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Kate Hudson shared that she knew she wanted to be an actor at 11 years old after spending time on mom Goldie Hawn and stepdad Kurt Russell’s film sets
The actress and singer also revealed that she had an opportunity to star in Russell’s 1996 film Escape from L.A., but turned it down
As Hudson explained, she didn’t “want to be defined by being Kurt’s daughter who got this part”
Kate Hudson learned her love of film from her mom Goldie Hawn and stepdad Kurt Russell.
The Running Point star, 46, revealed during a live Awards Chatter podcast panel at the inaugural Newport Beach TV Fest how she knew she wanted to be an actress from an early age — and it was partially due to spending time on Russell’s film sets.
“My dad’s sets were the fun sets,” Hudson shared during the event, held at the Lido Theater in Newport Beach, California. “It was like Big Trouble in Little China and we had slides that would go down into rubber fish, and these amazing costumes.”
“And the thing is, when you grow up on a movie set, it’s not that fun,” she continued. “[There] is a lot of waiting around, so you realize you really love it when you don’t want to get off the movie set.”
The actress said if she wanted to be around her parents’ sets, she had to work on the film — so she often took on the job of a “runner” for wardrobe and makeup. Hudson said she particularly “loved the camera,” so she would help the crew “organize the film cans.”
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Goldie Hawn with daughter Kate Hudson and son Oliver Hudson at a world-premiere screening of her movie Overboard (1987)
“ … Performing was always something I knew I was going to do,” Hudson explained, adding that she declared to her parents at 11 years old that she wanted to be an actor.
“There was never a question, but really falling in love with the circus was something that I don’t think all kids actually have when they’re on a set,” she added.
Hudson noted that she began auditioning at 11 — and actually got a role — but was blocked by her mother at the time, as Hawn, now 79, had wanted her to lead a “normal life.”
It wasn’t until she was 16 that she began seriously auditioning again after Russell, 74, considered putting her forward for the role of a young girl in his 1996 film Escape from L.A.
“I went in and auditioned and got that part, and I sort of realized, ‘Oh, this is when you start to make choices that will define your career.’ And, ‘Do I want to be defined by being Kurt’s daughter who got this part? No,’ ” the Fool’s Gold actress admitted.
“[It doesn’t] matter if I got it because I was good enough — it would never be what people would ever think. And I knew that and was like, ‘No, I can’t.’ So I ended up saying no to that, too,” Hudson added.
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Todd Williamson/Getty
From L: Oliver Hudson, Kurt Russell, Goldie Hawn, Wyatt Russell and Kate Hudson with Oliver and Kate’s children
She noted that she continued auditioning because she endeavored to get a role all on her own, and secured small recurring parts on shows like Party of Five and EZ Streets. After a few years of hustling, she eventually landed her breakthrough role in 2000’s Almost Famous.
And while Hudson knows she had the movie bug from an early age, she isn’t as sure that her sons — Ryder, 21, and Bingham, 13 — have also caught it. But daughter Rani, 6, is a different story.
“I see my kids and they’re kind of bored when they go on movie sets; they don’t really want to be there. But then I see Rani and she’s like [excited whisper] ‘What is this place?’ And I’m like, ‘Oh, she’s going to get the bug,’ ” Hudson revealed.
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