Sterling K. Brown has a "thing" with "older Black women".

The This Is Us actor - who has sons Andrew, 13, and Amare, nine, with wife Ryan Michelle Bathe - acknowledged his popularity within a "certain set" after his friend Natasha Rothwell joked her parents' marriage almost ended in divorce because of her mom's crush on him.

In conversation for Variety's Actors on Actors series, Natasha said: "You're so charismatic and easy to watch. You almost broke up my parents' marriage. [My mother] loved Army Wives.

"I thought, 'If [Sterling] comes up here and ruins 47 years of marriage, I'm going to be upset.' "

Sterling noted: "I'm big with a certain set. The older Black women and me, we got a thing."

The 49-year-old actor caused a stir with a shower scene in his latest drama series Paradise, and Sterling admitted it makes him "happy" to know people find him attractive as he approaches 50.

He said: "I'm 49 years old, and the fact that anybody wants to see 49-year-old booty, it makes me happy."

The American Fiction star views his career as a type of "controlled schizophrenia".

He explained: "I look at this acting thing as sort of controlled schizophrenia, in that there's so many people inside of me, and each character gives me an opportunity to let one aspect of myself out. "

Sterling thinks the TV industry has changed hugely since the early days of his career, as a lot of production has moved outside of Los Angeles, and series are substantially shorter.

He said: "I remind myself that the industry is just 100 years old. When I first started, there was a thing called pilot season. There was many a network drama. There was many a serialised. There were 22 to 24 episodes. Now we're doing six or eight.

"And so much has left Los Angeles.

"I was just working in Australia, and there were seven other productions living in my hotel."

Natasha agreed: "There was a game show shooting near us in Thailand.

"There's a little bit of "Molly, you in danger, girl" about it all."