Aug 19, 2007, 7:00 GMT
Clive Owen admits Hollywood was "soul destroying" when he first went there.
The 'Sin City' star moved to Los Angeles in the mid-90s to become a film star but found Tinseltown a tough nut to crack.
Owen said: "It was soul destroying. I hated it. You're not meeting the creative people, you're meeting the assistant to the assistant and she's having a quick f***ing check of your CV as you come in the door. I didn't want to hustle for small parts in big, bad films."
The 'Closer' actor admits it was a big struggle to break into acting even before he had ambitions of making it in Hollywood.
He said: "In a careers lesson when I said I wanted to be an actor the teacher openly encouraged the other kids to laugh.
"I left school, got a flat in Coventry and spent two years unemployed.
"Suddenly becoming an actor felt like a long way off and I panicked. So I moved to London and everything changed. It was very liberating, very exciting."
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