William Shatner could either "eat or pay to do the laundry" before he made it in showbiz

He told UsWeekly: "My first job was an actor. I didn't get paid for many, many years as an amateur actor in Montreal. As an adolescent, I joined a group of actors who were on Canadian Broadcasting Corporation radio, so there were half a dozen actors that could make some money in Montreal.

"I was one of them, and it continued on through high school and then university, and then I went on to other places that paid even less money. I think I was earning $30 a week. I could either eat or I could pay for the laundry. The definition of success was that I could do both."

Following his rise to fame in the 1960s sci-fi series, William - who now has a reported net worth of $100 million - appeared in other TV shows such as 'Barbary Coast, '3rd Rock from the Sun' and starred in 'Boston Legal' in the 2000s.

Meanwhile, the 'Miss Congeniality' star confessed that watching television as a fan often gets in the way of his sleep because he will record something that airs during the day and only gets round to to viewing it in the middle of the night.

He said: "It varies. Sometimes I'll record something during the day [that] I want to watch at night, and by the time I've finished watching, it's two o'clock in the morning. I think the trick is, apparently, to get six [or] seven hours of sleep, hopefully at a regular time."