NBC
Before landing the role of a lifetime, Matt LeBlancwas getting down to his last dollars.
As the Friends alum recalled to Conan O’Brien on Thursday night’s Conan, money was dangerously tight before his big break.
“You know when you think, ‘Alright, I got a little money in the bank. I can hold out until the next gig,'” the actor said. “I think I was down to $11…now, that’s holding out too long.”
The star acknowledged, “I would have starved.” Fortunately, a little bit of luck was on the broke struggling actor’s side because he ultimately landed the role of struggling actor Joey Tribbiani and starred on the iconic tv series for a decade.
Until then, however, he made it work with whatever he had. During his appearance on the late-night talk show, he recalled going to get headshot taken when he suddenly had to channel his inner dentist.
As LeBlanc recalled, the photographer suggested he go see a dentist to have one of his front teeth filed before they took the portraits because it was longer than the other. After visiting a dentist and learning he would have to pay somewhere around $80 for the filing, he opted out and instead headed to a drugstore. There, he picked up a pack of emery boards and filed away.
“I’m very frugal,” the actor noted.
However, the best part of the story was the photographer’s reaction. “He goes, ‘They did a nice job.'”