Milo Ventimiglia "couldn’t get hired" for "one entire year" following the end of his role on ‘Heroes’.
The 41-year-old actor starred as Peter Petrelli on the NBC drama series from 2006 to 2010, and says he very nearly walked away from Hollywood after the show ended, because he found it impossible to get hired for anything else for "one calendar year".
He said: "I’ve had moments where I’ve had to pick myself up. Probably in my early 30s, I couldn’t get hired in town. I really couldn’t. That was back in the ‘Heroes’ days. I did not work for one calendar year. One entire year, I couldn’t get a job.
"I was really having to re-evaluate what I was going to be doing because, you know, it’s a profession. You need to feed yourself and clothe yourself and have a roof over your head. I was starting to see those things minimise."
The ‘This Is Us’ star was even planning on moving to Italy to find work on a farm.
He continued: "I was gonna cash in and move to Italy on my European passport and find a farm to work on and buzz my head, and grow a beard and ride a motorcycle, and just live a quiet life."
Luckily though, the actor began getting cast again after he was "pretty close" to jumping on a plane, when he received roles in ‘That’s My Boy’, ‘Kiss of the Damned’, and ‘Static’, which he also produced.
Now, Milo is in high demand, and the actor says he tries to keep himself focused on "this exact moment".
Speaking to ‘Access’, he said: "I look at it like I’m a shark that just has to keep swimming or I die. So if I stop, if I stop for a moment to understand where I am or how I’m here or what I’ve done to get here – no, no, no just be here.
"Just be here. Be here in this exact moment that you’re in right now because nothing else matters."