His real-life role as a husband to actress Sarah Shahi ( The L Word) and coparent to three children is key to how he reflects on his relationships with the characters in Shameless. You can have a sip of the beer, but you can’t have the whole beer,” the 40-year-old actor said with a laugh to The Advocate. With absent parents, the eldest siblings bear the responsibility of raising the younger children, forfeiting their own goals in the process. The entirety of the show is centered around the Gallagher family, whose problems stemming from their absent alcoholic father have caused issues both monetarily and of the health variety for the five children. Showtime’s Shameless is no stranger to fights between about fathers and changes of heart.
He’s a father, and a father-figure in real life as well as in the troubled fiction he portrays. His young fans on social media love to call him “zaddy,” or daddy with swagger, but he’s more than just your dad-kink fantasy. Steve Howey, who brings Kev to life on Shameless, is best known for this combination of masculine demeanor, naivety, and heart of gold that he has mastered onscreen in roles in shows like Reba and films like Supercross, See You in Valhalla, and the upcoming Game Over Man. This moment of zen is a short-lived retrospective to a prior incident - when Kev accidentally fired a gun he took from Mickey, in order to take back money Mickey stole. Amidst the bloody brawl, Kev holds a standing meditation pose behind the bar. A big old ‘mo.” Mickey’s homophobic father, just released from prison hours prior, leaps over the bar, fists ablaze, to punch his son in the face. Ian gives Mickey the ultimatum of coming out or breaking up, and so Mickey announces “I’m fucking gay. Shortly after this moment of heart, the bar breaks out in a fight. Mickey, masked in his own masculinity, fearful of what kindness could indicate, asks him what that even means. “I’m just trying to put everything in the past, OK? I’m a ‘conscientious objector’ now.” Kevin says. Kev fills Mickey’s flimsy paper plate with corn beef - an act of kindness - and Mickey asks him why. At this moment, the venue hosts an after party for the baptism to the son of Mickey Milkovich, a juvenile delinquent and (secret) boyfriend to one of the show’s troubled leads, Ian Gallagher. The bar is known to have housed undocumented Russian women upstairs, who pay rent through sex work. In a memorable scene in Shameless - Showtime's long-running dramedy about a dysfunctional family - bartender Kevin Ball (Steve Howey), or Kev, stands behind his bar, bulging muscle and bravado in South Side Chicago.