Side Dish: More Joel Kinnaman

Summary

Podcast Summary: Dinner’s on Me with Jesse Tyler Ferguson
Episode: Side Dish: More Joel Kinnaman (May 7, 2026)

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Episode Overview

In this side dish episode, host Jesse Tyler Ferguson shares an intimate dinner at Crudo e Nudo in Santa Monica with Swedish-American actor Joel Kinnaman. The conversation is unscripted, warm, and candid—just as promised by the podcast’s core concept: authentic celebrity conversations over a great meal. This episode dives into Joel’s formative time as a Texas exchange student, his early days in acting, the challenges (and tedium) of aging for his role on For All Mankind, family connections to Sweden, and the cultural leap from Stockholm to Hollywood, all peppered with humor and vulnerability.

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Table of Contents

• Relocating to Texas as a Teen ([02:59]–[06:06])
• Joel’s Young Acting Journey & Nepotism ([06:11]–[10:13])
• Aging on Screen: Playing Ed Baldwin in For All Mankind ([12:40]–[19:16])
• Home, Family, and Dual Citizenship ([20:08]–[23:47])
• Culture Shock: From Swedish Film to Hollywood ([24:12]–[27:12])
• Notable Quotes & Standout Moments

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Relocating to Texas as a Teen ([02:59]–[06:06])

• Joel shares how he ended up in Texas as an exchange student:

  • He originally chose the West Coast on his application, but instead was placed in "Hell Valley, Texas" (later realizing it was Dell Valley, near Austin).
  • Joel humorously recalls the rural and somewhat eerie scene of driving past old, run-down cars “becoming part of the landscape” at his host family’s house.
  • His experience with the first host family was difficult: “No one was happy in the house.” ([04:39])
  • Eventually, his football coach, Coach Walden, took him in as part of his own family, offering him relief and kindness—a welcome contrast.

• Reflection:
  “That was your first experience with America, was Texas… and yet you still kind of knew you wanted to come here?”
  “No. No, I didn’t know. That was later.” ([06:02]–[06:06])

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Joel’s Young Acting Journey & Nepotism ([06:11]–[10:13])

• Early acting and a “mischief period”:
  • Joel admits to a rough patch in his early 20s, describing himself as a “little south side fuck boy” ([06:22]), bartending, partying, and being “annoying…pretty negative life.”
  • He started acting as a child, landing a soap opera role at 11 due to his sister’s connections. He refers to himself jokingly as a Nepo baby:
    “I’m a total Nepo baby.” ([10:13])
  • His sister was an accomplished actor, starring in the Oscar-nominated film My Life as a Dog.
  • Joel credits proximity to the acting business for his early opportunities, but notes his path diverged before acting drew him back.

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Aging on Screen: Playing Ed Baldwin in For All Mankind ([12:40]–[19:16])

• Portraying the same character over decades:
  Jesse praises the unique challenge:
  "It's such a unique challenge that…very few actors ever get to play…to live a full season of a TV show in that age is really a remarkable challenge." ([13:30])

• Kinnaman’s take:

  • The hardest ages to portray were 60 and 70, because “it’s so dependent on how you’re living…there’s guys in their 40s that walk around stiffer than some guys in their 70s.” ([14:08])
  • Details the physical and mental toll of prosthetics:
    “The makeup was…so tough to get on. It was like five and a half hours…I wanted to burn my face off with a blowtorch.” ([14:55]–[15:19])
  • His days during those shoots could last up to 19–20 hours, with the constant discomfort of prosthetics.
  • Meditated to cope, recalling: “That I didn't…rip my own face off or someone around me’s face off during that show is like a miracle because I was like boiling internally.” ([16:13])

• On legacy and cultural change:
  “Having a job like that now…it’s like, I don’t know, being an influencer. TikTok dances. And they will by the way, be on the moon doing their TikTok dances.” ([18:10]–[18:18])

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Home, Family, and Dual Citizenship ([20:08]–[23:47])

• Malibu vs. Sweden:

  • Describes the 2018 Malibu wildfires—he narrowly missed them, being in Costa Rica, but his partner’s brother managed their home and dogs amidst chaos.
  • Joel reflects on the emotional tie to Sweden:
    “When I'm back home, I feel like rooted and connected in a way that I don't do here…but I think I'm probably happier here.” ([21:13]–[21:43])
  • Shares the emotional math of seeing aging parents:
    “My dad’s 82…let’s say he lives another 15 years…and I go home twice a year, so I’m seeing him…30 more times.” ([22:10]–[22:29])
  • Family compromise: about “a fifth” of their time in LA will be spent in Sweden.
  • Joel candidly talks about his father’s health (“he just drinks a little too much,” [23:05]) and the positive impact of sauna use for longevity.

• Longevity advice:
  “Jumping in a sauna three times a week for over 30 minutes will decrease your general mortality with 40%...It's huge.” ([23:33]–[23:44])

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Culture Shock: From Swedish Film to Hollywood ([24:12]–[27:12])

• Career lift-off:
  • Joel recounts his rising star in Sweden, winning the national film award for Easy Money.
  • Describes the daunting leap to Hollywood:
    “It’s a big move to…come to Hollywood. Back then, there wasn’t that many people that had done it…it was basically Stellan Skarsgård, Peter Stormare, and Lena Olin.” ([25:08]–[25:32])
    • Felt pressure to succeed:
      “I kept telling everyone in interviews…I’m going to Hollywood…people were like, why do you do that?…Because otherwise I want to like…I don’t want to give myself an out.” ([25:52]–[26:38])
    • Struggled initially once in LA—auditioning was harder in person than sending tapes from Sweden.
    • “But yeah, and then I got The Killing.” ([27:12])

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On family in Texas:
  “No one was happy in the house.” ([04:39]) — Joel Kinnaman

• On his wild period:
  “I was, like, working in bars and just kind of being a little south side fuck boy…just annoying, and you know, just sort of a pretty negative life.” ([06:22], [06:50]) — Joel Kinnaman

• On acting prosthetics:
  “It was brutal…the whole day was just wanting to like, rip my own face off because everything was itching constantly.” ([15:19], [16:13]) — Joel Kinnaman

• On the generational passage of time:
  “My dad’s 82…let’s say he lives another 15 years…and I go home twice a year…so I’m seeing him…30 more times.” ([22:10]–[22:29]) — Joel Kinnaman

• On moving to Hollywood:
  “I don’t want to give myself an out. I want to, like, put that pressure on myself to not give up.” ([25:52]–[26:38]) — Joel Kinnaman

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Structure & Tone

The tone throughout is relaxed, honest, and at times irreverent, with both host and guest sharing personal perspectives, insecurities, humor, and a sense of wonder about the unpredictable paths of life and career. The camaraderie over dinner brings out Joel’s light sarcasm (“Total Nepo baby”), candor about difficulty, and thoughtful reflection on family and transatlantic identity.

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For fans of Joel Kinnaman, industry insights, or candid talks about personal growth, emigration, and acting’s physical toll, this episode is a must-listen.

Transcript

[Jesse Tyler Ferguson]

Right now, our family is living that New York theater life. I'm performing in a play right now called Tru 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, 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, 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, Co hosts can create your listing, manage reservations, handle guest communication, and even provide on site support. So you're free to focus on the busy season ahead. If you're ready to get started, find a co [e-mail] host. You know those meals that just immediately take you somewhere? Like, you take one bite and suddenly you're transported to a backyard. Someone's manning the fryer and everyone's waiting for a taste. That's exactly what Boar's Head has managed to do. But at your deli counter, new from Boar's Head, the Fryer's turkey breast has the taste of deep fried turkey. And I mean, it's perfectly seasoned. That golden, savory flavor, it really does that thing where one bite kind of takes over and you're like, oh, okay, this is what we're doing now. And the best part is you don't have to host anything. You don't have to fry anything. You don't have to politely ask someone else to handle the hot oil, which frankly, I'm always happy to avoid. It's just there at the deli, ready to go. So if you're putting together a sandwich or just standing at the counter deciding what kind of day you're going to have, the Fryer's turkey breast is a pretty great choice. Discover the craftsmanship behind every bite at your local Boar's Head deli counter. Boar's Head, committed to crafts since 1905. Hey, it's Jesse Tyler Ferguson. Here's a little side dish from this week's episode of Dinner's on Me. This week's guest is Joel Kinnaman. 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 series For All Mankind and in Netflix's Detective Hole. We met up at Crudo e Nudo in Santa Monica to catch up over scallops and tuna tartare. Now, to get back into the conversation, you're pulling up a chair as he's telling me about ending up in Texas as a foreign exchange student.

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

Why? Why Texas? What brought you there? Did you get to choose?

[Joel Kinnaman]

No, I did. I did get to choose. I chose the West Coast. Okay.

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

There's like, nope.

[Joel Kinnaman]

I chose all three west coast states. I guess it was something in me that I knew 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 Dell Valley. It was like outside of Austin, but it was outside. It was outside of Austin for sure. Yeah. And as couple called Terry and Tina Turner. Rest in peace. Yeah, they were. They were special. That was like not a normal little family. They. 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. There was like three parts.

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Joel Kinnaman]

And. But they had this weird thing when you, like, in their driveway, they had like all their old cars. So it was like, it was like six or eight cars. And the ones that were closest to the house, they were like really run down. It was like dusty, like growing out of him. And then so they. I guess they didn't want to separate from him, so they just like parked them. So we, like pulled into this.

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

They just like became part of the landscape.

[Joel Kinnaman]

It was like this spooky little, like, entrance, you know, like, and then into their house and. Yeah.

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

Did you keep in touch with them for a while?

[Joel Kinnaman]

Oh, no, no, no, no, no. It was not a good. No one was happy in the house.

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

Oh, really? But you were there for how long?

[Joel Kinnaman]

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 absorbed the cost.

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

Yeah.

[Joel Kinnaman]

So there was nobody in, like, in that school district that could afford to have another, you know.

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

Right.

[Joel Kinnaman]

But then, actually, my football coach, Coach Walden, he. He took me in and he had, like. Yeah, he had five kids and. And his son, he also. He played football. He was a good friend of mine. 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. But they were very, very sweet and kind and, like. And they just. Yeah, they took good care of me.

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

But that was your first experience with America, was Texas.

[Joel Kinnaman]

Yeah.

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

And this, like, weird outpocket of Texas.

[Joel Kinnaman]

Yeah.

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

And yet you still kind of knew that you wanted to come here.

[Joel Kinnaman]

No. No, I didn't know. No, that was later.

[Jesse Tyler Ferguson]

Because you.

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

You did. Well, tell me how you ended up falling into acting.

[Joel Kinnaman]

Well, I was, like, kind of did.

[Jesse Tyler Ferguson]

You did theater, right?

[Joel Kinnaman]

Yeah, yeah, I was kind of lost. It's pretty lost. I 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 and just.

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

God, you were so dangerous.

[Joel Kinnaman]

Just annoying, and you know, just sort of a pretty negative life, you know, Like, I was just getting drunk and. And then 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 hungover.

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

How old were you at this point?

[Joel Kinnaman]

I was like, 20. Okay, 21.

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

That's when you should be, like, fucking up, I guess.

[Joel Kinnaman]

Yeah, yeah, it was a good time for it.

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

Yeah.

[Joel Kinnaman]

I started really early fucking up, so I started, like, 12. So I had a good run.

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

You had a good run? I had a good run, like a good 10 years.

[Joel Kinnaman]

Yeah. And. And then. 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.

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

Okay, so that was a soap opera, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Joel Kinnaman]

So I had this, like, childhood experience of acting.

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

And Was that something that you wanted to do or was that.

[Joel Kinnaman]

Well, then. Then I wanted it. I thought it was great. It was. It was like a little. My sister was an actor.

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

Okay.

[Joel Kinnaman]

So. So she was sleeping with the director, you know, for the family, you know, it was her boyfriend. It was her. It was her boyfriend. And. And then he. And then he wanted me to audition for it.

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

Yeah.

[Joel Kinnaman]

And they needed like a little annoying kid. That was. Man, he was like, you're super annoying. Like, you should, you should audition. So I auditioned for it and I got it and I was ecstatic. I thought it was so fun and I really enjoyed that. But it was like a childhood thing. But I like, you know, the whole. I liked everything about it, but then I sort of forgot about it, you

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

know, Was the pool in Stockholm, like, was it a small pool, like getting it a vaxchoice? I mean, was it. Because getting a soap opera is like an 11 year old. It seems like something that, 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 wait for like, it seems so easy and accessible.

[Joel Kinnaman]

I mean, I guess I did have like access to that because of the proximity. My sister, My sister was an act, you know, was an actor. So, you know, we had connection with that world.

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

Yeah.

[Joel Kinnaman]

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 Lhasa Hallstrom that was called My Life as a Dog, which ended up being a pretty famous movie. I think it was like nominated for best Foreign picture or something like that. That was her first thing. And she. They were like advertising in the newspaper papers that they. They were auditioning and, you know, so was she in like 3,000? You know, so she did the heavy lifting in the family.

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

Right, right.

[Joel Kinnaman]

But then after that, you know, she was. She became like a very like sought after young actor in. In Sweden and. And is like, was from the get go, like, super talented. And so then there was like this proximity to. To the business that, you know, I benefited from in that you were a Nepo baby. I'm a total Nepo baby. Yeah.

[Jesse Tyler Ferguson]

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 really good ingredients, everything just gets easier. That's exactly why I love Wild Alaskan Company. They deliver wild caught perfectly portioned seafood straight to your door. And it makes cooking fish at home feel so incredibly easy. What sets them apart is that everything is 100% wild caught, never farmed, no antibiotics, no GMOs, no additives. Just really high quality seafood that you can feel really good about eating. It's also frozen right off the boat to lock in flavor and texture. And everything is sustainably sourced from Alaska. My current favorite is their sockeye salmon. It has this gorgeous, vivid red color and such rich flavor that it barely needs anything. The other night, Justin was showering me with praise about this salmon that I made for him. It was so amazing. It's the best he's had in so long. I didn't tell him. I just sprinkled on a little salt, olive oil, and lemon juice that that was it. It was just the really great fish. That was a star. Although I do have very nice pan sear, if I do say so myself. So I did that part. And if you're trying it for the first time, there's no risk. If you' not completely satisfied with your first box, Wild Alaskan Company will give you a full refund, no questions asked. Not all fish are the same. Get seafood you can trust. Go to wild alaskan.com jtf for $35 off your first box of premium wild caught seafood. That's wild alaskan.com JTF for $35 off your first order. Thanks to Wild Alaskan Company for sponsoring this episode.

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[Jesse Tyler Ferguson]

And we're back with more dinners on me.

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

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 death and mortality.

[Jesse Tyler Ferguson]

Absolutely.

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

I mean, I changed so many things in my life just because of her passing. And for the best. I mean, I have two young kids, and so I made a lot of changes with my health 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 single 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's 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.

[Joel Kinnaman]

Yes.

[Jesse Tyler Ferguson]

Was there, like, so you started at

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

40, so I imagine you're. You're probably closest to the age that you were playing at the beginning.

[Joel Kinnaman]

Yeah.

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

And what were, like, the benchmarks for you for playing, like, 10 years ahead or 20?

[Joel Kinnaman]

It was funny because it's like playing 60 and 70 were. That was the hardest because it's something, you know, that you see when we start studying people's body language and how they are at 60 and 70. It's. It's so dependent on, like, how you're living and. 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. How you take care of yourself. But at the same time, when you're shooting a show and you're aging tenure, there's an expectation that you, you know, that you need to make bigger changes.

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

Right.

[Joel Kinnaman]

And I feel like season four, I kind of fucked up a little bit. Like, when I look at that, I'm

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

like, that was when you're 70.

[Joel Kinnaman]

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. 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 blowtorch. It was like, I know how to

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

do it, by the way.

[Joel Kinnaman]

Yeah. No, like, I'm glad that you caught me. Like, after season five to season four, I would have been like, that sounds like a great idea. I'm gonna 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. 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 makeup in the morning and then shoot a 12 to 13 hour day, 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, rip my own face off because everything was itching constantly. And then, you know, the maintenance is. Is like, because they're always, like, poking, fixing. 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.

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

I was like, yeah, that's one thing.

[Jesse Tyler Ferguson]

I feel like a lot of people

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

who aren't actors don't realize it's. For me the hardest thing is having people pick at me.

[Joel Kinnaman]

Yeah.

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

Having them adjust me and like just

[Jesse Tyler Ferguson]

get away from me.

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

Get away. I know everyone's just doing their job, but it's like I feeling that people are constantly poking at you. Also like playing someone who has such a 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 spend. Spoil anything for myself because I'm again really invested. So I'm trying not to do too much research about the. Where 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. I mean, the premise of the show is also so genius. This idea that if the Soviets had made it to the moon before us and like what, you know, sort of alternate history is, there's something about like that, that legacy and like just someone who. Their whole life is sort of built around this culture in this world and this, 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,

[Joel Kinnaman]

having a job like that now it's like, I don't know, doing like being an influencer.

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

Well, that's right. Yeah.

[Joel Kinnaman]

Tick tock dances.

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

Right, right. And they will by the way, be on the moon doing their tick tock dances. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.

[Jesse Tyler Ferguson]

Did, did you get to.

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

I assume like you got to train like, you know, the same sort of arenas that like NASA astronauts get a train on. You didn't get it. Was there any like sort of anti gravity stuff that you got to.

[Joel Kinnaman]

No, I mean, we were just, we were just practicing how to fake it good, you know.

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

Yeah.

[Joel Kinnaman]

So we would do, you know, we did some wire work to sort of fake the moon gravity and then zero gravity. So it was More about. More about that. But then we had. We had fantastic advisors on the show that. Yeah, I've been up there. Maybe not to the moon, but incredible.

[Jesse Tyler Ferguson]

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 Skarsgrd brothers. Okay, be right back.

[Maddie or Poodle from Reality Gays podcast]

Hey, y'.

[Joel Kinnaman]

All.

[Maddie or Poodle from Reality Gays podcast]

I'm Maddie. And I'm Poodle. And together we host the podcast Reality Gays. We are two ridiculous hom who love nothing more than talking about reality television and tearing in a new one. So whether it's 90 day fiance love is Blind Love After Lockup, or any other trash TV show about lonely hearts looking for love, your gay besties got you covered, y'. All. New shows every week. Follow and listen to Reality Gays wherever you get your podcast.

[Jesse Tyler Ferguson]

And we're back with more dinners on me.

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

Were you affected by the Malibu fires at all?

[Joel Kinnaman]

I was affected for sure. But we, our timing was impeccable. Me and Kelly, we. 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. And I mean, it was, 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. So, yeah, I had like this little, my little Burning man generator that he was like running a starlink. I was like, trying to walk him through it over. Over playstime.

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

I'm glad you're okay. Yeah.

[Joel Kinnaman]

Yeah.

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

And do you. How, I mean, how do you. Do you prefer. Living in Malibu is like, do you miss Sweden? Do you miss that lifestyle?

[Joel Kinnaman]

Do you.

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

I mean, it's such a different.

[Joel Kinnaman]

Yeah.

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

Being in Malibu is so wildly different than.

[Joel Kinnaman]

Yeah.

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

That life.

[Joel Kinnaman]

It's like to those kitchen, frantic. 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.

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

Yeah.

[Joel Kinnaman]

So it's like. So it's this weird. And I like, I love being there. We do spend time there. I spend 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. It's not. Not. Also, her parents are not old.

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

Yeah.

[Joel Kinnaman]

You know, so it's like easier for

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

her,

[Joel Kinnaman]

I think as soon as, when your parents get up in age and you. And you realize, like, okay, my dad's 82 to he's doing great. Let's say he lives another 15 years. You know, we're lucky. And I go home twice a year, so I'm seeing him in the best case scenario, 30 more times.

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

Yeah.

[Joel Kinnaman]

You know.

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

Yeah.

[Joel Kinnaman]

You know, when you start doing that sort of math and things shift too. So we've sort of our agreement right now is that out of the time that we're in la,

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

what's this, a

[Joel Kinnaman]

fifth of that time we'll spend in Sweden.

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

Right.

[Joel Kinnaman]

And I'm okay with that.

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

Wow. How's your dad doing?

[Joel Kinnaman]

Great.

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

Oh, well. So. Okay. Good.

[Joel Kinnaman]

I mean, he's a little, a little thirsty, but what does that mean? He just drinks a little too much.

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

Okay.

[Joel Kinnaman]

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 and I, 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 song a little bit more for, for older people, it's like a game changer.

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

Yeah.

[Joel Kinnaman]

For anyone that doesn't like train a lot.

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

Right, right, right.

[Joel Kinnaman]

Jumping in a sauna like three times a week for over 30 minutes will like decrease your general mortality with 40%.

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

Really? Yeah.

[Joel Kinnaman]

It's like a, it's huge.

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

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 and this condition.

[Joel Kinnaman]

No, that would be a bad idea. Yeah, I can maybe a cold plunge. Exactly.

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

I can highly recommend a hyperbaric oxygen chamber and a red light therapy.

[Jesse Tyler Ferguson]

Was there

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

a trough turn 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 like, you basically like were nominated for like the. What would be the Swedish version of the Oscar for like Easy Money, like.

[Joel Kinnaman]

Right, I got it.

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

You got it?

[Joel Kinnaman]

Yeah.

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

You won it.

[Joel Kinnaman]

Yeah.

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

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 a way for you to, to act here? Easy or easier?

[Joel Kinnaman]

I mean it was, it was like a big It's a big move to, you know, to come to the Hollywood. And back then, there wasn't that many people that had done it. You know, it was like Stella Skarsgard.

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

Right.

[Joel Kinnaman]

Peter Stormer and Lena Olin.

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

Right?

[Joel Kinnaman]

That's basically. And. And that whole gang had been there for, like, a good 15 years. And then Alex had. He just started and he. I knew he had been here for a while. And Alex, he was doing that vampire show, right?

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

In True Blood.

[Joel Kinnaman]

True Blood, exactly. And so he was. He was. He was like here. So it was, you know, it wasn't. It wasn't a lot of people here that had sort of made. 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. 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 to not give up. And that's probably good because I was

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

like,

[Joel Kinnaman]

I was here for a good four or five months and I got a few callbacks, but. But I was. I'd actually. I did a lot better from Sweden, like, doing. Sending in tapes than I actually did when I came here and when I was auditioning and. And it just felt, like, hopeless and. But yeah, and then I got the killing right.

[Jesse Tyler Ferguson]

That was a little more from 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 weekend, 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.

[Interviewer (possibly Jesse Tyler Ferguson or a guest host)]

Say less.

[Jesse Tyler Ferguson]

Listen, I'm binging it already. Dinners 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 Baer engineered this episode. Hans Dale. She composed our theme music. Our head of production is Sammy Allison. Special thanks to Tameka Balance Kolasny and Justin Makita. I'm Jesse Tyler Ferguson. Join me next week.