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Actress Lana Parrilla recently opened up about being “homeless” early in her career, which left her with no choice but to live in her car, an experience that “terrifies” the actress up to this day, she said.
In a sneak peek of her appearance in the latest episode of the I’ve Never Said This Before podcast by host Tommy DiDario, which is set to air on Tuesday, May 28, Parrilla was seen getting candid about the time she was so broke that living in her car was the only thing she could afford. She said that during this time, she was also couch surfing in her friends’ homes.
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Recalling the experience she had living alone and far away from her family, she said:
“There was a time, early on [in] my career, and it was very early on, I was living on my own, like 19 years old. It was a really hard time. My family and I were in different places, and I was kind of left on my own.”
A closer look at Lana Parrilla’s acting career amid latest podcast revelation
The One Upon a Time alum explained on the podcast that she began living by herself when she was still in school and trying to break into her acting career. Parrilla opened up about how difficult it was to support herself while also “chasing after a dream.” She added:
“I had to drop out of college, which broke my heart and I had to figure out how to make more money to support myself.”
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The situation was so difficult that Lana Parrilla ended up homeless, she said. Recalling that time in her life, the actress noted:
“[And] so I was living out of my car for a couple of months. I was, like, staying on the floor at friends’ places in their little apartments.”
Parrilla further added that it was an experience she will never forget and something that “terrifies [her] to this day.” She continued:
“There’s always like a little part of me, in the back of my head, that’s like, ‘Oh my god, don’t ever stop working so hard.”
The actress mentioned that she doesn’t want to experience the same thing she did when she was a teenager.
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Early in her career, Lana Parrilla guest starred in numerous television dramas, including JAG, Six Feet Under, and Medium, before becoming a regular cast member in the ABC sitcom Spin City from 2000 to 2001.
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Parrilla also starred in several TV shows and films throughout her career, including Very Mean Men (2000), Spider (2000), Boomtown (2002-2003), Frozen Stars (2003), Windfall (2006), Swingtown (2008), and The Defenders (2010).
She, landed her breakout role when she was cast as the Regina Mills/The Evil Queen in the fantasy drama series Once Upon a Time for ABC. She later won a Teen Choice Award for Choice TV Actress: Fantasy/Sci-Fi for her role in the show, which aired from 2011 to 2018.
More recently, she joined Jennifer Lopez and Simu Liu in the American science-fiction film Atlas as Val Shepherd. The film, directed by Brad Peyton, aired Friday, May 24, 2024, and is currently available for streaming on Netflix.
