Une bien belle histoire...

Voici l'histoire de Charity.  Une jeune fille comme toutes les autres.  Une chanson de Bon Jovi a changé sa vie.  Un beau jour, la radio diffusait "it's my life", tube planétaire des guys.  Une petite phrase a changé le cours de la vie de cette jeune femme:"it's now or never".  En entendant cela, elle a pris sa décision, elle a tout "laissé tomber", pris une valise et a réalisé son rêve... Comme quoi la vie tient à de petites choses banales.

Charity Shea is Counting Her Lucky Stars

Published: 5/22/07 at 1:59 AM ET

Written By: andPOP Staff

(andPOP) - A few years ago, lying in bed in Colorado , Charity Shea was struck with a life altering thought.

"I had wanted to be an actress for a long time," she recalls, "and I realized I wasn't doing what I wanted to do in life. The only way to do it is just to do it."

So without warning, without telling her employer, without telling most of her family, she packed up and left for Los Angeles , leaving behind everything, including her fiancé – her high school sweetheart.

"I was horrified," she tells andPOP.

Driving along in her beat-up Dodge, she was shaking. She was about to turn around until Bon Jovi's It's My Life came on the radio with the lyric, "It's now or never."

"I was listening to it and I was like, 'that’s it.' There was no other question. I just went."

The move paid off. Tonight, The Best Years – a college-based show starring Shea – premieres on Global in (it will air on The N in the this summer).

The show focuses on Samantha Best (Shea), who accepts a full scholarship to a prestigious college in Boston where she befriends a group of fellow students also staying at the campus dorm (the rich girl, the athlete, the actor, the bartender, the smart guy).

In the first episode, Best is introduced to college life, away from the poverty and foster homes she is used to, while she learns the parameters of her scholarship.

"It has a lot of heart," Shea, on vacation in the , says about The Best Years. "It's a way for kids to watch something they can relate to or something they might deal with when they do go to college and it's something they can learn from."

Shea is very passionate about the show – she now considers some of her fellow cast members amongst her best friends – and hopes it will continue past its initial 13-episode run.

 "It's hard to prepare because you don't want to be disappointed. I really hope there is a second season but until we find out, you have to aim like there's nothing, so you want to really strive for other projects," she says, adding that "I count my lucky stars every day."

Success came relatively quick for Shea, but it took about six months of living in Los Angeles before she started taking acting seriously. Taking the advice of a friend (and not a Bon Jovi song this time), she joined an acting class.

"[After enrolling in the acting class] everything just changed and then it became home," Shea says. "I knew I did it and it was the best feeling in the world … I could finally pay for everything and I wasn’t picking quarters out of my seats just to share a taco with a friend."

Another half year later and she started earning roles. She had parts in episodes of Entourage and CSI: Miami and she appeared on the big screen in Alpha Dog, starring alongside Justin Timberlake, Bruce Willis and Anton Yelchin.

But it almost didn't work out this way. When Shea first moved, she almost rejected Bon Jovi's advice and moved back to Colorado .

"I'll tell you, honest to God, when I first got there, it was horrible," she says. "I had to call 911 five times. I had all these problems.

"First, I almost died from carbon monoxide poisoning. And we had a stalker who was continuously breaking into our place and harassing us. And then, let's see, what else happened? Oh, I was driving down this street and this car next to me just blew up."

Sounds like a biopic in the making.

"Trust me," she says. "I have many things to talk about in my movie. Some day I will make it."