And they reacted to you in character?

Yeah, there were moments where Denny was stressed out and Parker, who was more emotional, would get very, very worked up. He was very sensitive to whatever I was feeling, so I had to find a way to let him know it was O.K. And before every take I would whisper in his ear and talk to him as I would anybody else, tell him what was going on and just remind him if I needed to lose my temper or I needed to be frustrated or I needed some attention from him.

Enzo is learning life lessons in preparation for being reborn as a human. Did you learn anything from working with the dogs?

Patience. Slow things down. Follow your gut. Sometimes it leads to food. To be around a dog, who is looking at things very simply, is a good reminder that we don’t always have to complicate life.

I’ve read that one of the most searched Google questions about Jack Pearson is whether men like him actually exist. And Denny is another almost-too-good-to-be-true husband and father. Do you ever feel pressure in real life to be this guy?

Yeah, there is a pressure and a responsibility, but I also feel like those guys are kind of borrowed from me and men that I admire. So the expectation is very high. I’m not without my mistakes as a person, as a man, but I’m also trying to represent the good guys that are out there. I have a lot of people saying to me, “I’m married to the real Jack Pearson” or “I want to find a Jack Pearson.” And I think that raising of the bar is a very good thing — because we’re looking for men to be better and we’re looking for our partners to be better and that’s just something we need right now.

Your TV wife, Mandy Moore, recently let it drop that there was a big hot plot twist at the start of Season 4. Can you hint at what we should expect?