The Real Reason Milo Ventimiglia Has A 'Crooked Mouth'
Earning three lead actor Emmy nominations for his role as Jack Pearson alongside Mandy Moore in "This Is Us," Milo Ventimiglia has became a household name in the entertainment industry. Viewers all over the world have been swooning over the actor for nearly two decades thanks to his charismatic personality and endearing looks after first appearing as Jess on "Gilmore Girls" in 2002. His self-proclaimed "crooked mouth" has become a signature part of his look and what charms fans the most, according to Good Housekeeping — but the actor has been open about his lack of self-confidence in the past.
After so much time doubting his appearance when he was younger — even asking his mom, "That's how I talk? That's what I look like when I talk?" — and getting criticism from casting directors about his slant when he spoke, Ventimiglia trained himself to talk differently, per People. Since his rise to fame, he's learned to embrace his uniqueness, saying it makes him who he is, but, "Now, it only pops out if I'm running and yelling. If I'm running and yelling in a scene, I can't control it. It gets so crooked!" So, how did the popular actor get his signature slanted grin?
Was Milo Ventimiglia born with a 'crooked mouth'?
Milo Ventimiglia might look like he's got it all together onscreen, but the three-time Emmy-nominated actor has dealt with his own insecurities throughout his time in the spotlight — like trying to correct his natural, asymmetrical grin, according to Good Housekeeping. He's been open about when he first noticed his "crooked smile" — which was caused by being born with damaged facial nerves on the left side of his mouth — when he watched himself on the local news as a kid. After Ventimiglia saw how his lopsided appearance looked on TV, he spent hours in the mirror trying to correct it. "Every time I'd catch myself getting this slanted, really pronounced mouth, I would figure out a way to straighten the word out — straighten my mouth out," he told People's Jess Cagle in 2017.
Ventimiglia said his natural defect could have been fixed as a child through surgery, but explained he wasn't interested at the time, saying, "'No, it's cool, it's me, it's fine," he said during an interview on "The Drew Barrymore Show." And throughout the years, the "This Is Us" star has learned to like this crooked smirk, adding, "I bite my lip from time to time but otherwise, I'm okay with it," and that it's helped him stand out from the crowd in Hollywood.
Did Milo Ventimiglia's signature 'crooked' smile impact his acting career?
Fans love Milo Ventimiglia's charming grin and dimples, as he told People's "Sexiest Man" issue in 2007, "I also get comments on my crooked mouth and my smile. I guess it's my signature." Early in his career, the "Gilmore Girls" actor reiterated that he faced regular criticism at auditions for having a noticeably tilted smirk — which he can't avoid thanks to the dead nerves on one side of his face that impacts his bottom lip's movement — and voiced that casting directors often told him to fix it, as he explained to People's Jess Cagle in 2017.
While auditioning for various roles, the actor explained what it was like being frequently asked if he could "stop doing that thing with your mouth where your lip is going down" and defending what he spent hours in the mirror trying to correct, saying. "Hey, I was born that way." But what Ventimiglia calls his "birth defect" is what makes him the successful actor he is today, proudly saying, "It's who I am, you know? I've got a crooked mouth." And it appears his ex-girlfriend and "Heroes" co-star Hayden Panettiere agrees that his perfectly imperfect flaw makes him better, as she told USA Today in 2006 that the actor's unique smile is "so cute."