'This Is Us' star Eris Baker jokes that she asked Sterling K. Brown for help with Tess Pearson's big coming-out scene because he cries so much on the show

• "This Is Us" star Eris Baker got help from Sterling K. Brown for Tess' big coming-out scene.
• Baker joked to Insider that Brown, who plays her on-screen dad, cries "for a living."

"This Is Us" star Eris Baker told Insider that to prep for the pivotal season three scene where her character Tess Pearson comes out to her parents, she asked her TV dad, Sterling K. Brown, for advice for a specific reason.

While 45-year-old Brown hasn't been a teenager in a long time and isn't new to dating, he's very capable of tapping into his emotions on the fly because, according to Baker, he cries "for a living" for his role on the hit NBC family drama.

"All he does is cry on the show," Baker joked.

Baker said that Brown helped her "go there" with her emotions by suggesting that she listen to a song that makes her cry or remember a time in her life that stirs up difficult feelings.

She gave as much credit for her performance in the scene to her acting partners in the moment, Brown and Susan Kelechi Watson, who plays Tess' mom Beth. "I feel like a scene is like ping pong, you pass the ball, and you're responding to people in that scene," she said, calling the conversation about Tess's sexuality "a group effort."

The actor, who is nominated for an NAACP award for the role this year, was only about 13 years old when she filmed the scene in 2018. She said she was "freaking out" before filming such an important moment in Tess's life, so she took a unique approach to prepare that she had never used before and hasn't used since.

"I had a journal and I wrote from Tess's perspective, what she would be thinking in that moment, because that conversation can go one or two ways," Baker told Insider. "And thank gosh, she had a supportive family, but she still has that fear in her mind: 'If I say these words what will be their response, will things change?'"

Investing so many of her own emotions had an unexpected effect on Baker. "When they said cut, I was still in the scene. I was breaking down, but as Eris," she said.

Cast and crew members knew the weight of the scene and gave her due praise. "It was super special, Sterling and Susan just looked like two happy parents," Baker recalled of the moment after the cameras stopped rolling. "They were watching me and they were proud."

"It was like a family, the crew was clapping, and they were just like, 'Oh my God, you did it,'" she continued. "And I was super emotional. And I was like, 'Keep these cameras off my face, I'm having a moment.'"

A family on- and off-screen

"This Is Us" is currently airing its sixth and final season, and Baker is already feeling nostalgic.

She told Insider she's especially going to miss Brown and Watson, along with Faithe Herman and Lyric Ross, who play Tess' sisters Annie and Déja, respectively.

"I'm with them the majority of the time I do my scenes. I'm always together with them. We created so many memories," she said, adding that she's particularly fond of their kitchen set, where they've shared the majority of their laughs.

"You're dancing and you're singing, and it's just such a good energy," Baker said.

Of her costars and on-screen sisters Ross and Herman, she said, "I'm really happy to say that we're really close in real life and act just like annoying sisters in real life. And I'm really thankful to have met them."

"This Is Us" airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on NBC.