Following Luke Perry’s death, Upworthy shared an inspirational post about the late actor. In a satellite radio interview posted to YouTube by Sway’s Universe in 2013, Perry shared how his tenacity mixed with confidence helped him overcome 256 rejections and land his role on “90210.”
How Luke Perry Made it Through 256 Rejections
Read what he had to say below.
I just kept thinking, I just walked out of a room full of fools. Those people have no idea and you gotta keep telling yourself that because you gotta get back in the room. It’s like a horse. You fall of you’ve gotta keep getting back on. …
I was really starting to get quite a bit of an attitude at the end. Let’s say audition 250, I just walked in I’m going, ‘I know you’re gonna say no, just say it quickly so I can get to the next place.’
I knew everybody was going to turn me down, so I’m starting to get pissed off about it. And when I came in not expecting anything other than to be asked to leave, they sort of took notice of that and it changed the nature of the work I was doing.
I wasn’t going in trying to be the guy they wanted. I said, ‘Here’s what I do and if you want this, you call me. If you don’t want this you call somebody else. And I’m out.’
That enabled me to have the confidence to go in and it allowed me to feel like I was doing my work. I wasn’t trying to serve whatever idea they thought it was and that’s how I got 90210 and that’s what Aaron [Spelling] responded to. I wasn’t trying to do it like everyone else. I just said, ‘This is what I do — yes, no — I don’t care.’
Confidence is everything! You have to be yourself in order to succeed. Luke finally learned to understand that and made it work for him. He had an incredible career spanning decades and it’s because he stayed true to himself and what he could do as an actor.
Rest in paradise, Luke Perry!
