I literally was saved by a role, from becoming a cab driver. I never did have to wait tables, though, so looking back I guess I had it pretty soft.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I'm one of the only actresses in Los Angeles who has never waited tables - yet - and I'm so terrible at holding trays. When we shot the 'Vampire Diaries' pilot, I totally spilled water all down Nina Dobrev, and she had to get her hair and make-up redone.
With 'Taxi Driver,' I had this eureka moment. I realized that acting could be much more than what I had been doing. I had to build a character that wasn't me.
'Taxi Driver' was one of the happiest moments of my career.
I think I have a duty as a recovering guy to help, to make my knowledge of what I went through accessible.
There are a lot of people who wait tables. And especially because you can do it at night and you can do your work in the day, she and I had a very similar experience.
In my thirties, I felt I had hold of one of the reins some of the time.
It changed my life in a lot of ways - before I got that role I was just going from job to job, not really having enough money to be able to do what I wanted to do.
I waited tables in New York, and when you're in that line of work, you often have a horrible boss.
I was a horrible limo driver: I ran out of gas with passengers in the back and I used to get lost on a regular basis.
My whole thing is I just always wanted to be a working actor and I just wanted to stop waiting tables.