Taylor Kitsch slept on the subway before his big break, calls himself 'white trash'

Taylor Kitsch has come a long way from his humble beginnings.

In a new interview with Elle, the handsome 34-year-old actor talks about being raised by a single mom in Kelowna, British Columbia, and his struggles when he moved to New York City to model.

"White trash. Growing up, I really was," Kitsch tells the magazine bluntly. "Proud of it."

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When he was approached by a modeling scout after graduating from high school, the former "Friday Night Lights" star moved to NYC in 2002 where he signed with IMG modeling agency.

But his life was far from glamorous.

"It's not like I was this mainstream f--kin' runway model," he explains. "I wasn't working."

He then hit pretty much rock bottom.

"I lived in an apartment in Spanish Harlem with no electricity, and then I lost that, so I'd just catch the blue train," he surprisingly reveals. "It skips a lot of stops at night, and then it stays up at 181st Street, I think. So I'd sleep there. And the security guy would come on and be like, 'Get out.' And I'd get out."

Kitsch eventually got his big "FNL" break in 2006, but went through struggles again with huge box-office flops like 2012's "John Carter" and "Battleship." The actor says he has no regrets, but obviously, he's glad to have landed a highly coveted role in season two of the HBO hit "True Detective." Starring alongside Vince Vaughn, Rachel McAdams, and Colin Farrell, he plays troubled cop Paul Woodrugh in the new eight-episode season starting on June 21.

The role -- to say the least -- sounds intense.

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"I didn't know 'True' was going to be near as emotional," he admits. "This season -- f--k. I could feel Paul seeping into me. I'd be doing something or acting a certain way and think, 'Oh, this isn't me.'"

As for his love life, Kitsch says he's currently single.

"You sacrifice so f--kin' much [as an actor]. How do you build a relationship with a gal and then tell her, 'Hey, I gotta do press all over the world. I expect you to have the same feelings you have now in eight weeks,'" he says. "And that's not me playing the violin. It's my choice. But it better be worth sacrificing for."