Topher Grace got That '70s Show job because he was a 'real nerd'

Topher Grace is convinced he was only cast in TV comedy That '70s Show because he's a "real, actual nerd", as he had no idea about acting when he first auditioned.

The star was still a teenager trying to figure out his future career path when a friend suggested he try out for the new sitcom - but Topher had already decided acting was "never" going to be part of his plan.

"It was something I wasn't even interested in," he laughed on America's Live with Kelly and Ryan. "I had interned at Casting (department) at ABC (Television) and all it taught me was that I should probably never go in to acting.

"It looked like everyone was getting rejected all the time so it was never something I thought about doing."

Then, when he was a student at the University of Southern California, Grace got a call from a friend who had put his name forward as a possible future star of the new TV comedy.

"I'd really never auditioned, and they (casting directors) said, 'Why don't you come to this audition?' They said, 'Bring a headshot and a resume', and I had no idea what a headshot even was."

So he asked the crewmember to explain: "They said, 'It's a picture that goes with your resume so we understand who you are.'

"My... resume said Dunkin' Donuts (restaurant) and Suncoast Video that I worked at (sic). My headshot was me at Six Flags Magic Mountain (theme park) with a bunch of my friends."

Of course he got the job as Eric Forman on That '70s Show, which also made stars of castmates Laura Prepon, Mila Kunis, Ashton Kutcher and Wilmer Valderrama, and ran on America's Fox Network from 1998 to 2006.

And the dad-of-two knows why he was tipped for the life-changing role, despite being a total amateur at the time.

"They were looking for a real actual nerd, not like, someone who was playing a nerd," he smiled. "And they got one."