Well, he was young, and youth is the time when people should try to make their dreams come true. If you wait too long, life grows on you, chains you down, and you settle. Most people follow the old-fashioned way and settle down for a usual life, some content with it, others wondering what might have been. Not knowing, ever, grinds you down, it gives a bitter undertone for a life. That's why we should all try our limits, when self-confidence is at peak, and see how far our determination and courage takes.
Nothing recreates a youth.
Guided by the straight-fashioned values of good moral and decency, taught by his respectable churchgoing parents, he took upon himself to set foot in the movie business. Not to mention the looks. He started from small roles in TV shows, such as Dallas and Thirty Something, and rather unknown movies like Johnny Suede. Unknown at that time, now known by the whole world because he was in them. By these early days, his family back home must have known about the life he was aiming at.