Colin Egglesfield Gets Candid About ‘Rizzoli & Isles’ & Abrupt Ending of ‘The Client List’

Colin Egglesfield has enjoyed a 25-year career and counting acting. A big break came in 2005 when he landed the role of Josh Madden on All My Children. Then a few months later the star, who at the time was named among People’s “Sexiest Men Alive,” received life-altering news. Egglesfield had testicular cancer. 

He has since overcome the diagnosis not just once but twice, and then most recently with prostate cancer. These experiences made him especially grateful for every opportunity to pursue his passion on the big and small screens. Here the star sat down with TV Insider to reflect on memorable roles and what’s coming up next for him. 

Next year marks a decade since Rizzoli & Isles ended. How do you look back on playing Tommy and seeing the evolution and maturity of the character toward the end? 

Colin Egglesfield: I would have to say that was one of my favorite roles ever because he was just a loveable screwup. To see him go from running over a priest and getting out of jail and going from dog walker to mortician. 

Where do you think he’d be today? 

Tommy would probably be a high school teacher. I think he would relate well with kids. I think at the heart, deep down, Tommy is just an 11-year-old kid who likes to have fun. I think he would relate well to kids, but I think having a disciplinarian sister and mom, he would be perfectly suited keeping kids in line and inspiring them to learn. 

Having been on a spot here or two on shows, is there a show you wished your role or set you wished you’d been on longer? 

I did an episode of Brothers & Sisters with Sally Field and Tom Skerritt. I think Rob Lowe was on that too. That was a show I would have loved to be on longer. I think it would be fun to go back to reprise my character and All My Children role as Josh Madden. It was so fun to work with Susan Lucci and the other people I worked with. I think people are still waiting for the sequel of Something Borrowed. I think people still want Something Blue to come out. As soon as we figure out what’s going on with Hollywood and all these streaming platforms and how it will play out. I think Hollywood is still trying to figure out what’s the best business model moving forward. I would definitely love to reprise  those roles. 

Colin Egglesfield and Jennifer Love Hewitt (Lifetime)

There are fans who still wish The Client List been on longer. 

Yea, The Client List was on for just two seasons. Everyone is waiting for that cliffhanger Season 3 of what happened to our characters. Did Riley choose me or her husband? I still get people asking me about that.

What would you say would have been the ending? Who do you think she would have chosen? 

It was going to be a crazy storyline. Jennifer [Love Hewitt] was dating Brian [Hallisay] in real-life and played her husband on the show. She got pregnant. We were potentially going to incorporate that pregnancy into Season 3 where the baby could have been mine or the third one with her and her husband. There were a lot of different storylines we could have gone with. Unfortunately, it didn’t pan out. 

Did you have a preference? Would you have wanted to be the dad? 

Yeah. I think it would have been a lot of fun to play the father. I don’t think it has been done really on TV before where a woman has a kid with two brothers. It would have been a very interesting storyline. 

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What’s coming up? 

I started to get into producing. I produced my first film last August, Duchess,  where I play a diamond smuggler. I’ve done two films that are coming out. One is Where the Wind Blows, based on a book by Caroline Fyffe. That will come out in October of this year. It’s a love story set in 1890. Also, I have a horror movie coming out called 213 Bones where I play a professor where my students start getting murdered on campus. I also have my health and wellness retreats. I have one coming up on April 3-7 in Scottsdale.  I invite people to just get away. We do hiking, yoga, I have a lineup of guest speakers talking about mindfulness, health and wellness. We visited a horse farm. We have a health spa visit and dance party. We’re also going to be premiering my movie Where the Wind Blows. There is another one coming up in Ireland. 

So a lot going on. 

I also teach communications consulting to CEOs and leaders who want to become more versed in public speaking. As an introvert, I was also terrified about getting up and speaking in front of people. Acting classes and all of that has helped me stand up and speak confidently to a room full of people. My class is called “Beyond Impact,” basically an actor’s class for non-actors. I have my books I wrote. One is “Agile Artist: Life Lessons From Hollywood and Beyond.” It’s all about the things I’ve learned along the way while pursuing my dream of becoming a professional actor. One of the chapters in the book is called Free Ballin’. I talked about my testicular cancer and surgeries. I wrote a 90-day manifestation workbook, which helps you stay focused and connected to your goals on a deeper level of mind, body and spirit.

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