Dinner’s on Me with Jesse Tyler Ferguson - Side Dish: More Joel Kinnaman

Episode Date: May 7, 2026

More of my interview with 'For All Mankind’ star Joel Kinnaman. Joel tells me ending up in Texas as a foreign exchange student. Plus, we get into his transition from Sweden to Los Angeles alongside the Skarsgard brothers. This episode was recorded at Crudo e Nudo in Santa Monica, CA. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Right now, our family is living that New York theater life. I'm performing in a play right now called True, where I get to play Truman Capote, and the kids are here with me, and I'm working in the city, which is amazing. I love it so much. It also means I'm juggling a lot. Between rehearsal schedules, school drop-offs, figuring out dinner in between shows, and then making sure everyone has what they need. It's hard enough just getting through the day, let alone planning ahead. And while we're here in New York, fully immersed in this, you know, this season of life, it got me thinking about how our place back home is just sitting empty. If you're going to be away for a while, like me, listing your space on Airbnb can be a great way to put your space to use and earn a little extra cash while you're gone. And the idea of doing it all by yourself, see, now that just feels like too much. That's where Airbnb's co-host network comes in. You can partner with a local vetted co-host who can handle all the behind-the-scenes details, so hosting feels manageable. Even when your schedule is as packed as mine might be,

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This week's guest is Joel Keniman. You know him from the hit crime series The Killing, which is one of my all-time favorite shows. Also in the Suicide Squad films, he's currently starring in the Apple TV Plus series for all mankind and in Netflix's Detective Hole. We met up at Crudo Enuto in Santa Monica to catch up over scallops and tuna tartar. Now, to get back into the conversation, you're pulling up a chair as he's telling me about ending up in Texas. Texas as a foreign exchange student. Why, why Texas? What brought you there?

Did you get to choose? No. I did. I did get the choose. I chose the West Coast. Okay. And there was like, nope. I chose all three West Coast states.

I guess there was something in me that I know I wanted to go here already. And then I got, my dad came and woke me up and he was like, Hey, Joe, like you, you're going to Hell Valley, Texas. I was like, what? And he was like, I don't know. I found out later. It was called Del Valley. It was like outside of Austin.

Tell Valley. It was outside. It was outside of Austin for sure. Yeah. And as a couple called Terry and Tina Turner, rest in peace. Yeah, they were special. That was like not a normal little family. They kept driving.

It was like, far out of Austin and pulled into their house and they had one of these like you know like a step up from a trailer home but it was like three parts and um but they had this weird thing when you like in their driveway they had like all their old cars so it was like I think it was like six or eight cars and the one of the they were closest to the house they were like really run down and it was like dusty like shit growing out of them and so they I guess they didn't want to separate from them so they just like pulled in to this and they just like became part of the landscape. It was like this spooky little, like entrance, you know, like, and then into their house and then, yeah. Did you keep in touch with them for a while? Oh, no, no, no, no.

It was not a good. No one was happy in the house. Oh, really? Yeah, I was not happy. But you were there for how long? I was there for six months, and then finally I was able to move. But I had a really good time in school. I was like playing football.

And, you know, so I was kind of like getting the whole Texas experience. but the school was like pretty poor and when you're an exchange student family like the they don't get money to have the students you know so so they like you know the family has to like they absorb the cost yeah so there was nobody in like in that school district that could afford to have another you know right but then actually my football coach um coach waldon he took me in and he had like he had five kids and and his son he also uh he played football he was a good friend of mine and yeah so they were they were like a great family they were like very religious and it was like all that stuff was like hard for me back then but um but they were

very very sweet and kind and like and they just um yeah they they took good care of me um but that was your first experience with america this texas yeah and this like weird The little pocket of Texas. Yeah. And yet you still kind of knew that you wanted to come here. No. No, I didn't. No, that was later.

Because you did, well, tell me how you ended up falling into acting. Well, I was like kind of, um. Did you did theater, right? Yeah. Yeah. I was kind of lost. It was pretty lost. So it was like working in bars and just kind of being a little south side fuck boy.

Just, you know, working in bars, you know, getting drunk trying to steal from the customers. I thought you were so dangerous. I'm just annoying. And, you know, just kind of is sort of pretty nice. negative life, you know, like I was just getting drunk and, and then you're getting drunk while working and then you go home, you know, get to bed at like 5.30 in the morning and like wake up really hung over. How old were you at this point?

I was like 20. Okay. 21. That's when you should be like fucking up, I guess. Yeah. Yeah. This is a good time for it. Yeah.

I started really early fucking up. So I started like 12. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You had a good run to fucking up yet. Like a good 10 years, yeah. And then I had some friends that were,

that were sort of getting into acting. And I had actually been in a TV series when I was like 11. Okay. So was a soap opera, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I had this childhood experience of acting.

And was that something that you wanted to do? Or was that? Well, then I wanted it. I thought it was great. It was like a little, my sister, was an actor okay so she was sleeping with the director you know for the family you know know it was her boyfriend and and then he uh and then he wanted me to audition for it yeah and they needed like a little annoying kid that was and he was like you're super annoying like

you should you should audition so i audition for it and i got it and i was ecstatic i thought it was so And I really enjoyed that. But it was like a childhood thing. But I liked, you know, the whole, I liked everything about it. But then I sort of forgot about it, you know. Can I ask you a question? Was the pool in Stockholm, like, was it a small pool? Like, getting it, a, of actress, I mean.

Was it, because getting a soap opera is like an 11-year-old. It seems like something like, it's almost like the way that I would talk about, like, going to, like, gymnastics class. Like, it's like, you know, you just. just were able to like, it seems so easy and accessible. Um, I mean, I guess I did have like access to that because of the proximity. Right. My, my sister was an actor, you know, was an actor.

So, you know, we had connection with that world. Yeah. And, you know, and that is, you know, otherwise, you know, you would, she got, you know, the way her career started, she was, she was in this movie of Lassa Halström. that was called My Life as a Dog, which ended up being a pretty famous movie, I think it was nominated for Best Foreign Picture or something like that. That was her first thing.

And they were like advertising in the newspapers that they were auditioning. And, you know, so it was she in like 3,000, you know. So she did the heavy lifting in the family. Right, right, right. But then after that, you know, she became like a very, like, sought-after young actor in Sweden. And it was like, it was from the game.

get-go, like, super talented. And so then there was, like, this proximity to the business that, you know, I benefited from in that, in that... You were a Nepo baby. I'm a total Nepo baby, yeah. Now for a quick break, but don't go away. When we come back, Joel tells me about playing Ed Baldwin, now in his late 80s in the latest season of For All Mankind. Okay, be right back. I am always trying to cook more at home. The one thing I do know is if you start with the really good ingredients, everything just gets easier. That's exactly why I love Wild Alaskan Company.

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Hey y'all. I'm Maddie. And I'm Poodle. And together we host the podcast Reality Gays. We are two ridiculous homosexuals who love nothing more than talking about reality television and tearing in a new one. So whether it's 90-day fiancee, love is blind, love after lockup, or any other trash TV show about lonely hearts looking for love.

Your gay besties got you covered, Joe. New shows every week. Follow and listen to Reality Gays wherever you get your podcast. And we're back with more dinners on me. Yeah. My mom passed away last year. It's 76. Thank you.

And it did make me think about, you know, how I'm living my life now. You know, I think anytime you're confronted with age and the, death and mortality. Absolutely. I mean, I changed so many things in my life just because of her passing. But for the best, I mean, I, you know, I have two young kids. And so, like, I made a lot of changes with my health and, and just to try and stick around as long and not make the same mistakes that maybe my people, generations ahead of me have made. But, I mean, I was fascinated with this idea of every season of the show and, you know, getting to play the same person, but in different pockets of their life.

It's such a unique challenge that I feel like very few actors ever get to play. Like you're saying, it sometimes like it happens at, like, the end of a film when you flash forward. But, like, to live a full season of a TV show in that age is really a remarkable challenge. Yeah, it's a really fun. Was there like, so you started at 40. So I imagine you're probably closest to the age that you were playing at the beginning.

Yeah. And what were like the benchmarks for you for playing like 10 years ahead or 20 years ahead? It was funny because it's like playing 60 and 70 were that was the hardest. Uh-huh. Because it's something, you know, that you see

when we start studying people's boxing, body language and how they are. At 60 and 70, it's so dependent on like how you're living. And, you know, there's guys in their 40s that walk around like stiffer than some guys in their 70s. You know,

it really depends on how you take care of yourself. But at the same time when you're shooting a show and your aging tenure, there's an expectation that you know, that you need to make bigger changes. Right. And I feel like season four I kind of fucked up a little bit.

But when I look at that, I'm like, ha. That was when you're 70? Yeah. And that was so rough, too. It was, the makeup was, it was so tough to get on. It was like five and a half hours. And it was like with a beard that was like, I wanted to, like, I wanted to, like, every day on the set, I wanted to do what you just did. I wanted to incinerate my face.

I wanted to burn my face off with a blow torch. It was like, it's. I know how to do it, by the way. Yeah, no, like, I'm glad that you caught me like after season five, because season four, I would have been like, that sounds like a great idea. I'm going to try that tomorrow. It was, it was brutal.

And then also, you know, it was a full, you know, 10 episodes, and it was the lead, you know, so it. And I also told them, like, stack the days because I don't want to do the makeup unnecessarily. So then I would do, you know, six hours of the makeup in the morning and then shoot a 12 to 13 hour a day. Oh my God. And then, you know, like an hour to take it off.

So it was often like 19, 20 hour days. And the whole day was just like wanting to like fucking rip my own face off because everything was itching constantly. And then, you know, the maintenance is like, because they're always like poking. Yes. So you just, I was like sitting meditating for hours on a day. And like that I didn't like rip my own face off

or someone around me's face. off during that show is like a miracle because I was like I was like boiling internally I was like yeah yeah that's one thing I feel like a lot of people who aren't actors don't realize it's for me me the hardest thing is having people pick at me yeah having them adjust me and like I just get away from me get away um I know everyone's just doing their job but it's like I that feeling that people are constantly poking at you um also like playing someone who has such a lot of legacy. I mean, you're playing this astronaut who, I mean, again,

I'm at the beginning of the show, so like, and I don't want to spoil anything for myself because I'm, again, really invested. So I'm trying not to do too much research about what you're actually, the stuff you're actually promoting right now, I don't want you to talk to me about it.

But, you know, I mean, playing someone who has such a legacy, I think also is something that is very interesting and probably also puts into perspective you know like the time we spend on this earth

and like what we contribute um I mean the the premise of the show is also so genius this idea that like if the Soviets had made it to the moon before us and like what you know

this sort of alternate history um it's there's something about like that that legacy and like just someone who you know their whole life is sort of built around this culture and this world and this

this dream I mean being an astronaut was like a dream for a kid I mean that's like I feel like that's the thing that we always fantasize about when we're like you know 10 having a job like that now it's like I don't know

doing like being an influencer and doing like TikTok dances right right and they will by the way be on on the moon doing their TikTok dances. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. Did you get to, I assume like you got to train in like, you know, the same sort of arenas that like NASA astronauts get a train in?

You didn't get, were there any like sort of anti-gravity stuff that you got to be? No, I mean, we were just practicing how to fake it good, you know? Uh-huh, yeah. So we would do, um, You know, we did some wirework to sort of fake the moon gravity and zero gravity. So it was more about that. But then we had fantastic advisors on the show that, yeah, I've been up there.

Maybe not to the moon, but incredible. Now for a quick break, but don't go away. When we come back, Joel tells me about the transition from Sweden, to Los Angeles alongside his childhood friends, the Scars Guard brothers. Okay, be right back. Fabio Semin Tilly. Big heart, big voice, big laugh.

A rock star hairstylist who drove a Porsche. He was like a wizard behind the chair. The killers came for Fabio in his own backyard. You can't rationalize it. You can't figure it out. There was rampant speculation about everything. But every wild theory was wrong. Because the truth was even more unbelievable.

What is it? Anyone hearing what I'm hearing? And even more heartbreaking. The uncertainty of not knowing is a form of agony. From Sony Music Entertainment and novel, this is Cut Color Kill. I'm Jonathan Hirsch. Cut Color Kill is available now on The Binge. Search for it wherever you get your podcast to start listening today.

Subscribers to The Binge can listen to all episodes, all at once, ad free. And we're back with more dinners on me. Were you affected by the Nalbu fires at all? I was affected for sure, but our timing was impeccable. Me and Kelly, we landed in Costa Rica the day the fires broke out. And her younger brother was house-sitting with our dogs. So he had to navigate all that. I mean, it was tough because it was...

You know, both the, you know, the power was out, but then they even cut the gas. So our emergency generator was down. Yeah. So, yeah, I had like this little, my little Burning Man generator. He was, like, running, a Starlink. I was, like, trying to have to walk him through it over FaceTime. I'm glad you're okay, yeah. Yeah.

And do you, how, I mean, how do you, do you prefer living in Malibu as, like, do you miss Sweden? Do you miss that lifestyle? Do you... I mean, it's such a different... Yeah. Being in Malibu is so wildly different than... Yeah. Without life.

It's like... It's a little sketch for fronting. So when I'm back home, I feel like... Rooted and connected in a way that I don't do here. And I feel in a way that I sort of belong there. But I think I'm probably happier here.

Yeah. So it's like, so it's this weird, and I like, I love being there. We do spend time there. Like in the negotiation with my wife, because she is Swedish, but she doesn't need to spend more than three hours a decade in Sweden. Like it's not, not, not. Also, her parents are not old, you know. So it's like easier for her. I think as soon as when your parents get up in age and you realize like, okay, my dad's 82, he's doing great.

Let's say he lives another 15 years, you know, lucky. And I go home twice a year. So I'm seeing him in the best case scenario 30 more times. Yeah. You know? Yeah. You know, when you start doing that sort of math and things shift to, So we have sort of

Our agreement right now Is that out of the time that we're in L.A A fifth of that time We'll spend in Sweden Right And I'm okay with that Wow How's your dad doing?

Great Oh well so okay good I mean he's a little A little thirsty but What does that mean? It just drinks a little too much Okay But apart from that he's doing great

I mean, he's like, he's driving. He's out in the woods every day, lumberjacking and chopping wood. I try to get him in the sauna a little more often. I'm like, you need to get in, you know, at least three times a week. But, yeah, I think he's like started to use the sauna a little bit more. For older people, it's like a game changer. Yeah. And for anyone that doesn't, like, train a lot.

Right, right, right. Jumping in a sauna, like three times a week for over 30 minutes. will, like, decrease your general mortality with 40%. Really? Yeah. It's like a huge. I would take any health advice from you because I'm looking at you and I'm like, whatever, whatever you say. For sure.

I guarantee you, I'm not going to get into a sauna right now with my face in this condition. No, that would be a bad idea. Maybe a cold plunge. Exactly. I can highly recommend a hyperbaric oxygen chamber and a retic therapy. Was there a tough transition for you coming, like acting in Stockholm and Sweden and then coming to the States and finding opportunity here? Because, I mean, from my understanding, you know, you basically were nominated for what would be the Swedish version of the Oscar for like easy money, right? I got it.

You got it. Yeah. You won it. Yeah. Okay, there you go. So it's like, you know, huge, you know, so much success coming your way. And like, and just, you know, you were, I mean, in that pool, you were like the eight boy. Was there, was there a difficult transition coming to the States?

And, or was it, what did that pave away for you to act here easy or easier? It was, it was like a big, it was a big. moved to you know to come to Hollywood and back then there wasn't that many people that had done it you know it was like Stellan Scarscard right Peter Stormer and Lena Olin right that's basically and and that whole gang had been there for like a good 15 years and then Alex had he just started he he he I knew he had been here for a while. And Alex, he was doing that vampire show.

Right. True Blood. True Blood, exactly. And so he was like here. So it wasn't a lot of people here that it sort of made the move. So it felt like a very big move. I had this sort of, I kept telling everyone in interviews that I'm going to Hollywood. Like I'm gonna go

And people were like Why do you do that? You know, you shouldn't like Because what if like Everything goes to shit And you don't get anything You have to come home And I was like yeah but I have to do that

Because otherwise I want to like I don't want to give myself an out I want to like give I want to put that pressure on myself And I give up And that's probably good Because I was like I was here for a good

Four or five months And I got a few callbacks but I was I'd actually I did a lot better from Sweden like doing setting in tapes than I actually did when I came here and when I was auditioning

and it just felt like hopeless and but yeah and then then I got the killing right that was a little more for my conversation with Joel Kinnaman if you haven't heard our full conversation yet

make sure to check it out on Dinners on Me. This episode of Dinners On Me was recorded at Crudo E. Nudo in Santa Monica, California. Next week on Dinner's On Me, you know her from the Blue Lagoon, suddenly Susan and Lipstick Jungle. It's Brooke Shields. We get into what it's like basically being famous since you're a baby, navigating invasive moments with the press in the 90s, and her latest project, which I'm so excited about,

a campy murder mystery set in a quaint New England town. Say less. Listen, I'm binging. it already. Dinner's On Me is a production of Sony music entertainment and a kid named Beckett Productions. It's hosted by me, Jesse Tyler Ferguson. It's executive produced by me and

Jonathan Hirsch. Our showrunner is Joanna Clay. Our associate producer is Alyssa Midcalf. Sam Bear engineered this episode. Hans Dale She composed our theme music. Our head of production is Sammy Allison. Special thanks to Tamika Balance Kalasni and Justin McKita.

I'm Jesse Tyler Ferguson. Join me next week.