Josh Brolin said he spent nearly five years working as a full-time stock trader during a long stretch when acting jobs were scarce, before his career gained momentum with “No Country for Old Men” in 2007.

Brolin shared the account during an appearance on Theo Von’s “This Past Weekend” podcast. The actor, 58, said that although he had appeared in the 1985 film “The Goonies,” he did not feel taken seriously in Hollywood until the Coen brothers’ crime drama.

Before landing his role as Brand in “The Goonies,” Brolin recalled going to about 350 auditions. He said people told him acting was not for him. The film was his first time in front of a camera, he said, and nerves led him to laugh during the first day of filming. Brolin recalled director Steven Spielberg telling him to take a breath so production could continue.

After “The Goonies,” Brolin moved to New York to study acting and perform in theater. He said he spent years pursuing the profession, but that work remained difficult to find. He described a period of about 22 years before “No Country for Old Men” changed the course of his career.

Brolin said he worked as a landscaper for a year, then started trading stocks at age 30. He said he traded full time for almost five years, working at home with three screens and four tabs open on each. His approach included both swing trading and day trading.

He described himself as successful at trading and said he earned more from it during those years than he had made from acting over the previous two decades. Brolin added that acting had brought in very little money at that point. He said he particularly enjoyed day trading.

The financial rewards from acting remained modest even after his career began to improve. Brolin said he received $100,000 for “No Country for Old Men,” which he estimated left him with about $30,000 after deductions. He said that amount did not make for a particularly strong year financially.

While working on “No Country for Old Men,” Brolin also sent an audition tape for “American Gangster.” He said his 16-year-old son acted opposite him in the tape, playing the part portrayed by Denzel Washington in the film. Brolin described that as the last audition he ever completed.

Brolin is now appearing in the thriller “Whalefall,” according to the source report. He plays the estranged father of the film’s main character, a diver who is swallowed by a whale.