Jalen Rose and Jesse Metcalfe explore new role and career

Before actor Jesse Metcalfe became a household name as a shirtless hunk on “Desperate Housewives” and a regular on Hallmark, he was a Little League slugger in the Nutmeg State idolizing Yankee great Don Mattingly.

“I had a pretty idyllic childhood,” he told me on this week’s episode of “Renaissance Man,” adding, “Connecticut’s a great place to grow up. I was a public school kid, played sports.”

Baseball and hoops were his passion — as were the Bronx Bombers.

“My favorite baseball player growing up was Donnie Baseball. I was a big Yankees fan growing up,” he said. “And, as a lot of people know, if you live in Connecticut, between Massachusetts and New York, there’s a huge Red Sox-Yankees rivalry going on. So, I had a lot of fun with that with my friends growing up.”

Jesse’s favorite show was “The Wonder Years,” but he was also drawn to “Three’s Company” for the comedy. And, let’s be honest, the theme song was also dope. He had to sneak episodes because his mom thought the show was “sexist and a little too adult for me at the time.”

But it was a trip to the movies with his father to see “The Breakfast Club” that sparked his interest in acting. He later attended NYU, where he studied the craft.

Now, he’s starring in “On a Wing and a Prayer” alongside Heather Graham and Dennis Quaid. The movie, which premieres Friday on Amazon Prime, is based on the true story of a family who needed to land their small plane after the pilot dies mid-flight. Jesse plays Kari Sorenson, an expert in that specific aircraft who helps save the day.

“The icing on the cake was that it was a true story. And, ironically, I would be playing a character that was from Danbury, Connecticut, my home state. I did a lot of research about his real life. He lost both his father and his stepfather to plane crashes. And instead of dealing with a lot of that survivor’s guilt, he just kind of kind of packed it down,” he said. “He was taking out a lot of those unresolved feelings on his significant other. And through helping save Doug White and his family, he experienced a certain level of healing. It was a cathartic experience for him.”

Jesse is a fan of another high-flying flick, “Top Gun,” and even as his career soars, he still loves his childhood cinema comforts. There’s “Real Genius” and every John Hughes movie like “Pretty in Pink,” “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and “Sixteen Candles.” Anything from the Brat Pack.

“I really love 1980s comedies. I thought they were incredibly well-written,” he said. “I liked how irreverent they were, and I thought the actors of that time period were incredibly talented.”

He starred in his own teen classic with “John Tucker Must Die” — and the 2006 flick remains his favorite role.

“I feel like that film was squarely on my shoulders. Although we had a great ensemble cast and although the film was critically panned at the time, it’s gone on to become a teen comedy cult classic and I think it stood the test of time.”

And he has some advice for standing the test of time as an actor or, shall I say, borrowed wisdom from a Hollywood icon.

“I think you should just eat, sleep and breathe acting and become the best actor that you can possibly be,” Jesse said. “And like Eddie Murphy once said in an interview, ‘Keep your mouth shut.’”