Actors who almost left Hollywood before their big break
1.
Lily Gladstone was on the verge of quitting acting before she received an email from Martin Scorsese asking to meet her. “You just wonder if it’s going to be sustainable,” she told The Hollywood Reporter. “So I took out my credit card and signed up for a data analysis course.” Shortly after meeting, she landed her breakout role Moonflower Killers.
2.
Cara Jade Myers also considered quitting acting to focus on her writing career before booking a supporting role in it Moonflower Killers. “Then the audition I thought I lost in 2019 came back. I couldn’t believe it,” she wrote in an article for Backstage magazine. “Then came a phone call, followed by an audition with a legendary director. After that, I was in a Zoom room with four other women doing chemistry readings. Then I got a call: I’ve booked the job. I wish I remembered what I said after ‘Congratulations,’ but I was… I’m crying so hard. It’s been a long, hard journey, but I’ve reached the next part of my journey.
3.
Jacob El Wardi was living in his car and only had about $400 to $800 left in his bank account after the filming. Kissing booth. He planned to return home to Australia to work and recover from Hollywood, but he ended up landing his breakout role as Nate Jacobs. trance. “I was really lucky, and it’s just an L.A. story, you know?” He told GQ.
4.
After years of struggling to find work, William Jackson Harper was “at peace” with no longer allowing theater and acting to be at the center of his life. He thought he had one more pilot season left in him, and he ended up auditioning for the role of Chidi Anagonye in The good place. He went on to play the role for four seasons and was nominated for an Emmy Award for his performance on the show.
5.
Gal Gadot told her husband that she wasn’t sure acting was for her before she landed her breakout role as Wonder Woman. I told Access Hollywood“, “There’s a lot of rejection in this profession, and it got to a point where I was thinking, ‘Is it really worth it?’ We were in L.A. on a trip, and I was saying to my husband, “Look, we’re here now, but we’re leaving in two weeks… I don’t know if we’ll come back. I don’t know.” “I don’t know if I want to pursue (acting).” And then, within those two weeks, I got… Wonder Woman Audition… Isn’t it crazy how the world and the universe work?”
6.
Max Greenfield was having trouble finding work, so he called his friend Todd Milliner, who produced the series hot in cleveland, He is seeking a clerical job. Todd told him to wait a little longer, and Max thought it best to stick with the few auditions he had left – one of which was for the role of Schmidt in New girl. He then starred in the series for seven seasons.
7.
Melissa McCarthy made a promise to herself that if she didn’t make it in Hollywood by the time she turned 30, she would switch to a new career path. Then, a few days before her 30th birthday, she got the call saying she had landed the role of Sookie St. James. Gilmore Girls. She told Howard Stern, “(Gilmore Girls) lasted for seven years. It was the first time I felt like I could say I was an actress because… I quit my nanny jobs, I quit all the production jobs. Gilmore GirlsThe star continued Mike and Molly And many other films, becoming one of the biggest names in comedy.
8.
Monique Coleman was ready to give up her acting dreams by the time she was called back for a role High school musical. “I was going through a period that a lot of actors go through, where you’re about to give up because it doesn’t seem like it’s going to happen for you,” she told BuzzFeed. She ended up starring in all three HSM Movies like Taylor McKessie, and guest starred in the Disney+ series High School Musical: The Musical: The Series.
9.
Joshua Bassett remembers being very frustrated with Hollywood after getting “really close” to roles before finding out someone else got the job. “It was, like test after test, I’m getting really close to things, and the reason I didn’t always get them was ridiculous. It was either someone had a bigger social media platform or some ridiculous reason,” he said. Access Hollywood. “I was feeling so down, and I remember saying to my parents, ‘The fun (of acting) is over. I don’t enjoy it anymore. It’s not something I want to do.’ And he (was) like, ‘You’ve gone this far, why don’t you wait it out for a month?’ So I said: Well, well. …I was ready to quit that day.” About a month later, he auditioned for his breakout role of Ricky Bowen High School Musical: The Musical: The Series.
10.
Eric Stonestreet was really thinking about quitting acting and becoming a janitor butcher. “I actually had one of the biggest and lowest valleys about two months before I took the test modern family,“I was really deciding, am I going to stay in it, because I have enough traction and… casting directors know me, and I’ve created enough of a career for myself that I can probably stick around,” he said in a 2017 interview. “Do I do that, or do I split up now and start Stonestreet Meats or something I wanted to do?” A friend convinced him to keep acting a little longer, and soon after, he got the role of Cam Tucker. modern family, A role that earned him an Emmy Award.
11.
Annie Murphy recalled that her life was “pretty bleak” before she got her breakout role Schitt’s Creek. “My house had just burned down, and I had $3 in my bank account…and I hadn’t worked in almost two years,” she told Kelly Clarkson. “I found myself crying into the Pacific Ocean, a very snotty cry, and the universe was saying: ‘Don’t do this anymore!’ This is not for you!” Two days later, I got the test Schitt’s Creek.“She ended up winning an Emmy for her performance in the series.
12.
KiKi Layne was feeling very frustrated after moving to Los Angeles and struggling to find work, so she borrowed some tarot cards from a friend in hopes that they would give her some sort of guidance on what to do next. “I grabbed these cards, knowing nothing about tarot; all I know is that a lot of the cards I saw, that I was pulling myself, were cards that my friend had pulled for me a few months ago,” she told Tamron Hall. “I just saw…a repeat of some of those messages I got earlier in the year, (that said), ‘Yes, I’m supposed to be here. I’m supposed to make this move. And that’s it.’ “Just two weeks later, she got an audition for her breakout role in the film If Beale Street could talk.
13.
Hong Zhao said that she was on the verge of quitting acting several times throughout her career before she got a role in it Downsizing. “I have thought about quitting smoking many times because I have been doing it for 10 years now Downsizing She told E! News: “This is only my second film. Every now and then, something comes along that will keep you there for another while, like a few months before you want to quit again. Fortunately, I didn’t give up, and I stuck with it.” She continued acting in films such as: food menu And WhaleThe latter received an Oscar nomination.
14.
Rashida Jones was seriously planning to go back to school and leave Hollywood behind. “I said to myself, ‘I will take more auditions, and then I will look at this application to graduate school more seriously,’” she said in a letter. Off camera with Sam Jones interview. “I was co-producing a film at the time, and I was also thinking about going back to school, maybe getting a degree in public policy or law or business, and then, you know, having a break.” Soon after, she got the role of Karen Filippelli the deskand went on to star as Anne Perkins Parks and entertainment resorts.
15.
Finally, Laverne Cox recalled feeling “devastated” when she turned 40 and her acting dreams had yet to come true. She was also deeply in debt and considered quitting acting altogether. “I was behind on my rent on my apartment, I was behind on rent, I was in all kinds of debt, and I was actually going to give up acting,” she said during the Paley Center’s Pride Month panel. However, she ended up getting the role of Sophia Orange is the new blackand became the first transgender person to be nominated for a prime-time Emmy.
