
hold a special place in your heart?
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Oh my god? Absolutely. I mean only was it my
first opportunity to be part of a feature film put
up by his studio, which just means a different thing.
You know, a lot more money, a lot more pressure,
you know, working with people like Judd Apatau and you know,
guest stars that were you know, household names. That was
the first time for that, So that definitely holds a
special spot for me too.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
I mean clearly, I see you reminiscing, Yeah, and you're
thinking about that time, and I imagine doing something that
with Billy and working on a project like that and
being such a pioneer for that is pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Oh, I know you're gonna say you're talking about Out magazine.
It's funny actually because just you know, I posted that
and Guy Brendan just sent me a text. Guy Brendan,
who is also in Bros. Along with Billy, played Billy
Aikner's best friend in the movie, sent me a text.
He said, I saw your Out magazine. I can always
tell when you really care about a project because you
take your shirt off.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
I was like, God, So what incorrect? Or I mean,
is that accurate?
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Well, I mean, look, there's something about skin that you know,
just you know, gets people's attention. We all know about
the scroll and we all know what makes people stop.
And I care so much about the show that I'm
executive producing homes Where the Heart Is. And yeah, maybe
I did want a couple extra eyes, and maybe I
was willing to take the shirt off to get a
little bit more attention on something I care so much about.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Listen and an oversaturate of market. You Gotta do, you
Gotta do, You Gotta do, you Gotta do. Yeah, that's awesome,
And with that series, I think it's so cool for
many reasons that you're doing it, because it's so different
than what we're used to from you, right, And when
I first saw it, I thought, huh yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
I mean I knew you loved board work.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
I saw, especially during COVID a lot of your videos
you put up doing all of that. But what for
you made you say I need to be a part
of this project, like sign me up.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
So it began with an amazing woman named Jessica Sebastian
and she had always wanted to do a home renovation
show and she came to me because she knew she
wanted to do it a Hallmark and Hallmark is starting
to get into the nonscripted space and they said to her,
you got to work with one of our talent, and
(08:01):
we know who that's going to be. It's Luke McFarlane.
It's got this interest, so Jessica and I began talking.
We began talking about what the show want to be
and our sort of idea about wanting to create spaces
for people that reflected who they were, where they're coming from,
and then specifically for me. I said, but I want
to add something personal to every home that we renovate.
(08:24):
I want to build something specifically for them, because word,
working for me is something I've done for a long time.
It's been professional. Sometimes sometimes it's about paying the bills.
Sometimes it's reminiscing about, like you know, working with my
dad where I was a kid, it's a big part
of what we did. We always built stuff together. So
I knew I wanted to add that because I think
(08:45):
when you design a space for someone, it has to
be personal. It has to be intimate. It's not just
about this is the it color, this is the right paper,
these are the things you need. It's not that, it's
who are you? And how can your space represent you.
I think we look at clothing as a way of
expressing ourselves a lot, but we don't do it I
(09:08):
think with as much intention as our physical space. You know,
we want our physical space to represent who we are
as well. So that's what the show is really about.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Home is where the heart is Palmark. Plus that's right out. Now,
what about this show feels different than an acting job?
Like what fulfills you in a different way doing this
versus that kind of work?
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Oh my god, tell me. It was so hard. It
was also so hot. And look, we did not have
all the money in the world. So like I found myself,
you know, finishing up an interview with a family and
then being like, Okay, I gotta, I gotta, I gotta
build this thing. I gotta get dirty and dusty, and
you know, some some days my day would start at
(09:51):
six am and I was like literally on the table
saw until the sun went down. Like it was very
different that way. I expected there'd be a whole team
that would kind of help me. It was like, if
you really care about something, you have to do it.
So it was hard and it was hot. We filmed
it in Atlanta in the summer, so if you look
carefully at the show, you can see some sweaty shirts.
H for sure, Uh huh.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
That wasn't production throwing water over you making you look
extra steaming.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
One percent. I actually I did make a comment. I
think a lot of home run. Those shows, there's a
what I like to call sort of like a carpenter drag,
where like they'll go in and like maybe knock one
wall down and lift one thing. But I swear to
you I was doing it all with some help, but
I had my hands super dirty.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
Really, yes, okay, all right, well you enjoy it too.
You don't want to fake it?
Speaker 2 (10:39):
No, I do, and I do. And I walking into
a reveal and making sure that like the thing that
you're showing them is good is a different kind of
stress for me. It's very much reflective of myself.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
And these shows for me, are always very emotional. And
I'm an Italian from Jerseys, so I can like cry
when wind blows, but I no, no, I imagine for
you when you see the faces of these families and
whoever you're profiling, you must feel that too. Did you
catch yourself getting emotional at all?
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Oh? Absolutely? I think I got the most emotional in
one of the episodes it's streaming now, where it was
really important. It was a mother and daughter and the
mother was having a hard time. Oh it's making emotional now.
She was having a hard time letting go of something
(11:29):
that her late husband had built. So it was his
conversation of like, how can you let go of this
thing while letting your daughter make this space for herself.
And we were in a cabinet chop and we were
trying to convince this lovely mother to sort of let
(11:51):
go of these old cabinets so we could give her
some new cabinets. And it was very emotional.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
Actually, wow, yeah, wow, that's hard to let go. I
mean home, Your home is sacred, right, It's a space.
I always say it to my husband, like when we
move or when we design a home, like I want
it to feel like our sanctuary. We can turn out
the world and come home and.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Just be safe.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
And there are things that you bring with you from
loved ones who have passed or you know that you
collect along the way, and I just I think there's
something so magical when you can help facilitate creating that
that knew something for someone else because you know how
important it is totally.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
And I think it's important to remember. And this is
something I talked about a lot, but homes are also
time traveling machines. And you know, when I first bought
my home in Los Angeles, which is one hundred years old.
You literally take off the wallpaper and you see what
was there before. So you're actually going back in time
and you're going this was once somebody's idea of what
(12:47):
you were describing with your husband as a cozy space.
And you're like, oh God, should I be removing this?
Should I be taking this away? But the home travels
through time. We just get to inhabit it for a
brief moment. So yeah, trying to honor about all those things,
it can get very emotional.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
Do you want to do more in this space? I
mean it's a whole new category for you.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
I mean it is. I will say my real passion
is furniture building. I've built a lot of furniture, and look,
I've done everything from framing to trimwork, to hang indoors
to even painting. God bless me, I hate painting so much.
I hate painting. But furniture building is really my passion.
I get to work in my workshop, I get to
(13:33):
stay in one place, I get to work with sort
of beautiful special woods. So that's what I'd like to
do more. But I didn't like to sort of encourage
people and talk more about what makes great pieces of furniture.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
That's so cool that you're such an entrepreneur in doing
it all. And I think that's the way of twenty
and twenty five and going forward.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
I mean, the.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
Idea of doing one thing and staying in one lane,
to me is very dated. And I love that you
can go do a show right like Platonic and film
season two, and go jump into the some scriptive worlds
and go work on your furniture. You know, your wo
would work and all of it well, like.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
You honestly tell me, like to watch you. You know,
when I first met you, you were doing these you know,
fifteen to five minute, twenty minute interviews, and now we
get this opportunity to sit down and actually talk. And
I know that's probably a part of yourself that you've
always want to share. Yeah. If we like somebody, we
want to see them grow. Yeah, and Hallmark has done
that for me. Yeah, give me the opportunity to grow.
Trust me.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
I've seen a few of those Christmas moves like many
people have.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
Many people.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
Actually, I was just texting with a friend here we go.
I'm very close with Jennifer a few and she said
she watches catch me if you claws. Oh, all the time,
like year round when she's having a bad day.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
Oh that was a favorite one. Yeah, amazing Italia Richie,
I love making that one. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
See you bring so much joy to people, not even
during just the holidays with your work, but year round.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
And Jennifer love Cwett No less, there we go. It
was a soft name drop. You know.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
That's what we do on this show. We just slide
them in sometimes. But that's awesome. I think it's really cool.
I'm really excited for this series, and I love that
hall Hallmark is now expanding into this category because it's
so hot. People want it. My dad, he just turned
seventies and Italian from Jersey. He watches like those those
home Rhino shows on streaming all the time just because
(15:13):
for him he has anxiety. That's another story, but it
gives him such calm.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
You know, I got to ask you, this Old House
is that what your dad watches? What does your dad watch?
Do you know any of the titles?
Speaker 1 (15:24):
I don't know any of the titles. I will get
them for it.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
I'm curious because like I grew up, this Old House
was like, yeah, me and my dad used to watch that.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
Yeah, yeah, it's something though, because he likes sold Western,
So like when I started seeing him watching these I'm like, Okay,
I see you.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
But that's that's the power of these shows. It transcends
all demographics and ages and people just want to feel
that joy and connection and you're bringing that, which is
so damn cool.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
Well, also the home renovation shows this beautiful built in
thing where you get up before and then as right right,
so that after takes you all the way to the
end of the episode. Yeah, and that's really what we
want to see.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
Okay, but you're not hanging up your hat in the acting.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
World, correct, No, I am not. I just finished film
in the second season of Apple's Platonic with the amazing
Rose Byrne and the incredibly funny and talk about someone
who's got his hands and everything Seth Rogan. Now he's great,
he's amazing. Yeah, he's like truly a genius. Can't wait
to see his new show. But yeah, so I just
(16:23):
finished doing the second season. That really excited about that.
Just finished making a little horror film with an actress
I know you interviewed Olivia Holt, and that was really
fun playing a playing a teacher who may or may
not be a zombie.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
Oh yeah, is this your first kind of step into horror?
Speaker 2 (16:40):
I made one horror film. I'll let people look it up.
It was yeah, it was what is it? Come on?
Come on? It's called rock paper Dead had an amazing cast.
Oh god, Michael Madson and Tatum O'Neill in that movie.
It was wild. So it's been a minute. It's been
(17:01):
a minute.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
All right, Well we look forward to that. You know
what I announced? It was my guest. A lot of
people were writing saying they want to see you play
a superhero, specifically Captain America.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
I'd take it. I'd take it.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
You want to turned that down?
Speaker 2 (17:14):
I love doing action. I don't know, I mean, yeah, sure,
I'll take it. Captain America sign up. Although I am Canadian.
I don't know if you knew that. So maybe Captain Canuck,
which is actually an old comic book, So Marvel, if
you're listening, Captain Canuck is probably available, very inexpensive if
you want to turn that franchise into something. We're onto
(17:36):
something here, let's do it. We're manifesting that right now.
For trying to think what Captain Canuck's like superpower would be.
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
He's a Canadian. I don't want to say something offensive.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
No, I'm not going to say, Joe, I'm not going
to make a joke disappear. There we go.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
All right, we're gonna we're gonna plush that idea out
a little bit.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
It's a big legal sort of you know, polit a
cool show.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
All right, Okay, you never know. Is there a role
that you auditioned for that you really wanted that you
were super bummed didn't work out?
Speaker 2 (18:08):
God, that's that's a super fair question. You learn so
quickly to let go of things. Yeah, you just have to.
I always like make the joke with with my friends
when I'm driving and I see the billboard for the
thing that I auditioned for. I was like, oh, I guess,
I guess I didn't get that part, because you know,
you find out that they cast somebody else. But well,
(18:30):
here's something and this is this is true, and this
is this is not the thing that I've never told
anyone because I have something special for that later. But
I actually auditioned originally for Matthew Reese's part in Brothers
and Sisters. We both went in together. I was actually
in New York doing a play at that time. They
flew me out to do the test. Me and Matthew
(18:52):
went in to audition for Kevin, who became you know,
Sallyfield's son, and I auditioned for Kevin as well. Matthew
got the part I didn't. They said, we loved you, you
thought you were wonderful. We want to give you this,
this sort of door price, which became Scotty and yeah,
so low and behold. I wanted Kevin. I became Scotty
so and it worked out pretty well. It worked out
(19:13):
pretty well. Hundred episodes later. Yeah, that character's beloved. Yeah,
it was fun. It was a fun gig. That's funny.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
You never know where it will take you, right, I
mean you walk in the room thinking it's one thing,
and then something else happens, which may very well be
even better than you imagined, which is pretty cool as
an actor.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Do you watch I.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
Mean, there's so many there's so much content out there now, right,
series and movies and streaming and all of it. Is
there a series or a film franchise that you will
you would think would be so cool to be a
part of.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
I am a deep Star Trek fan.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
Oh really?
Speaker 2 (19:45):
Yeah, like really deep. It's like weird actually, like I
fall asleep to Star Trek Next Generation every night, have
been doing it for five years. I could tell you
any episode, any character. I know the titles of them.
I've watched Star Trek Voyager, I've watched you know, the
New one, Brave New World. But Star Trek Next Generation
is like one of the like all time favorite comfort
(20:09):
foods for me.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
Have you ever been able to audition for anything Star
Trek related?
Speaker 2 (20:14):
It's funny, I'm just remembering this now. I actually did
audition for Captain Kirk.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
That must have been a pinch me moment.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
Come on, I mean, yeah, but that was a long
time ago. It was also like when you look back
at these things, I was like, I didn't know what
the heck I was doing, and that became of course
Chris Pine's you know, huge breakout roll. But yeah, I
auditioned for that one. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
How did you keep your cool?
Speaker 2 (20:33):
If I like you, you're such a fan, I think
at that point you just sort of walk in blindly. Yeah,
And there is there is a part of me that
wishes I could go back and go, like, you know,
do things differently. I don't know, I don't think I
realized how how big these opportunities were at the time,
and then maybe that's a survival technique thing. You just
(20:54):
you try to not get too worked out, so.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
You seem to be someone who can handle rejection well,
because in the business there's a lot of it and
in life, I mean, yeah, but add in all the
career stuff you have to deal with. It's not your
usual nine to five where you go in and do
your job and constantly have to hear no right, And
that's just a different, a different thing. So you've always
been someone seemingly that can let that roll off your back.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
I haven't. I don't know where that comes from. Like
I don't. I'm having a memory of like a dear
actor friend of mine who you know, we kind of
sort of started out together, and I remember he went
in for this audition for something and he didn't get
it and he broke down and it was so profound,
and I of course was comforting my friend, and you know,
I'm so sorry, But in the back of my head,
I was thinking, uh, oh, uh oh, this is this
(21:44):
is going to be tough for you because this is
a big, big part of it. And I don't know
some people let things roll. Some people don't. And I
don't want to put a judgment on that, because certainly
like it's cool to have big emotions about things, but
for me, there was a lot of rejection before.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
There was a lot of yeses, and you never let
it stop you. Nope, look at you here today. Seth
Rogan's had a really smart thing about that once too.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
He's like, you know, the one thing about successful actors
is they just kept doing it. And I think that's true.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
That's amazing, and I think we need to hear that
more and more because people look at you and they think,
oh my god, he's probably never had to deal with that,
and now he's transitioning to this unscriptive world and he's
touching every kind of market of the industry. So it
must be so nice.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
But you're like, we all go through it. Yeah, we
totally do. There is no shortage of you know, forty
five year old dudes that you know do crunches.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
So forty five year old dudes who do crunches that
should be your Instagram bio.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Yeah, I'm just a forty five year old dude.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
It does yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
Do you feel do you feel that though, I mean,
you bring up age and I'm turning forty in January myself,
and it's such an interesting time in my life because
I feel like you ask yourself a lot of questions
at that point, and you're very reflective, and you know,
you go through what you go through, and I'm like,
I'm welcoming of it. I'm not weird out or freaked
out by it, but you do start thinking things a
little differently, right, and taking inventory.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
Absolutely. I think that thirties are hard like that. I
think the thirties are hard. So like, you get to
your forties, you get a new kind of confidence. I
think about yourself and you're like, okay, like Tommy, you've
done it. Yeah, Like you have this career, You've made
this thing happen. You've been the host of multiple shows now,
like so it's all worked out. And I think when
you get to your forties and you've kind of pursued
that passion and you've gotten to a place, you get
(23:34):
to go like, ah, all right, yeah it's gonna be okay. Yeah,
and then you can start about start thinking about a
family and that that's a whole other panic.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
Yeah, Well, you kind of give yourself permission to do that. Right,
It's like you don't have to wrap your entire identity
around one thing. Not that you did that or not,
but I do that, but like it's you allow yourself
space to make room for those things that maybe you've
always wanted to do.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
That's right, yeah, completely, and admit to your that it's
okay or it's going to be okay. I think when
I first graduated from school, I was like, I'm never
going to make any money ever. I'm going to get
like kicked out of the country because again I'm Canadian.
I'm going to get kicked out of the country and
it's all gonna be disaster and I'm going to live
in a car. But that didn't happen.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
Yeah, Yeah, it worked out pretty well. And you did
it all while being true to yourself, which I know
wasn't always easy, and you had to make some difficult
decisions along the way, and you very much wore I
think a pioneer for showing people it's okay to be
who you are. But I know that came with probably
a lot of sacrifice along the way.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
I mean I came out when I was that came
out like eighteen years ago. And it was a different time,
and it was before streamers, and it was before Timothy Shalomeh.
I know, it was before there was just a different
relationship to what you know, a guy could and couldn't wear,
and whether they could paint their nails or not. So
I do I do look back at that eighteen year
(25:00):
old and go like, wow, that was that was some determination,
or that eighteen years ago with some that was a
guy with determination.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
Do you wish that today, when you're doing press and
doing interviews that there was I guess less of a
focus on that part of you, like it was just
something that just was in your life. Or do you
feel like okay talking about that part of you?
Speaker 2 (25:26):
I totally feel okay. But we're all looking for ways
to relate to each other. I don't know about you,
but when I meet people who are queer, I always
want to know, like, ohlways, your coming out story. Yeah,
it's just a story. That's an important story. So like, yeah,
I totally get that people want to talk about that,
and if you stick around long enough, I can tell
you lots of other stuff about myself. Yeah, you know.
So I'm never going to fault somebody for a wanting
(25:48):
to know about that. It's a big part of who
I am, but there's other parts of me too.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
Right, I think it's important to also be able to
share those parts, yes, and show that you're a well
rounded person.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
Totally right again, Like you're just going back to Hallmark,
Like they gave me that opportunity. Yeah, you know, they
let me be a sort of romantic lead to many
a lovely ladies, and then they let me be a
romantic lead to a man, and then they let me
produce a show where I get to talk about woodwork,
and so I'm so incredibly grateful. Yeah, as far as
(26:22):
like a partner that's going to lean in and keep
asking questions about who you are, that's who you want.
It's one partner that keeps going like but what else
are you? Who else are you? What else can you be? Yeah,
they've been amazing.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
I think that's really cool to note about Hallmark because
I think sometimes I've heard from friends like, oh, are
they cool with the gay community or is that something
they're comfortable with? And it's like, yes, the proof is there.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
You know. That was the joke that people used to
make you know, and.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
I'm sure they had to get to the point like
many companies, I mean, times change, and you have to
allow grace for people to realize what is right and wrong.
And you can't. You can't hold someone's feed to the
fire forever if they didn't necessarily do one thing and
now they're doing something else, because that's growth and change
and evolvement, and we all deserve that and we all
go through it.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
That's right. You know, you got to do that for
people too.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
Let them go through their evolvement, let them go through
their change, let them go through their learning.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
Yeah. Yeah, I think that's so cool. It's it's it's
such an important show. I'm so psych that everybody gets
to enjoy it and and watch it.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
How do people watch Hallmark Plus for Yeah, you go
to Hallmark Plus dot com. Huh, and you sign up
for a very reasonable price. Oh okay, it's cheaper than Netflix.
I'm going to tell you that much. I'll have to
find out how much cheaper, but it's significantly cheaper. And
you can also, you know, visit the Luke McFarland Criterion there.
There's all my movies are up there, so you can
(27:49):
go and check out.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
Okay, plug in your movies I see you, I see.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
It was plugging Hallmark. They've been so good to be
and it was a joke. My friend text me, She's like, Oh,
it's the McFarlane Criterion, where you can see you know
all my movies, from Shoe Atticts Christmas to Jennifer Love
Hewitt's favorite one catch Alas anymore coming up. I haven't
got one in the can for Hallmark. Yeah, but you
(28:15):
know I like to try to do on every Christmas.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
Okay, very cool, very cool. So we're at that point
of the show Boy where apparently you know what's coming
and the show is called I've never said this before,
and that was born from wanting to just have these
more real moments in real conversation with artists like yourself
that you don't get to have on a carpet for
two minutes or sit down junket for six minutes. So
(28:39):
I like to give my guests the opportunity to share
something that's important to them that they've never really said before.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
So take it away. Yeah, well, I wanted to talk
about my eagle tattoo on my back. No, I'm kidding,
I don't have any back. Well, gosh, you know, I
was thinking about it. It's really lovely to be back
here in New York's. New York City is a very
important place to me. I left London, Ontario as an
eighteen year old and came out here and I auditioned
(29:07):
for Juilliard, which was where I trained as an actor.
And actually, this morning I went on a run, I
went past Lincoln Center. And this is going to sound
like very boastful, but I knew I was going to
get into Juilliard. I just knew it, which is a
(29:30):
crazy thing to think. It's like harder to get into
Juilliard than it is to get into like Princeton and Yale.
And I guess I'm telling you that because well, it
sounds embarrassing and boastful, but it also kind of points
to that thing that you know you need at a
certain time in your life and that you can kind
(29:51):
of make it happen if you can get really clear
about what it is you need. Look, I was like
a closeted kid living in you know, a mid size
city in Canada, and I thought, if I get to
New York, I can be gay. So they're just going
to take care of that. If I get to New
York and get the approval that I can be an actor,
(30:11):
I can do that. So I was like, oh, this
is my opportunity to do that. So I guess the
thing that I'm never telling, but it is like I
just knew I was going to get in to Juilliard.
Is that a dumb thing to share?
Speaker 1 (30:23):
No, it's not. I feel like I'm looking at your
face and you feel you seem so well.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
It's like I'm'm boastful guys, like, rarely do I have
that much confidence about outcomes? You know, maybe that's what
is embarrassing.
Speaker 1 (30:36):
I think that's a pretty cool thing. I think we
need to allow ourselves to feel like we're the boss
and can achieve what we put our mind to.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
And like figuring out for ourselves what exactly it is
we want, Yeah, and not just be beat around by
like well over here and make this happen, but like
getting really clear about what it is we want. Like
that's almost harder. And maybe that's like what's harder as
I get older? What is it I really want? Now?
(31:04):
You know?
Speaker 1 (31:05):
Is that a question you keep asking yourself all the time?
You know you asked me earlier in this interview, like
what do you want to do? Next, or like what's
the dream role or something like that. I don't have
that same kind of clarity I did when I was
an eighteen year old kid that wanted to go to
the greatest acting school in the world. You know, do
you feel like, because you're so fulfilled in what you've accomplished,
(31:26):
that you're not putting that weight or pressure on yourself
says think about what's next?
Speaker 2 (31:31):
Maybe, but maybe I'm also a little more afraid to
put myself into the scarier, the unknown or the like difficult.
So I don't know, but I can't remember a time
later in my career when I was so sure about
(31:52):
what I wanted next, so sure that I knew I
was going to make it happen. Yeah, that's interesting, is it?
Speaker 1 (31:59):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (32:00):
It is? It is.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
I think, especially at this point of your life. You mentioned,
you know, forty five and new dad, and it's like,
what do I want in this chapter?
Speaker 2 (32:09):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (32:10):
And I think it's okay to ask yourself that I
really don't subscribe to the idea that you're born and
there's one thing that you have to only do and
stick to. Kind of what I said earlier, because I
think interest change and evolve, and the world changes and evolves,
and there might be something out there that you see
and want to do that you're like, oh, I want
to do that. Did you ever imagine you'd be doing
an unscripted show at this point in your life?
Speaker 2 (32:31):
Totally? I mean absolutely. I think the thing that was
the closest to sort of I know I'm going to
get into Julliard was like I know I'm going to
be a parent. That was the second always closest thing
that I knew was going to happen, except for with
you know, creating. Life is there's so many things that
can happen, and you know, so it's also harder to
(32:52):
be deterministic about it.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
What is the one thing that you hope your daughter learns?
I don't early age.
Speaker 2 (33:04):
The big word that comes up for me in my
favorite people in the world are curious people Like if
you're not curious, I am checked out. So curiosity is
number one. I want to foster that in her at
every step of the step of it, Like, you just
have to be curious about people, the world, buildings, would, architecture, music,
(33:26):
whatever you want to be in, but be curious and
be kind. Be kind. That's it. Be kind.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
Can't say that enough, you know for a man that's
you know, rapping Season two of Platonic. Just did a
Hallmark Plus series helping people with their dream homes. A
dad of two, a two year old almost you're pretty
put together. You're pretty put together. Don't know what secret
you have going on, but.
Speaker 2 (33:46):
You don't simulate it. Wondering what's going on?
Speaker 1 (33:51):
Crying in a pillow.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
Episodes of The Star trek Luke.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
This has been so nice. Remind us all how to
watch your new series, what it is all the things.
Speaker 2 (34:01):
The show is called Home Is Where the Heart Is
and you can find it on Hallmarkplus dot com.
Speaker 1 (34:07):
Okay, we can't wait for that. It's so good to
catch up with you. What a treat when I found
out we would be talking, you know, a couple of
years after our first interview. It's really cool to see
you continuing to do things that fuels your soul and
I love to see it.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
Thank you and you too, and let's pick up again
in a couple of years.
Speaker 1 (34:26):
Sounds good, one man, Thank you, all right, thank you.
I've never said this before. Is hosted by me Tommy Dederio.
This podcast is executive produced by Andrew Piglisi at iHeartRadio
and by Me Tommy, with editing by Joshua Colaudney. I've
Never Said this Before is part of the Elvis Duran
(34:46):
podcast Network on iHeart Podcasts. For more rate, review and
subscribe to our show and if you liked this episode,
tell your friends. Until next time, I'm Tommy Dedario
Elvis Duran and the Morning Show ON DEMAND News
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