Samuel L. Jackson used to turn up to auditions with a solid hangover and stinking of alcohol.
The 64-year-old (when did he get that old?) is one of the most wanted actors across the globe by producers but admits his career got off to a slow start because he was an alcoholic and using drugs which affected his abilities as a performer.
Appearing on 'This Morning', he said: 'I was doing a lot of drugs and doing a lot of drinking because I had a theatre teacher at university who said, 'If you want to be one of the great ones, you have to learn how to handle your alcohol and do all these other things while you're performing'... and we took that to heart and we did it. So maybe when I went to auditions I smelt of alcohol and my eyes were a little red and I didn't get specific jobs, but I continued to do what I was doing.'
Jackson even overdosed several times on heroin in the 1990s and then got hooked on cocaine and was later admitted to a rehab clinic in New York City, but believes his stint in the treatment facility helped him land the role as a cocaine addict in 'Jungle Fever', which kick-started his career.
Jackson - who is currently involved in the One for the Boys men's health campaign - explained: 'I hid it quite well, because everyone was quite shocked when I went into rehab ... but amazingly enough when I did go to rehab the job came along that propelled me into Hollywood - 'Jungle Fever' - and it was almost a carbon copy of what I'd been doing with my life anyway, so I'd done the research.'
And here's us thinking he always had his head screwed on. Suppose that character in Pulp Fiction had to come from somewhere.
