Zach Braff was working long shifts as a waiter before landing the role that would define his career,

In a new chat with Variety Magazine, Braff recalled his life just before his career breakthrough.

For those unversed, Braff was first cast as John Michael “JD” Dorian on the hit medical sitcom Scrubs in 2001.

At the time, the actor said he was serving customers at a restaurant while chasing auditions. The series went on to become one of television’s most beloved medical comedies.

“I wore a beige tunic and served French Vietnamese food and was often yelled at that we didn’t serve bread, and so I was lucky enough to audition six times and get this show and it changed my life.”

Braff’s co-star Donald Faison also remembered where he was when he found out he had landed the role of surgeon Christopher Turk.

He said, “I remember being in a restaurant when my agent called me and told me I got it. “I remember the wait in between when I heard I got until when we started filming and it was such a long wait and I didn’t have that much money at the time and I was like, ‘I need this thing to start going.’”

For those unversed, the series created by Bill Lawrence revolved around the lives of employees at the fictional Sacred Heart Hospital, which is a teaching hospital. 

The title is a play on surgical scrubs and a term for a low-ranking person because at the beginning of the series, most of the main characters are medical interns.