Why “So Help Me Todd”’s Marcia Gay Harden Had to Go Back to Catering Gigs After Her Breakout Role (Exclusive)

The Oscar-winning actress explains to PEOPLE how the road to success was a "journey" of "steps and steps and steps"

When Marcia Gay Harden wrapped up shooting the 1990 crime drama Miller’s Crossing — a performance that proved to be her breakout role — the actress didn’t immediately jump to another project. She went back to catering jobs, instead.

Harden, currently starring as an uptight attorney who hires her directionless son in the CBS comedy-drama So Help Me Todd, recalled that experience in this week’s issue of PEOPLE.

“I think I was older, by Hollywood's standards, when I got out of college,” she says. “I was 30, and so that's when I did Miller's Crossing, and I went back to catering after. Got to pay the bills.”

The actress’ path to success in Hollywood was one of “steps and steps and steps.” That included years of unsuccessful auditions for roles earlier on, including girl-next-door parts. But the rejections helped her come to an important realization.

“I'd be auditioning for someone who was just sweet, the girl next door,” says Harden, 64. “I was trying to be that, but I'm not the girl next door. That's really not my M.O. That's not who I am. That's not what I put out, and it's maybe not how I wanted to play it. Maybe I didn't want to play this thing so subserviently or so silly playing women who just weren't so smart. That’s not interesting to me.”

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Harden, learned another valuable lesson when she was late to a meeting once with the casting director of a soap opera in Washington, D.C.

“A friend set things up so I could meet this woman, but it was raining, and I was literally one minute late,” she recalls. “So I chased her down — it was pre-9/11 — and climbed on her airplane to give a picture and résumé, because I thought I was right for her soap opera. I didn’t get a job from her, but what’s the lesson there? Be one minute early. Be two minutes early. Be five minutes early. Do not be late.”

Despite her early trials and tribulations, Harden eventually landed roles that revealed her to be an extremely thoughtful, versatile actress. She won an Oscar for portraying the abstract expressionist painter Lee Krasner opposite Ed Harris in the 2000 biopic Pollock and earned another Academy Award nomination for playing the tortured onscreen wife of Tim Robbins in 2003’s Mystic River. Six years later, she scored a Tony Award for her role in the dark comedy God of Carnage.

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Related: Marcia Gay Harden Recalls the Heartbreaking Moment Her Mom with Alzheimer's Didn't Recognize Her

Harden admits receiving an Oscar, arguably the most prestigious award a film actor can win, has its benefits — sort of.

“Life does change. You have that title. Having an Oscar is an incredibly huge, prestigious honor, and I am blessed to have it,” she says. “But life also doesn’t change, because 99.2 percent of people don’t know about it. Do you even remember who won last year? We don’t remember the week after."

"It’s not a financial thing — you often don’t make more money after winning than you did before; it’s just more a recognition thing," she adds. "But more than the award, having a body of work that is respected is what helps a career change and open up, and that did happen.”

Still, for Harden, there’s much more unchartered territory to explore as an actress.

“My mom used to say I burnt the candle at both ends, and she's not wrong,” she admits. “I'm not one of those people who says, ‘I'll sleep when I die,’ but I would just work with these two ladies who said, ‘When I get it right, that's when I'll quit,’ and I hope I never get it right."

For more on Marcia Gay Harden, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday, or subscribe here. 

Season 2 of So Help Me Todd premieres Thursday at 9 p.m. ET on CBS.

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Read the original article on People.