Before her days as supermom Kristina Braverman on "Parenthood," Monica Potter was a struggling soap actress. In fact, she played Sharon Newman before Sharon Case took over the role.
"I worked on 'The Young And The Restless,' and I was fired because I was terrible," Potter told Craig Ferguson in a 2010 interview (below) at the 4:23 mark. "I had to dance in like a bathing suit and, you know, they put all this paint on you, like you're supposed to be tan and there's music in the background, but there's not really music ... I just couldn't do it."
Check out the full photo of Potter in her early soap days below:
Luckily, Potter's luck has turned around since her soap days. The actress went on to have a successful film career in the early 2000s. But in between that time and when she landed her "Parenthood" role, she moved back to her hometown due to a messy divorce, which ended up being a blessing in disguise.
"Four years later, I woke up one morning and said, 'I have to go back to California because I have to work and support the kids ... Within three months of being back [in LA], I got a phone call that my father died," Potter said in Variety's Emmy Studio Supporting Actress Drama panel discussion. "So that was the purpose, just being back there for those years ... I would never, ever, ever, ever give up that time back in Cleveland with my parents, with my dad -- and my boys with my father -- for anything ... It's kind of cool to have gotten a second chance to come back and do television."
