James Hooton was selling socks and handkerchiefs from a suitcase before getting his big break on 'Emmerdale'.
Karen Blick and James Hooton
The soap legend celebrated 25 years on the ITV show last week, but he only initially signed up for the programme for eight episodes in January 1995 and was helping his dad offload socks in Leicester city centre during Christmas 1994.
He said: "I found I'd got the part and by January I was on the telly. It was fantastic.
"I didn't think this would be a career-defining role.
"I was travelling to London for auditions a lot and I thought, 'This is great, I've got eight episodes on a soap. I've got the train fare to London for the next couple of months sorted and I've cleared my debts.
"I saw it as a means to an end.
"I was invited back after those eight episodes and here we are, 25 years later."
James admits he is happier at 'Emmerdale' now than he has "ever been", and he hopes his Dingle family will continue to dominate the village in the next 25 years.
He added to the Sunday Mirror newspaper: "I'm having a renaissance period with the show and enjoying it more now than ever.
"I would love to see the Dingle clan still going in 25 years. They will have taken over the village by then, there are so many of them. They'll be running amok.
"I've really enjoyed the last three years. I'm happier at work now than I've ever been."
On Friday (10.01.20), James - whose character Sam is engaged to Lydia Hart (Karen Blick) - revealed it was 25 years to do the day since he made his 'Emmerdale' debut.
He wrote: "WELL...today marks the 25th anniversary of my very first day working on @emmerdale
"Jan 10th 1995 Sam, Zak and butch were stealing a bar from outside the Woolpack! (sic)"
But in August, the star admitted he almost quit 'Emmerdale' at one point after bosses rejected his plea for better storylines.
He said: "The character I play went through a very lean period and it got to the stage I started to dislike my job.
"I didn't have much to do. I was young and ambitious and I wanted to do more work.
"I asked if there was a chance to get involved in more stories. To put it bluntly, I was told 'Is there f**k.'
"It left me in no doubt I was not going to be a character who drove stories in the show. I hated my job for a while. I had a lot of things to work out in my brain."
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