Rode Amtrak alone to Hollywood at 14
Rose McGowan traveled by Amtrak alone from Seattle to Hollywood at 14, knowing no one and having nothing lined up.
Snapshot · We Need To Talk with Paul C. Brunson
Who Is The REAL Rose McGowan? I Was Raised In A Cult
Explore episode
Jul 2, 2026
Where this was said
How and Why Rose Moved to Hollywood
At 14:30 · chapter starts 12:35
The unlikely spark that ignited Rose's career was a handwritten flyer on a Seattle noticeboard: $35 a day to be a movie extra. She responded, was cast, and ended up as a featured extra in what she describes as an absurd sci-fi film about robot cyborg teachers, playing a gang member called the Blackhearts with a drawn-on black heart on her cherub face. On that set she befriended a child actor who had appeared in Near Dark and River's Edge, and his mother, Susan Miller, who was ensconced in Old Hollywood history, took Rose in. [1] — Rose McGowan "Rose spotted a flyer offering $35 a day to be a film extra, got a featured role in a sci-fi film, made a friend whose mother was from Old H…" 13:13 But first, Rose had to leave Seattle — and she did so alone, on an Amtrak train, at 14. She says she can't remember the leaving, only the weight of it: she knew that she and her father had reached an impasse — she would either kill him with the chicken mallet, or he would kill her — and she felt terrible leaving her younger brother behind. But she also knew this was her shot out. [2] — Rose McGowan "I also knew that I was either going to kill my dad with the chicken mallet or he would kill me. And I felt really bad leaving my brother, b…" 14:42
First film role paid $35 a day as an extra
Rose's entry into film came when she spotted a flyer offering $35 a day to be an extra in a movie while living in Seattle at 14.
From Seattle to Hollywood on Amtrak, Alone at 14
Rose spotted a flyer offering $35 a day to be a film extra, got a featured role in a sci-fi film, made a friend whose mother was from Old Hollywood, and then rode an Amtrak train alone from Seattle to Los Angeles at 14. She knew it was her shot out — and she took it.
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