The INSIDER Summary:
- "The Walking Dead" alum Jon Bernthal has six movies out this year and a new Netflix series.
- He's also married with three children and three pit bulls.
- Bernthal tells INSIDER he has one rule to keep his work and personal lives balanced.
- He always makes sure he's 100% present wherever he may be. When he's with his family, he doesn't use his cell phone or do work.
- When he's at work, he commits to that completely for his kids.
- He hopes one day when they're able to see his work they'll notice how hard he worked for them.
In any relationship, it can become difficult to balance family and work, especially if you're putting in long hours at the office. When you're a movie and TV star, that can make it even trickier.
"The Walking Dead" alum Jon Bernthal knows this all too well from personal experience. Since he left the show in 2012, he's appeared in movies like "The Wolf of Wall Street" and "Fury" and joined the Marvel world as anti-hero Punisher. This year alone he has at least six movies coming out along with his own "Daredevil" spin-off, "The Punisher," on Netflix.
At the same time as his career started to take off, Bernthal got married and started a family. He has two young sons, Henry and Billy, and a two-year-old daughter, Adeline. He also has three pit bulls named Boss, Venice, and Bam Bam, the latter of whom is a pup.
While speaking with Bernthal about his latest movie "Shot Caller," INSIDER asked the 40-year-old actor and father of three how he manages to balance such a demanding schedule while finding time for his loved ones. It's something any couple can appreciate.
"The rule I try to live by is to really be where I am while I'm there. When I'm with my family I'm with my family and that's it," Bernthal tells INSIDER. "We moved to a really small little mountain town, and when I'm with my family, there's no cellphones, there's no work, there's no nothing. It's just me with the kids."
It's so easy to get caught up in social media and looking at your phone while around your significant other, friends, or family that you may lose sight of what's in front of you. Next time you're with others, consider ditching the cell phone before reaching for a selfie.
Though Bernthal posts photos of his family and dogs to social media for his fans when he's with his family, he makes sure they get all of his attention. Bernthal brings that same level of focus when he's on set filming.
"On the same token, when I'm work, I'm just at work," Bernthal continued. "I try to dive in 100% and stay in it and at the end of the day I'm trying to build something in every character that I help create and every movie that I'm part of. It has my children's name on it, so I try to take that enormously seriously and I know that, unfortunately, a lot of the stuff that I make my kids can't watch now, but down the road I hope they'll watch it and they'll say, you know, 'Dad worked hard. Dad gave it everything and there's a reason why he was away so much.'"
"I would say it is sort of the crux of every problem I have," Bernthal added of balancing work and family. "I think for the most part as a family, I've got an unbelievable wife who just makes it all work and I'm incredibly lucky. I'm in love."
Bernthal's next movie, "Shot Caller," is currently available on DirecTV and will be in theaters August 18.
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