Shannon Purser Quotes

Before 'The OC,' I was on track to do some great films... and one thing happens, and then I got this mega-stardom all from this show.

I was just this kid from Colorado studying theater, and suddenly I was on a hit TV show.

I still don't know how I became famous. It all happened so fast.

My very first acting job ever, the first time I got paid to be an actress, was in 2001, right between my sophomore and junior year in college, when I was just 19 years old. I got paid $250 every two weeks, 10 shows a week, to be in the Utah Shakespearean Festival. I was Calpurnia in 'Julius Caesar.'

I was an overnight sensation.

My first job was playing 'Nurse 2' in a film by Ben Elton called 'Maybe Baby,' and the first actors I worked with professionally were Hugh Laurie and Joely Richardson. I was totally star-struck. I got that job on my final day of drama school, so it was a nice bridge into the professional world.

I never, in my wildest dreams, could I have thought that the first role I get out of school would lead to an Oscar nomination.

The Famous Amos Chocolate Chip Cookie was an unexpected, unplanned pop culture phenomena. My father went from star-maker to star.

Only the film industry can make you an overnight success. Unlike other jobs where you have to work your way up, here you can reach dizzying heights of fame instantly.

My iPhone was blowing up with notifications that I had became a superstar overnight. It changed my life and I was hiding after that to avoid unnecessary talk.

When I walked through the gate, Universal quit building actors. All of a sudden, I was doing leading roles. I knew I was a tyro, but they told me to shut up and act.

Really, I've been working forever, just doing music, and then all of a sudden, out of the blue, everybody is just on it.

'Mahadev' got me most recognition. But I have to say that post 'Kyunki'... I was offered everything under the sun. Being an outsider, who didn't have to work too hard, I was overwhelmed.

I was really young when I signed with Spinnin' Records, and the huge success of 'Animals' hit me by surprise. I didn't expect my life to turn like that at all. But it was a very welcome surprise, to say the least!

Normally you're 21 years old and you look like Tom Cruise and you do a couple underwear commercials first and then you're a movie star. That didn't happen for me. So it was all quite overwhelming.

The first important movie that I did, I shaved my head for the movie. When the hair grew back, I had white hair for the first time in my life.

The first time I ever actually had a line was on 'A Different World', my best friend Cree Summer's show. I was in L.A. visiting her, and she said, 'Hey, there's a walk-on part, why don't you audition for it?'

One line on a Tom Selleck sitcom does not a career make.

I landed the female lead role on 'Chuck' within three days of landing in L.A., so it was a little overwhelming, and I definitely felt like I got thrown into the deep end.

I was, like, 28 or 29 when I finally was on camera for the first time.

I'm the only one in the family who stumbled into acting.

Werner Herzog, when I auditioned for 'Bad Lieutenant,' he had never seen any of my films. He thought I was this actress living in New Orleans and it was my first job.

It took eight years for DDP Yoga to become an overnight sensation.

People thought we were a joke because we got noticed so fast.

I was just 19 years old when I did my first film and had no plan to act, or to become an actor. It was like a paid holiday so that I could earn good pocket money and then party more with my friends.