13 Actors Who Opened Up About The Jobs That Changed Their Lives Because They Were Running Out Of Money

Before landing an audition for Schitt's Creek, Annie Murphy revealed she had "like $3 in [her] bank account" and her house had just burned down.

1. First, before starring in The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement, Chris Pine had around negative $400 dollars in his bank account. He was on the verge of asking his parents for money when he booked the movie and got $65,000. Chris recalled, "It was like they had just told me I'd made $50 million. It was absolutely earth-shattering."

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Chris told the story of finding out he booked The Princess Diaries 2, saying, "It was the height of summer, and I was getting off at Magnolia. I was on my little Verizon tiny little flip phone, my silver one and I got a call from my agents that I booked the job. I pulled over onto the side of the freeway, and they said, 'You're getting paid $65,000.'"

He continued, saying, "I just remembered distinctly knowing in that moment that my life had changed somehow. That [money] lasted no time at all, and I owed my parents rent money. But that is a wild feeling. I'll never forget that."

2. Kat Graham said that before she booked The Vampire Diaries, she "had 86 cents to [her] name." Although Kat had appeared in a few things as a child, she recalled being around 13 years old when "things got really difficult" for her and her mom.

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She continued saying, "We did not have a lot of money, and I had to work harder because I saw my mom, who's so brilliant, so fierce, struggle."

Kat went on to star in 171 episodes of The Vampire Diaries as Bonnie Bennett. The show ran from 2009 to 2017.

3. Annie Murphy had "like $3 in [her] bank account" right before getting the audition for Schitt's Creek. At the same time, her house had just burned down, and she contemplated quitting acting because she "hadn't worked in close to two years."

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Originally, Annie auditioned for the role of Stevie because Abby Elliott was attached to play Alexis. However, when Abby had to drop out of the show, Dan Levy saw an opportunity to cast Annie as Alexis. Annie recalled, "Thank God she was a successful actress who had other things to do. I owe my career to Abby's career."

Annie went on to win an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for the final season of Schitt's Creek.

4. Charlize Theron was actually discovered by a talent agent while trying to cash a check from a modeling job at a bank. The bank teller refused to cash the out-of-state check, so they got into an argument. She recalled, "The bank wouldn’t accept it — and I really needed the money."

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Charlize had moved to Hollywood at 18 years old with just $400 and one suitcase. She got by on a few modeling jobs before being discovered at the bank. She said, "I was begging and pleading, and a gentleman came over and tried to help...What I didn't know is that I was auditioning for a guy who would end up being my manager."

Eventually, talent agent John Crosby got her a series of small roles, with one of her earliest being in Tom Hanks' That Thing You Do! 

5. Before selling his script for Rocky (1976), Sylvester Stallone was out of money and had to sell his dog Butkus "for $40 in front of a 7-Eleven store because [he] couldn't afford food." After he sold Rocky, Sylvester bought Butkus back.

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"I could buy him back, but the new owner knew I was desperate and charged me $15,000 … He was worth every penny!" Sly wrote in an Instagram post. Butkus even appeared in Rocky as the dog Adrian gifts to Rocky.

Of course, Rocky went on to be a massive success and even spawned four sequel movies, as well as the Creed movie franchise.

6. Chrissy Metz had only 81 cents in her bank account before landing her breakout role as Kate Pearson on This Is Us in 2016. She recalled finding out you need at least 20 cents in your bank account for a gas pump to process your credit card, so she had just enough money to pay for gas to get to the audition for This Is Us.

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Chrissy said she left the audition, sat in her car, and a few minutes later she got the call that she had officially been cast as Kate.

Around the same time, Chrissy said she was also $12,000 in debt, between owing her friends and two credit card companies, and she was around two months behind on her car payment. After her first paycheck for This Is Us came through, she said, "I was able to make payments of $100 a month because I had a steady income."

7. Richard Madden spoke candidly about how he was living on "five bucks a day" before booking the role of Robb Stark on Game of Thrones. Richard said he often had to choose between buying "one meal or a newspaper and a pint."

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"Then I got that [Game of Thrones] phone call, and I was on my last month's rent," he explained. "Got that phone call, which was great, and asked my agent for an advance and that helped me get through the next little bit." He said if he didn't book Game of Thrones he would've had to move back in with his parents.

Richard went on to star in 22 episodes of Game of Thrones between 2011 and 2013.

8. Taraji P. Henson notably moved to Hollywood with only $700, all while her son, Marcell, was only 1 year old. She booked a series of small TV roles, and her breakthrough roles were when she starred in Hustle & Flow in 2005 and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button in 2008.

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Since then, Taraji has spoken openly about how tough the acting industry is and still feels like she isn't compensated fairly. In a recent interview, she said, "I’m just tired of working so hard, being gracious at what I do [and] getting paid a fraction of the cost."

She continued, adding, "Every time I do something and break another glass ceiling when it’s time to renegotiate, I’m at the bottom again like I never did what I just did, and I’m tired. I’m tired."

9. Matt LeBlanc revealed that before being cast as Joey Tribbiani on Friends, he was "down to $11" in his bank account. He explained, "That’s holding out too long. Because even if I said at that point, 'All right, I’m going to go get a waiter job,' by the time that $11 ran out, it would have been before the first paycheck on that job. I would have starved."

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Reportedly, the cast of Friends, who were all pretty unknown actors except for Courteney Cox, made only $22,500 per episode. 

Of course, Matt went on to star in 234 episodes of Friends between 1994 and 2004. Eventually, the main cast notably negotiated a $1 million per episode deal in 2002 for the later seasons.

10. While auditioning for Josie in Riverdale, Ashleigh Murray said she only had $12 in her bank account and was $4,700 behind on rent. She recalled having the ask her mom for just an extra $5 so she could buy groceries after her audition.

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A little while later, Ashleigh said she got a call from her agent that they were interested in her for the role, but she had to go through a series of more auditions, namely with Warner Bros., the studio behind Riverdale.

She added, "This was my first big audition for pilot season, and I was so broke. I didn’t have money to do my laundry, so I was washing my clothes in my bathroom sink. And then, I ran up the street and begged the guy at the laundry mat that I go to all the time to please let me dry my clothes there because I had a big audition the next morning. So, he let me dry my clothes for free."

11. Dwayne Johnson initially played for the Canadian Football League and ended up on the practice squad, which only paid $250 a week. Shortly later, he was cut from the team and had barely any money to get by. He recalled, "I looked in my picket, and I had seven bucks. Wow. Seven bucks to my name." In need of money, this is when Dwayne followed in his father and grandfather's footsteps and began wrestling.

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Dwayne took on the moniker "Rocky Maivia" and eventually became "The Rock."

Of course, Dwayne eventually became a very successful actor, and he even named his multi-platform production company "Seven Bucks Productions" in reference to the amount of money he had left before his big break.

12. Andie MacDowell headed for NYC to start her career with only $2,000, which didn't last very long. While she scored some modeling jobs, her dream was always to be an actor. Eventually, she landed a string of movie roles like Four Weddings and a Funeral.

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Andie also talked candidly about her upbringing and how her mother had an alcohol addiction. In order to make ends meet, they both worked at McDonald's together when she was 16 years old.

Speaking about booking Four Weddings and a Funeral, she said, "[It] was a luxury. The settings were so romantic, the writing was perfect, and Hugh [Grant] was such a talent to be working next to."

13. And finally, David Oyelowo candidly spoke about how he and his wife hit "rock bottom" when they moved from London to Los Angeles. "It got pretty dark for a moment. I’ll never forget my wife and I got down to our last $3," he recalled.

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Speaking about their financial hardships, David said, "And the reason I know it was $3 is because I remember standing in our house and giving her $2 and, almost symbolically, keeping the extra dollar in my wallet. And just feeling like, 'What did we do coming here? What were we thinking?'"