Johnathon Schaech Says That Thing You Do! Costar Tom Hanks Gave Him 'a Sense of Hope' in Career (Exclusive)

Johnathon Schaech never thought he’d work again after moving from Los Angeles to Nashville to raise his two children with wife Julie Solomon.

“I left everything behind,” Schaech, 54, tells PEOPLE. “Every day I would wake up in horror, like, what have I done? I tried not to think I could control it, to let the universe and God find my way again. And the next thing you know, I was offered it Blue Ridge.”

Schaech played Sheriff Justin Wise in the 2020 crime drama, which inspired the TV series on INSP. “When we were making [the movie]it was easy to see that it could be turned into a series,” he says. “It was a procedure, so if something happens, you have to figure out what’s wrong. I was excited to explore this character on a deeper level week after week.”

Johnathan Schaech on ‘Blue Ridge’.

INSP

Christina Applegate’s Ex-Husband Johnathon Schaech Applauds Her Emmys Appearance: ‘I’m So Proud of Her’

The actor enlisted his father, who worked as a police officer in Baltimore, to help shape him Blue Ridge character.

“I was really getting into the mentality of an old-school cop like my dad, so I played my dad,” Schaech says.

Johnathan Schaech on the first season of ‘Blue Ridge’.

INSP

Schaech’s father even makes a small appearance Blue Ridgeseason 1 finale, which airs Sunday, September 1.

“In this finale, there was a small role, which is an older gentleman, and I asked my host and he agreed to bring in my real father to play him,” Schaech says. “He wrote all his lyrics on his hand and then they took his glasses so he couldn’t read his lyrics. But by then he had already memorized his lines, so he was ready. So he has to do my job and I have to do his job.”

Sunday’s finale also has another fun guest appearance: Schaech What you are doing! costar Ethan Embry.

“It was an honor to have him there,” Schaech says. “When he came to the set, we had very difficult material to process, very edgy and hardcore. We both have an incredible work ethic, and that’s a result of working with Tom Hanks. We became very professional and we had that brotherhood, that love for each other, which is very deep after all these years. He was fantastic. He delighted everyone.”

‘What you’re doing!’ stars (from left) Tom Hanks, Johnathon Schaech, Liv Tyler, Ethan Embry, Tom Everett Scott and Steve Zahn.

Getty

Schaech credits working with Hanks, 68, at the beginning of his film career in 1996. What you are doing! with instilling in him a level of professionalism that has allowed him to act for 30 years and counting.

“Working at that level was a very high level, but no matter where I was, I always tried to maintain that level,” Schaech says. “Blue Ridge is the first time I have my own series. I always thought I could carry the series and be the leading man that he was. He always gave a sense of hope, and hope is really what I’ve been holding on to all this time.”

Schaech says he and his What you are doing! all colleagues have remained “friends” over the years.

“Steve Zahn lives in Lexington, Ky. He was a big reason I moved here,” Schaech says. “He said, ‘I don’t know why you didn’t move away 20 years ago. You don’t have to be in Hollywood.’ Ethan is now in Atlanta. Tom Hanks often comes here because Rita [Wilson] is a singer-songwriter. Tom Everett Scott is the only one still in Los Angeles. We’ve been trying to get that band together, but to no avail, for the last 25 years.”

Johnathan Schaech.

Rob Klein

But that doesn’t stop fans from constantly recognizing Schaech as Jimmy from What you are doing!

“If I’m clean-shaven and I go out in public without a baseball cap, people will say, ‘You’re that guy, Jimmy, in The Oneders,'” he shares.

Even Schaech’s 10-year-old son Camden loves the ’90s movie about a fictional pop band that found Beatles-like success in the ’60s. “So far, she can sing it backwards and sideways,” says Schaech. “I think he sings better than me.”

Johnathon Schaech and wife Julie Solomon at the Gurus Magazine #30VOICES30DAYS Cover Launch Party at The Godfrey Hotel Hollywood on June 1 in Los Angelo.

Amanda Edwards/Getty

Schaech used to bring his son to the sets and believes Camden “really understands what I’m doing.” And his four-year-old daughter Lily began to understand.

“I had a film called Robbersand it was No. 1 on Netflix, and she walked up to the television — no one told her — and she pointed and said, ‘Dada,'” Schaech recalls. “It was really magical.”

Becoming a dad for the first time prompted Schaech to get sober. “It’s not so much that I was so drunk that I was always drinking,” he explains. “I was just consuming life in a different way, and I wasn’t present. Being a father has given me such a different perspective on life and how to approach it.”

Now, substance-free, “I’m really with my kids,” Schaech says. “To be present with my children and be able to truly experience and hear them and not be preoccupied with other things that are really not relevant, that are not important, I never thought life was as precious as it is now.”

Johnathan Schaech.

Aaron Farrier

In January 2018, Schaech opened up about another life-changing incident, writing to PEOPLE about how director Franco Zeffirelli allegedly molested him when the actor was 22 years old.

“By sharing it, I was able to take ownership of my story that I had been denying all along,” Schaech says. “I made a complete transformation with my life. People reached out endlessly, and they still do today, and I can guide them where they need to go.”

Johnathon Schaech says sobriety ‘wouldn’t click’ until his wife got pregnant

On September 10, Schaech turns 55 – and considers it the beginning of a new chapter.

“This is where I write my story,” he says. “Having a beautiful family, a loving wife, being with my child and having my own television series goes a long way in me taking on my story. Now I’m the author of my own.”

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Season finale Blue Ridge is broadcast on Sunday, September 1 on INSP.

Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education