With starring roles in "The White Lotus," "The Righteous Gemstones" and "Fallout," Walton Goggins is one of the busiest actors working today. But the 53-year-old might never have gotten his career were it not for a piece of junk mail from American Express.

Goggins, who grew up poor in a small Atlanta suburb, was a student at Georgia Southern University when he received a letter from the bank inviting him to join.

"I got this invitation from American Express to take on debt," he said in a 2019 appearance on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert." "I got pre-approved for a max of probably $500."

But on top of the offer to open a line of credit with the company came an offer that proved much more appealing for the teenaged Goggins.

"With this invitation came two round-trip ticket [offers]. One was $99 east of the Mississippi. The other was $199 west of the Mississippi," he explained. "This was a time when it cost, like, $1,100 to fly from Atlanta to Los Angeles."

"I saw it not as an opportunity to buy a bunch of televisions, but to leave," he continued. "I was out. I quit college."

Thanks to the American Express offer, Goggins said he was able to move to "a really bad apartment" in North Hollywood with $300 in his pocket. Working at an LA Fitness gym and as a valet helped Goggins make ends meet while he slowly but surely scratched out a career for himself.

Since 1989, Goggins has appeared in more than 50 movies and over 40 TV shows.

"None of this was ever supposed to happen to someone like me," Goggins told Vanity Fair last year. "My mother made $12,000 a year. I grew up in a little farmhouse. You had to walk through my bedroom to get to the bathroom. And that's all I knew." 

Speaking to GQ earlier this year, Goggins reflected on the opportunities that acting has provided him.

"The first time I made more money in a day than my mother made in a year of work was the greatest and worst day of my life," he said.

But none of it would have been possible without that piece of junk mail.

"I'm only here because of American Express," he told Colbert. "[I took it as a sign] from God that I was supposed to come to Los Angeles and be an actor."

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