Luke Grimes Says Starting a Family Brings Him ‘More Joy Than Anything’ (Exclusive)

Luke Grimes may have captivated the hearts of viewers around the world Yellowstone – but his heart belongs to his ‘little’ family.

The actor and musician, 40, tells PEOPLE that amid his busy schedule wrapping up the hit western drama series, in which he plays Kayce Dutton, and working in his personal time as a professional musician, he continues to enjoy the ‘ life-changing’. aspects of being a father to a six-week-old son.

Grimes and his wife, Bianca Rodrigues Grimes – whom he reportedly tied the knot with on November 21, 2018 – welcomed their first child together last month, as shared in a heartwarming Instagram post from Bianca on October 17. “It was just magical to see,” he says of the experience of becoming a father.

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L-R: Luke Grimes as Kacey Dutton and Kelly Reilly as Beth Dutton in episode 512 of Paramount Network’s Yellowstone.

Decisive

Nevertheless, he says his trick to keeping it all together is to “just stay so in the moment,” no matter what’s going on in his personal and professional life.

“I know some of these things can be quite overwhelming when you think about them all at once,” he admits, emphasizing that “all I can do is just try to be present.”

For Grimes, “family has been very important since I was little.”

“I (have) a huge immediate family,” he shares. “I was the youngest of four. They all got married when I was very young. So by the time I had nieces and nephews, starting at age two, there was family everywhere. It was just kind of gone in Ohio and a Christian home, and that was always my basis.

Despite going to Hollywood to pursue his dreams — and still finding a way to connect with his loved ones “even over long distances” — Grimes says having a family of his own will one day be his “north star” in life remained.

“I knew I wanted to have my own family one day, and I knew that’s where real happiness would come from. The other stuff was just to pay the bills,” he jokes.

Ultimately, those “other things” (Yellowstone included) cannot, according to Grimes, compare to “having my own family… my real little family now brings me more joy than anything.”

For more on Luke Grimes and Yellowstone, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday.