FLASHBACK: Luke Perry Talks Adjusting to Fame in 1991: 'A Year Ago I Was Shoveling Asphalt'
In celebration of Luke Perry's 50th birthday on Tuesday, ET is looking back at our time with the actor when he was a 25-year-old playing a high school student on Beverly Hills, 90210.
While the Fox drama was almost an immediate hit after it debuted in 1990, when ET met up with Perry the following year, he still hadn't let the success go to his head.
"A year ago, I was shoveling asphalt, and a year from now, I could be doing it again," Perry told ET at the time. "It keeps a good perspective as long as you remember that."
Perry went from working on a road crew to being one of the world's biggest heartthrobs nearly overnight, which he admitted came with a new set of problems.
"The only thing I'm finding difficult is there's a little less privacy," he said. "People know who you are. You don't know who they are. You don't see them on TV."
The actor soon learned how to navigate through the fame and eventually settled down with actress Rachel Sharp. The two married in 1993 and had two children (Jack, 19, and Sophie, 16) before divorcing in 2003.
Now with 26 years of experience under his belt, Perry's the seasoned veteran on most sets he works on, like that of his new show, Riverdale.
The upcoming CW drama series is based on the characters created by Archie Comics, but has a dark element to it. Perry plays Archie's dad.
"They are all very professional, and on the pilot, I was very impressed how they treated everybody," Perry told ET at Comic-Con this year. "They showed up on time, they know their stuff. It is going to go well for them."