Steve Schirripa was welcomed to Blue Bloods like family. In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE, the actor, 67, opens up about how the cast of the CBS show treated him when he joined the series in 2015 to portray Detective Anthony Abetemarco. "It was a very close-knit group, really, a nice group of people," Schirripa says.

"I didn't know anyone, so it’s strange when you're stepping in and everyone knows each other, and you're the new guy." "But they treated me like one of them from day one," adds the star, who recently partnered with Freshpet for a new ad.