Chris Sullivan played the overweight love-interest of Kate Pearson, Toby Damon, to widespread critical acclaim and an Emmy Award nomination.
For as much acclaim as the 39-year-old California-native has received for his on-screen portrayal, he has received an equal amount of flack for the duplicitous nature of his role.
That and more in this list of seven facts about Chris Sullivan.
Fans were shocked- and more than a little outraged- when they saw the dichotomy between Chris Sullivan in real life and the overweight character he portrays in This is Us, Toby. A behind-the-scenes featurette on This is Us revealed that Chris wore a full-body prosthetic suit to give the illusion of being fat.
Sullivan plays Toby, the love interest (and later, spouse) of Chrissy Metz's character, Kate Pearson, who she meets in group therapy.
For his portrayal, Sullivan was nominated in the Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series category at the 2019 Primetime Emmy Awards.
The other members of the ensemble cast include Milo Ventimiglia, Mandy Moore, Sterling K. Brown, Justin Hartley, and Susan Kelechi Watson, among others.
Chris Sullivan has no miraculous weight loss secret: there was not that much weight to be lost, to begin with!
Fans were with there with Toby through his weight loss journey in This is Us. They genuinely thought that as Toby, Chris Sullivan was actually losing drastic weight in real life. People were clamoring to know the exact diet and exercise regimen that Chris followed to achieve his insane weight loss.
That illusion was shattered when it was revealed that Chris used a "fat suit" to appear overweight on the show. He subsequently received backlash, and the show came under fire for under-representing overweight people.
Chris has since come out and addressed the controversy:
You know, there are different requirements for an actor for different roles. As you’ll find in Guardians of the Galaxy 2, I’m not actually a space alien. As you’ll find for Milo Ventimiglia, he’s not actually a father. And I think that if people actually had a problem with the way that I was representing this character, or had a problem with the integrity of the character, or the way I was treating this character, then I would really like to have a conversation.”
Chris Sullivan, in real life, has been married to Rachel Reichard- of The Pooka fame- since June 20, 2010.
Sullivan recently took to his Instagram on January 24 to reveal that Rachel was pregnant with their first child- a boy.
Sullivan's other high-profile TV appearance includes the Netflix sci-fi supernatural series, Stranger Things.
He appears in the first two episodes of the first season as Benny Hammond.
Aside from Stranger Things and This is Us, his other TV works include stints in Elementary, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, The Americans, The Normal Heart, and The Knick.
Chris's acting credits extend to the silver screen as well, and among others, he has notably appeared in the 2017 Marvel Cinematic Universe space superhero movie, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, as Taserface.
He has also appeared in the Ben Affleck-led 2016 crime-drama movie, Live by Night as Brendan Loomis.
Besides being an Emmy Award-nominated TV actor and a featured movie performer, Chris has also performed on stage.
His most notable work in the theatre includes his turn as Duke Mahoney in the play Nice Work If You Can Get It for the Imperial Theatre, Hermes in the play Hadestown, and Jim Taylor in the play Lombardi at the Circle in the Square Theatre.
It has been reported that as of February 2020, Chris Sullivan's net worth stands at a whopping $3 million.
The lion's share of that comes from his stint as Toby Damon in the main cast of the family-drama series This is Us. While he many not rake in the same as established names like Mandy Moore or Sterling K. Brown, his per-episode is not shabby by any account.