Dulé Hill Says He Was 2 Months Away from Going Broke Before Booking “The West Wing” (Exclusive)

Dulé Hill admits he was months away from financial trouble before he booked The West Wing.

Hill, 51, tells PEOPLE that after starring in She’s All That alongside Freddie Prinze Jr., he wasn’t sure what the future held before landing a role in the political drama.

“When I got The West Wing, I was just looking for a job. I would’ve taken any job,” he admits. “I’d auditioned for jobs on other shows and other networks that aren’t even around anymore, but that was the show that I got. And I’m forever grateful because that has been a gift of a lifetime.”

Hill notes that, at the time, even having the opportunity to read for the role “really blew my mind.”

“Just a few weeks before I booked the role, I was over at my friend Freddie Prinze Jr.’s house, and I said, ‘Freddie, if I don’t get a job soon, I’m either going back to New Jersey or coming to live with you, because I do not have any more money,’” he recalls. “I had about maybe another two months left of funds to cover my rent and everything.”

Thankfully, Hill didn’t have to decide as he booked a role on The West Wing as Charlie Young, the personal aide to President Bartlet, played by Martin Sheen. Hill shares that the role “was a game changer for me.”

“It changed the trajectory of my professional career, and even my life with the friendships that were made over the years, friends who became family. I loved working on The West Wing,” he says.

The biggest reason Hill loved working on the Emmy Award-winning show was the star-studded cast.

“Working with that level of talent and skill over the course of seven seasons was a gift that beyond the show itself, it was a gift that really was priceless because I learned about craft. I learned about how to approach the work that I do,” he shares.

“I learned about how to exist in this industry and how to be able to keep my feet on the ground no matter where life may take you,” he adds. “That was really modeled for so much of the cast, but especially Martin Sheen. He really modeled that in a phenomenal way.”

Hill was one of the younger cast members, but admits the rest of the cast “never let me feel as though I was this young guy who had just got on his first TV show.”

“I was always included and felt a part of the family or the cast as a whole, but really it was a great experience,” he says. “I come from doing a teen movie, and seeing how a lot of peers my age were reacting to this burst of fame, and how they were navigating this industry, and then to be able to ride on the heels of that, be in a room full of veterans who have had highs and lows, who have had a lot of fame and then struggled to find work ... It was a great learning ground.”

“I was so grateful for it,” Hill adds. “It taught me so much about just how to be in this industry, but also how to not take it all so seriously.”

In addition to Hill and Sheen, 80, the cast featured Rob Lowe, Allison Janney, John Spencer, Bradley Whitford, Janal Moloney, Richard Schiff and Melissa Fitzgerald.

Hill likens his seven-year experience on the show to getting an education.

“I spent the same amount of time on The West Wing as I would going to high school and college. When you think about what you learn and how you are defined through your high school and college years, once you replicate that and see how much time I spent with The West Wing cast at a young age, it really influenced me in a magnificent way.”