Chris Pine Says Losing Major Acting Role Due To Acne Was 'Traumatic'

Chris Pine is reflecting on not making the cut to star in the hit US teen drama The O.C. because of his skin problems. 

The Star Trek actor’s comments come after the hit show’s casting director, Patrick Rush, revealed in November (in the book Welcome To The O.C.: The Oral History) that Chris wasn’t hired for the lead role of Ryan Atwood because he was “experiencing really bad skin problems” that “looked insurmountable”. 

The role was given to Ben McKenzie who starred on the show between 2003 and 2007. 

While appearing on the Happy Sad Confused podcast last week, Chris opened up about suffering a “little PTSD” over the snub. 

“It’s a part of my life. Look, do I wish…? The man didn’t have to talk about it. I mean, it’s his prerogative,” he explained.

“I had awful skin as a teenager, and then after college, my skin started breaking out again. I was going out for The O.C., which is a teenage melodrama. I can understand that they wanted to have pretty people doing pretty things, and bad acne is not a key [to that].”

Chris went on to speak candidly about how suffering from acne was  “emotionally incapacitating” for him at that time. 

“It can be kind of just like you get a pimple on your forehead. It can also be tremendously debilitating and really, seriously, emotionally incapacitating, which it was for me,” he shared. 

After host Josh Horowitz poked fun that Chris acting career probably would’ve taken off had he scored the role, his guest replied: “I don’t want to say, ‘I’m grateful for not having landed [the part].’ I’m alright, but it is a little PTSD.” 

“It’s no fun having bad skin… It was one of the most traumatic points of my life, but it is my story, man,” he added. 

Watch Chris Pine’s interview below.