That Was Us

with Sterling K. Brown and Mandy Moore and Chris Sullivan

Jennifer Morrison and Us | Cassidy Sharp

4/28/2026

This week on That Was Us, we’re thrilled to be joined in studio by actor and director Jennifer Morrison, who brought Cassidy to life on This Is Us. Jennifer reflects on her journey from acting to directing, the challenges of transitioning from fantasy to grounded drama, and how This Is Us unexpectedly changed her life in a very real way.

In this episode, Jennifer chats about:

• Playing Cassidy across Seasons 4–6 and navigating her place within the Pearson family
• The love quadrangle between Cassidy, Kevin, Zoe, and Nicky
• Transitioning from Once Upon a Time to the grounded realism of This Is Us
• Why she still had to audition for the role—and what that experience taught her
• Her evolution from actor to director and why she feels she has more to contribute behind the camera
• The intensity of shooting 100 scenes in 12 days
• The challenges of proving herself as a director after years of acting
• Her early experiences directing short films and her first feature, which sold to Netflix
• Her time on House and the demanding pace of network television
• Growing up in a marching band–focused household and how it shaped her work ethic
• The surreal story of buying Dan Fogelman’s house after feeling an unexpected connection to it
• What makes great writing so impactful for actors and why This Is Us scripts felt like a gift.

And a friendly reminder, you can catch new episodes of That Was Us every Monday, a day early, exclusively on Hulu. Available on Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts on Tuesdays like usual!

That Was Us is produced by Rabbit Grin Productions. Music by Taylor Goldsmith and Griffin Goldsmith.