Rick Springfield is a legendary musician and actor, who succeeded in both mediums despite having one of the worst career backup plans in history: if music doesn't work out, I'll fall back on acting.

Springfield looked back on his baffling early career optimism in a new interview with Q104.3 New York's Out of the Box with Jonathan Clarke.

"I came over here in '71 from Australia to pursue my music," Springfield recalls. "I really didn't have any interest in acting back then. And I fell into acting in the mid-'70s just as a way to kind of pay bills, which is incredibly naïve. Because everybody at the acting class was waiting tables before they got an acting gig. But I actually happened to get lucky and starting working as an actor. I was very fortunate. I never really had a real job."

While he was fortunate to find work in his early days in Hollywood, it was still 10 years (and four solo albums) before he experienced real fame. Springfield debuted on General Hospital weeks after his iconic single "Jesse's Girl" was released.

"Jesse's Girl" eventually hit No. 1, won him a Grammy, and Rick Springfield was a freshly minted star.

And while he thinks many still consider him a "one-dimensional soap opera geek," Springfield has never stopped acting or making music.

With more than 20 solo albums since "Jesse's Girl," he released a new compilation album this year, Big Hits: Rick Springfield Greatest Hits, Volume 2, and he's just now wrapping up a U.S. tour. He also co-stars in the Netflix comedy series, It's A Lot, with Dan Rosenberg, and a guest-starring role in the just-debuted Hulu drama All's Fair.

Watch the full conversation via the player above!

Get tour dates and more on Rick Springfield here.

Watch the music video for "Lose Myself" below:

JT