"Had a very challenging time"— Jessica Biel recalls almost quitting Hollywood till producing The Sinner

American actress Jessica Biel recently opened up about her experience of being ready to quit Hollywood if the anthology series, The Sinner, which her production company made, was not successful. On Wednesday, May 15, 2025, the 42-year-old appeared on an episode of The Bright Side podcast.

She spoke about her production company, Iron Ocean Studios, which she co-founded with producer Michelle Purple, not finding much success for the first ten years. The actress began by saying,

"I've had this production company with my partner, Michelle Purple, for 20 years. I started it with her when I was 22 and for the first 10 years, we had almost no success at all. We had a very challenging time getting any story told."

She said she would quit her career if the show did not succeed. Jessica then admitted that the production company has “absolutely” been “a very humbling experience", along with her acting career.

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Jessica Biel was planning on "quitting" Hollywood before success of The Sinner

Jessica Biel and her friend Michelle Purple founded Iron Ocean Studios in 2007 and the actress noted that things were looking down until the company was "introduced to The Sinner." The TV series revolved around Bill Pullman as Detective Harry Ambrose who investigated various atrocious murder cases.

Jessica Biel expressed on The Bright Side podcast on Spotify that the production company was not doing well and it was “a labor of love” for quite some time. The actress revealed that at the time, she had decided to quit her career if the series did not sell. She said,

"When we were actually selling that show, Michelle and I looked at each other and she said, ‘If we don't sell this show, I'm quitting.’ And I said, ‘Me too, I'm quitting. I'm not doing this. I don't know – if this show doesn't sell, I don't know what people want, I don't know what to bring them. I don't understand this business anymore. I just don't get it anymore.’ And then we sold it in the room."

The Sinner began as an 8-part mini-series, and premiered to critical acclaim and high ratings. The success led to USA Network changing and extending the anthology series to four seasons, which aired from August 2, 2017, to December 1, 2021. Jessica Biel spoke about the experience and added,

"I don't find that my industry — or, being an actor or producer — is easy in any way, shape, or form. It is so much blood, sweat and tears that you put into getting these projects made, and so many of the things we work on never, ever come to fruition.”

Jessica Biel starred in the first season of the show as Cora Tannetti, a married woman and mother of one, who murders someone. She earned her first-ever Golden Globe and Emmy nominations for her role. Biel spoke in an interview with People in 2018 about “floating on air” following her Emmy nomination. She said,

“It’s absolutely thrilling. I’m just so thankful to be thought of and included in this amazing group of women and great community of people. It’s just wonderful. Working in television now is such a different thing than it was back then."

She continued:

"There’s so much opportunity and there are so many people that want to take risks and give women the kind of opportunities that we’ve been dying for and dreaming about our whole career."

Iron Ocean went on to produce Candy for Hulu and Cruel Summer.

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All four seasons of The Sinner series are available on Netflix.