Milo Ventimiglia talks filming weeks after losing home, welcoming child

NEW YORK – In "I Can Only Imagine 2" (in theaters Feb. 20), Milo Ventimiglia plays Tim Timmons, a contemporary Christian singer/songwriter whose life story helped spur the sequel to the 2018 faith-based film. In 2001, Timmons was given five years to live after a terminal cancer diagnosis. More than two decades later, the artist is still alive and calls Ventimiglia's portrayal of him in the movie "the honor of a lifetime."

"He's able to hold grief and gratitude in the same regard," Ventimiglia, 48, tells USA TODAY of Timmons. "And my job is to honor this real-life human being. So he says honor by way of me, but really the honor is mine to represent him wholly."

The "This Is Us" star has learned firsthand about grief and gratitude over the past year. In January 2025, his family lost their Malibu home in the California wildfires. Weeks later, he and his wife, Jarah Mariano, welcomed a baby girl. And then Ventimiglia packed up a truck and trailer with his family − their 100-pound dog, Duke, included − and drove cross-country to Nashville to begin filming "Imagine 2." The film's production company, Kingdom Come, gave Ventimiglia the option to back out of the project. He decided to stay on.

"We found it a very healing process to be in Nashville," the actor says, praising the people he met through the film and in the neighborhood they lived in. "You lose your house, your daughter's born, and it's these two things that are completely opposite happening at the same time. It was running parallel with what Tim was talking about through the course of the movie."

In 2001, Timmons experienced similar highs and lows: Amid his cancer diagnosis, he was expecting a child with his wife, Hilary. Timmons was also slated to open for the band MercyMe on tour. It was MercyMe's song "I Can Only Imagine," the best-selling Christian music single of all time, that inspired the first film.

The project and Timmons' faith continue to resonate with Ventimiglia, even though the actor isn't Christian. Ventimiglia says his practice isn't "super-common. It's a little more Eastern mysticism."

"I'd read the Bible out of curiosity," Ventimiglia says. "Having a faith that can bring people together in a community and give you the strength to move forward, no matter what you call it, I think is important. And as long as what you believe doesn't impose on anybody else."

Milo Ventimiglia reveals what he lost in home fire that his wife 'kicks me' for

Ventimiglia recalls days on the set when in between takes he was trying to help rebuild his family's life. The actor remembers trying to attain "the basic necessities of life" while also searching for a new home and dealing with insurance claims. His family eventually found a new home in Los Angeles. But they've spent much of the past year on the road, driving that truck and trailer from coast to coast. Ventimiglia's work has taken him to Toronto, New York and Vancouver. And no one gets left behind, including Duke.

The road trip crew is set to expand soon: Ventimiglia and his wife will welcome a second child this year, which the actor calls a "total surprise." And fans of the "Gilmore Girls" star may get to see more of his travels. Toward the end of 2025, the actor began posting again on Instagram. Ventimiglia's return to the platform after a three-year hiatus was in part brought on by his wife.

"In my fire, I lost 20 years of film negatives that I never showed, a body of work that as a photographer I never put out," Ventimiglia reveals. "And my wife kind of kicks me for it. She's like, 'Hey, you got to start doing something with these photos you take because they're meaningful.'

"It's a good reminder of, 'We kind of only have the moment right now to do something.' So be present, share, be good to one another, and hopefully it'll come back at you."