Milo Ventimiglia Showed Up For His This Is Us Son's Graduation

This Is Us may have ended years ago, but the Pearsons are still family. And they proved it by coming together to support one of their own at his college graduation. Niles Fitch (who played the teenage Randall Pearson on NBC’s hit drama) posted a photo of himself with his on-screen dad Milo Ventimiglia at his graduation from USC.

Fitch celebrated his University of Southern California graduation on Instagram on May 21 by sharing a photo holding his diploma. “Dad, I did it,” he wrote, sharing a touching message to his father, who died of lupus when he was 12 years old. Fitch shared some more shots from the ceremony on his Instagram Stories, revealing he had two very special guests come to cheer him on during his big moment. Ventimiglia, who played Fitch’s This Is Us dad Jack Pearson, and Hannah Zeile, who played his on-screen sister Kate Pearson, both posed with the new grad in a sweet reunion pic.

And Fitch didn’t just get some fatherly and sisterly love after getting his diploma. Mandy Moore, who played his on-screen mom Rebecca Pearson, left a supportive comment on his cap-and-gown photo: “Go Niles! Unbelievable. #proudfakemom,” Moore wrote.

Fitch starred in This Is Us for all six seasons, portraying the teenage version of Sterling K. Brown’s Randall in numerous flashbacks in the time-jumping family drama. His character dealt with significant grief, as his father Jack died in a house fire. His future self would also have to witness his biological father die of cancer. Fitch has previously spoken about how that storyline helped him deal with the trauma of his own dad’s death.

“My father passed away when I was 12. And I spent many years coping with that and not fully addressing it, even though I went to counseling, groups, stuff like that," he told PopSugar in 2019. "But being able to watch it on TV, and it being so similar to what happened in my life, it really affected me. And I believe it helped me grow as a person. So, I thank the writers and Mr. Sterling [K. Brown] and Mr. Ron [Cephas Jones] and so forth for portraying that. Because it really helped me, and it helped me learn a lot about myself.”