With a career built on characters shaped by love, loss, and emotional honesty, Milo Ventimiglia has never shied away from roles that require vulnerability. But in I Can Only Imagine 2, the sequel to the 2018 faith-based hit, he confronted something far more personal than any fictional arc: mortality itself.

In theaters February 20, I Can Only Imagine 2 picks up where the original left off, following Grammy-winning MercyMe lead singer Bart Millard (John Michael Finley) as fame and family pressures collide on a national tour. Into this world steps Tim Timmons, a Christian singer-songwriter whose real-life story of faith, resilience, and cancer survival intersects with Bart's journey. Ventimiglia portrays Timmons with a blend of joy, grit, and quiet depth that he says reshaped his understanding of life and loss.

"Tim is more than just a character in a movie," Ventimiglia said during a zoom interview with ENSTARZ Latino!. "He's a real life, living human being, and he's my friend now." That friendship, he explained, became the emotional foundation of the film and the defining experience of the year. "The greatest gift that I was given through the course of the year was being friends with Tim and being able to know him on such an intimate level that I could transfer his goodness to myself for a moment while the cameras were rolling."

The film does not treat illness as spectacle or inspiration shorthand. Instead, it lingers on presence, humor, and the daily choice to stay open. Ventimiglia was clear that this was not something he could manufacture. "Who Tim is, just fundamentally, he's love," he said. "He's full of love. He's very offering of that love to everyone and is genuine. And he cares. And he's incredibly present."

Milo ventimiglia I can only imagine 2 interview Tim Timmons
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That presence, Ventimiglia noted, existed long before cameras arrived. "I believe this not only because of what he's experienced with his cancer, still currently living with cancer, tumors on his liver that will eventually wear down his heart," he said, "but it's just who Tim is. He's a wonderful human being and a wonderful man, father, husband, friend, and I'm just grateful to know him."

The responsibility of portraying a real person shaped every aspect of Ventimiglia's preparation, especially the music. Unlike films that rely on studio polish, I Can Only Imagine 2 required live performance authenticity. "I actually did have to learn how to play guitar," Ventimiglia said. "But I only had to learn how to play three songs really, really well."

The training was extensive. Ventimiglia worked with a vocal coach, learned guitar with the help of a close musician friend, and rehearsed relentlessly to master multiple instruments at once. "I had to sing, play guitar, play a kick drum and a heel tambourine as well as a harmonium," he said. "While I was doing this in front of 2,500 people." The pressure was compounded by the film's technical demands. "We had two cameras moving around from every piece, every angle of me," he explained. "Sometimes they're picking up my strum and my fingers moving on different chords, and then other times they're on my face and going to the audience."

There was no room for approximation. "Every take we did of all the musical numbers, I had to truly know how to perform," he said. "At the same time, I had to keep in mind I'm a character. I'm playing Tim Timmons playing music." To get there, Ventimiglia immersed himself in Timmons' real-life stage presence. "The way he would be present on stage, the way he talked to people, the way he would really embrace a crowd and pull people in, his singing style, everything about it," he said. "I really had to become a musician because of this."

The process, he admitted, was not easy. "It was stressful," Ventimiglia said. Then he repeated it. "It was super stressful." Still, he smiled when reflecting on the outcome. "But it was rewarding. It was a lot of fun."

Offstage, the bond between actor and subject deepened through humor. Timmons, Ventimiglia revealed, is an unapologetic prankster. "Oh my gosh, he's the funniest dude on the planet," he said. Ventimiglia, by contrast, is not an easy target. "I'm horrible with practical jokes," he admitted. "I get so mad that people have gotten me." If he senses a setup, he tends to flip the dynamic entirely. "I take it up to the next level of severity and seriousness that probably just breaks down the whole prank."

That humor, Ventimiglia believes, is part of what sustains Timmons. "I believe it's the culture of musicians on tour to want to have fun, let loose, have a good time," he said. "And Tim is absolutely a prankster in that regard."

For audiences, I Can Only Imagine 2 lands within a career that has quietly spanned generations. Ventimiglia is constantly reminded of that range when fans approach him. "I'll get a variety," he said. "This Is Us or Heroes or Gilmore Girls. Rocky Balboa or The Art of Racing in the Rain." Sometimes, it's something far less expected. "Occasionally I'll get the obscure commercial I did or independent film that really kind of excites people."

What matters most to him is not which role is remembered, but that the work connected. "In any of those interactions, I'm always just grateful," Ventimiglia said. "I'm happy that people are entertained by the work that I'm doing with others and able to take something from it."

Gratitude, he suggested, is not a talking point but a discipline. "Life is difficult," Ventimiglia said. "We're all going to be up against the challenges and the fires of life." For him, gratitude becomes a way through. "If we're grateful for those moments, because they help define our character and help us push through those moments for ourselves and also for others." Over time, he added, "when you're practicing things over and over and over, it's going to come second nature."

Even the physical changes audiences track so closely are, for Ventimiglia, simply part of the job. "Whatever character I'm playing, it's always different," he said. "I got my hair back. I lost the beard. Put on a little weight. All kinds." In the case of I Will Find You, the look was shaped by back-to-back productions. "That was the only haircut I could muster," he said, explaining how overlapping schedules dictated the transformation.

Looking ahead, Ventimiglia jokes about where the next role might take him. By 2027, he laughed, maybe he will be playing a hippie with hair down to his shoulders. "I don't know if I'll be allowed to," he said. "But we'll see."

What remains clear is that I Can Only Imagine 2 occupies a singular place in his body of work. Not because it is louder or more dramatic, but because it demanded presence over performance. "Tim is love," Ventimiglia said again, returning to the word that defines both the man and the film. And in telling Tim Timmons' story, he faced mortality not as an ending, but as a reason to stay fully, fiercely alive.

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Milo Ventimiglia, Interview