It was May 2016 when Jon Huertas learned his show Castle had been canceled. Shortly afterward, the actor had at least three auditions lined up, two of which were for narcotics boss-type people.

I wasnt interested in them. It was disturbing to me that those were the two main auditions I was up for, Huertas told HuffPost. He was tired of auditioning for stereotypical Latino characters. The third audition was to play a veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder for Netflix s One Day at a Time, featuring a Hispanic family. But that didnt work out either as Huertas and creator Norman Lear didnt see eye-to-eye on the role.

Me being a veteran myself and having experience in that area, I had a different take on the character and I wanted to stay true to that, said Huertas, who spent eight years in the Air Force.

But soon Huertas received another call.

The casting director called my people and said, Hey, do you think Jon could get over to Paramount real quick? Were casting another show.

That show was NBCs This Is Us .