A Real Prince Charming: Why Josh Dallas is the best and hottest TV dad (Interview)

Father’s Day is fast approaching, and what better way for us to celebrate than to highlight the best and hottest TV dad out there (in our humble opinion), Mr. Josh Dallas!?

Netflix Life had the opportunity to speak with the actor about his role on the ABC hit series Once Upon a Time (OUAT) where he played fan-favorite David Nolan/Prince Charming. And of course, Netflix fans are more than familiar with his character Ben Stone on Manifest.

The charming actor recently shared some Manifest season 4 teases with us (check out the interview!). Please note at the time of our interview, filming for the second half of episodes hadn’t started yet. But the cameras are now rolling once again for Manifest season 4 part 2!

This feature is all about Dallas’ favorite TV dad moments from both shows, who he thinks is the best dad on OUAT  (I think we all know the answer to this question!), and he provides some insight about the similarities and differences between Charming and Ben.

You can find the highlights of our chat with Dallas below, but be sure to also scroll down to the very end of the post where you’ll find the full 24-minute video interview!

Josh Dallas: A real Prince Charming

A look back at David/Charming

Many fans fell in love with this #CharmAttacker thanks to his role as the handsome David Nolan/Prince Charming on Once Upon a Time. Dallas swept us off our feet on the magical show for six seasons, and reprised his role in the series finale.

The fairytale series introduced us to a whole new and unique concept where Snow White and Prince Charming get married and have a daughter, Emma (played by actress Jennifer Morrison). The Evil Queen cast a curse on them and everyone who lives in the Enchanted Forest, sending the inhabitants to the Land Without Magic, aka our world.

Before the curse swept everyone away, Charming is able to send his daughter through a magical wardrobe. She’s destined to break the curse after 28 years, and one day find them once again. In the meantime as the citizens of the Enchanted Forest are stuck in Storybrooke, Maine, time is frozen, and they won’t remember their fairytale identities until the curse is broken.

“What an amazing world that was. It was always so great working with Jen Morrison, JMO as I call her. I love her so much and loved that dynamic, which could have been super bizarre because we were both the same age, but I was playing her father,” said Dallas. “I think David would look at her with a large amount of longing for everything that he missed out. He missed out on her life and missed out on her growing up. I think as the series moved on, he made a conscious decision to look at her not for what he missed out on, but for who she was then, or now. Who she was as a woman then and get to know her as she was and for the woman that she was to become. And I think that was a great choice that he made.”

Dallas continued, “I can remember so many moments in Once that were so great, dad moments. The one that immediately comes to mind was not with Jennifer Morrison. But when was a baby in the pilot episode. When he sword fights with her as a baby in his arms, I don’t think you can get anymore dad girl than that.”

Ben and fatherhood in Manifest season 4

Dallas believes his OUAT character and Ben Stone do have similar elements to their personalities, like putting their families first. But he said Charming thought “more globally” while Ben is “more blinkered” and singular about things. And that’s going to play a part in Manifest season 4.

“In Manifest, it’s different because it’s so fraught. There are moments that come in and out, little moments. They never are allowed to land for very long before something comes up. But I think Ben is so protective and so proud of his kids. But I think he has a harder time showing it,” said Dallas. “He’s so afraid to relax because he doesn’t feel that they’re out of the woods, he doesn’t feel like he has the answer yet. And I think there’s something in him that keeps him from enjoying the present with them. And maybe that’s a lesson he needs to learn through all of this. Maybe that’s what it’s trying to teach him. I don’t know we’ll find out.”

Coincidentally, there are also some similarities between Emma and Ben’s daughter, Olive. Both lost years with their fathers. And when their dads are suddenly in their lives, it was a difficult adjustment because they’d already grown up.

“I think David/Charming got there a lot quicker. I think it’s just harder, it’s more complicated for Ben. And Olive and Cal and Eden,” said Dallas. “Of course, at the end of season 3, Eden is now ripped away from him, as well as his wife. It’s just a very complicated situation for him to just kind of let go and be with them. Because he’s always trying to fix and find and figure out.”

A real-life fairytale

In the second half of the fantasy drama’s third season, OUAT wrote in the real-life pregnancy of actress Ginnifer Goodwin, who played the Snow White to Dallas’ Prince Charming. It turned out there was some real magic as Dallas and Goodwin are true loves as well! The couple married in April 2014.

The two welcomed both of their sons while filming the show. Oliver Finlay Dallas was born in May 2014, and Hugo Wilson Dallas arrived in June 2016.

“I think it comes naturally, at least it did for me when I had kids is that utter devotion that you have to your children and the love like you have never felt before,” said Dallas. “And Charming definitely had that and Ben Stone definitely has that and you just acquire it. You can’t help it. It just hits you naturally, this unbelievable love that you have for these humans that come into your life. I think that idea of always being there when they need you and being present is something I definitely learned from playing David in OUAT. About being there, being present, being available for your kids.”

Hardcore Oncers may have noticed that every time Charming hugged Emma, he would cradle the back of her head. At first, that wasn’t a conscious acting choice on Dallas’ end.

“It was something that happened automatically. And as soon as I did it I thought, ‘Oh, that feels familiar, that feels the same.’ And I was like, I’m just going to keep this in as a little nod, a little honoring of OUAT,“ said Dallas. “I just wanted a little callback to it. For people that are in the know they would see that.”

When asked who was the best dad on the show — between himself, Killian Jones/Captain Hook, and Robin Hood — there was only one right answer to this question!

“I’m going to say Charming, of course. I think Hook will and did make an excellent father. And Robin Hood was a great dad, too. They were all kind of great dads I think in the end,” said Dallas. “But you know, if I’ve gotta say which one is the best, I’m going to have to say Charming.”

Actors Colin O’Donoghue and Sean Maguire definitely melted our hearts alongside Dallas. But we can’t forget about his lovely Manifest co-stars J.R. Ramirez and Matt Long.

“Oh my god, the handsome that comes off the screen on those two. I mean, it’s unfair,” said Dallas.

Rapid fire questions:

• Favorite dwarf: Grumpy
• Favorite junk food: Kabob
• Favorite childhood TV show: The Wonder Years
• If he could go back in time to relive a moment from either show: The Manifest pilot when Vance delivers the news to the passengers that they’ve been missing for five and a half years

Of course Dallas oozes handsomeness whether he’s clean shaven or rocking a beard. But it seems like if it was up to his wife, the beard is a definite winner! Manifesters know we’re going to see Ben’s grief beard in the fourth season, and someone at home was very happy with it.

“She loved the grief beard, she wanted me to keep the grief beard. She wanted me to keep it growing as long as possible,” said Dallas. “It’s her weird — it was definitely her kink.”

Manifest seasons 1-3 are now streaming on Netflix.