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"The only thing that I had , that I could have done, and thank God that I didn't, was organized crime," the Modern Family star says about a time when he didn't have any money.
Ed O'Neill has graced our screens since the '80s, as the lead on iconic television shows such as Married... With Children and Modern Family, but he almost didn't choose the acting path.
While appearing on former Modern Family co-star Jesse Tyler Ferguson's Dinner's On Me podcast, O'Neill revealed he had previously considered a life of organized crime.
"Youngstown was not a good place to live. There was nothing there for me," the Youngstown, Ohio native said, explaining that he was destined for a career as a professional football player when he was signed by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1969.
But then, he was cut from the team. At that point, he was lost and admitted to Ferguson that he "didn't have a clue" what to do next.
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"The only thing that I had that I could have done, and thank God that I didn't, was organized crime," O'Neill admitted.
"I had friends in organized crime," he said before telling a story about the time his friend named Jim from his hometown of Youngstown tried to get him involved in the criminal world.
"[Jim] called me and said 'Hey take a ride with me. I want to talk to you.' We're driving and he said, 'How you doing? You know, you, you got cut, you got no money.' I said, 'No, I'm broke. You know, I don’t know what I’m going to do,'" O'Neill said.
The pair arrived at a restaurant where Jim asked the bartender if he had seen "an old friend of his," to which the bartender declined.
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"He gives him [the bartender] 20, and he says, 'Look, he's an old friend of mine, I haven't seen him in years, you know, I'm looking to reconnect, but I'd like to surprise him. So if he comes in again, you can call this number. You can reach me," he recalled.
Jim then offered O'Neill a job trying to find certain people for him -- saying it would be financially beneficial.
"He said, 'You can do this kind of stuff for me, I'll protect you, I'll give you easy stuff. Just you collect here. You do that. You run, you drop something off here and there. You know, you may have to lean on a guy. You're good at that. You can make some good money,"' O'Neill explained.
O'Neill admitted that he told Jim that he would "think about it," but added he "might be leaving town to pursue this acting thing." The actor's father, however, saw the pair together and asked Ed, "Can you do time?"
That was a hard "no" for O'Neill, solidifying his decision to pursue acting.
He'd go on to pick up two Golden Globe noms for his work on Married ... with Children and two Emmy noms for Modern Family. His illustrious career also includes the Wayne's World films and voice work for both Finding Dory and the Wreck-It Ralph movies.
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