It is impossible for actors not to have a “worst audition” story after years of trying out for roles — but some stand out more than others.
Matt LeBlanc‘s worst audition earned him the role of Joey Tribbiani on Friends, one of his most famous characters to this day.
“I remember I had gone in a bunch of times and I think it was on the final callback, I had gone with a friend of mine to run lines,” LeBlanc recalled during the highly anticipated Friends reunion, which debuted on HBOMax in May 2021. “And he said, ‘So the show is about friends and being friends? Just a group of friends?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, kinda!’ And he was like, ‘Well, we should go out drinking.’ I was like, ‘Yeah, that’s a good idea!’”
However, it turned out not to be such a good idea.
“To make a long story short, I woke up in the middle of the night at his apartment and had to go to the bathroom,” LeBlanc explained. “I got up too fast and I can’t believe I’m telling this, but I kind of blacked out — as you do — and fell face-first into the toilet, hit my nose on the bottom of the toilet seat, and a huge chunk of meat came off my nose. And I’m looking in the mirror, it’s bleeding, and I’m like, ‘Oh, my God. I have to go in for the big callback and [there’s] a big ugly scab on my nose.’”
As luck would have it, the co-creator of the show, Marta Kaufmann, found the story behind the injury so true to Joey’s character that it scored LeBlanc the role.
Scroll down for more fascinating worst audition stories that actors have shared from their pasts:
