LOS ANGELES – As a vegetarian waiting tables at a steakhouse, Devin Kelley couldn't wait to escape the smell of cooked meat. So when she got the phone call that she had hooked a lead role in a pilot for a Fox series, she immediately quit her West Hollywood job and prepared for stardom.
But the Eagan-raised actress was about to learn a fundamental lesson in show business: Don't count on anything.
When her show, "The Chicago Code," was canceled after just 13 episodes, Kelley cried a lot.
"Only one of the cast members would listen to me talk about how devastated I was," she recalled. The rest were like, 'Dude, it happens. It's all part of the business.' "
The chances that Kelley will have an emotional breakdown tied to her latest effort, "Resurrection," are considerably less. Part of the reason is that ABC is pummeling the airwaves with ads, granting the drama more airtime on Oscar night than Ellen DeGeneres.
More important, in the three years since "Code" got the ax, Kelley has toughened up.
"I've got a healthy amount of distance this time around," she said while working an ABC cocktail party earlier this year. "It doesn't mean I don't love everyone associated with the show, but if it doesn't happen, I'll be OK."
Kelley's pragmatic nature was apparent during her years at the Youth Performance Company (YPC), where she acted when she wasn't attending classes at Apple Valley's Eastwood High School, from which she graduated in 2004.