Chris Pine Reveals Why He Lost Out On A Lead Role In ‘The O.C.’

Chris Pine may have had “awful skin,” but he also had to have thick skin in order to deal with losing out on a major role.

In Welcome to The O.C.: The Oral History, a book released in November 2023, the Star Trek alum was revealed to have been in the running for Ben McKenzie‘s role of Ryan Atwood in the FOX teen drama The O.C., per the AV Club. According to the outlet, the series’ casting director Patrick Rush wrote that Pine “was really good” in his audition, but “was at the age where he was experiencing really bad skin problems.”

“And it was at that point where it looked insurmountable,” he continued. “And as a kid who grew up with horrible skin, it just broke my heart. But Chris Pine’s fine now. He’s all right.”

When Happy Sad Confused podcast host Josh Horowitz asked Pine if losing out on the role because of his skin is a sore spot for him, the actor replied that “it’s a part of [his] life,” per HuffPost.

“Look, do I wish…? The man didn’t have to talk about it,” he added. “I mean, it’s his prerogative.”

He recalled having “awful skin as a teenager,” noting that “after college, [his] skin started breaking out again.”

“Look, I was going out for The O.C., like a teenage melodrama,” he continued. “It’s like, I can understand that they wanted to have pretty people doing pretty things. And bad acne is not a key [to that].”

Horowitz quipped, “It’s a shame. If you had gone on The O.C., your career might have worked out. You might have amounted to something.”

Pine replied, “I don’t want to say ‘I’m grateful for not having landed [the part],'” but noted that he’s “alright.” He ultimately confessed to having “a little PTSD,” noting, “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 shared.

Pine reflected further on his experience with acne after Horowitz highlighted how hearing that a star like Pine went through skin struggles “probably helps people.”

“It’s so strange. People talk about obesity — and obviously I understand the difficulty of that — or they talk about any sorts of things, and I feel like acne is regarded as this thing of like, ‘Oh, it’s just like, what you go through as a teenager,'” Pine said. “And it can be kind of just like you get a pimple on your forehead, [but] it can also be tremendously debilitating and like really, seriously, emotionally incapacitating, which it was for me.”

Pine also provided some words of support for those struggling with acne like he did.

“So, for anyone out there that is experiencing that: I get you, I hear you, I’ve been there, I know it,” he said. “I know how depressing it can be and the kind of depths of sorrow it can drag you to, but there is a brighter day.”

The O.C. is streaming on Hulu and Max. Watch Pine’s interview above.