Kevin Costner's life was transformed when he "listened to [his] heart".
The 69-year-old actor studied at California State University, Fullerton in the 1970s, but a change in attitude triggered a dramatic change in his fortunes.
Speaking to PEOPLE, the Hollywood star explained: "The confidence came when I listened to my heart, right at the very end of college where I thought, 'I’m not going to be worried about what people think anymore'.
"There was no guarantee of success, but a huge weight came off my shoulders. I started going into Hollywood every day and I would park my little camper next to a phone booth and kind of sleep in a fetal position. I knew no one."
Kevin has been though lots of ups and downs in his life. However, the veteran actor doesn't have any regrets.
He shared: "The gamble is ignoring my heart and ignoring it whispering to me.
"What I can say is I've had an amazing life. I've been bruised, but I’ve had an amazing life and I'm grateful for that."
Earlier this year, Kevin revealed that at one stage, he doubted he'd ever make it in Hollywood.
The movie star was working as a stage manager when his acting career took off.
He said on the 'Armchair Expert' podcast: "Once I got through the door, I kind of went pretty fast.
"It wasn’t Tom Cruise sliding across the floor at 18. It was for me at 27, 28. I was a stage manager at Raleigh, working for $3.25 and Richard Gere and Mel Gibson and Nicolas Cage and Timothy Hutton, Sean Penn. At a certain point, [I thought] maybe I wasn’t going to get the part."
