"BLUE COLLAR WORKING ACTOR"

With ticket sales of more than $385 million at worldwide box offices, it's clear "Star Trek" accomplished both and luckily, Pine said, he was prepared for the stardom and massive following of new fans, thanks to his upbringing.

"My dad is a blue collar working actor," explained Pine. "He goes out and auditions. Sometimes he gets them, sometimes he doesn't. There are dry years; there are flush years. I knew very clearly what I was getting into."

One might think acting was something Pine would have fallen into naturally. His mother, Gwynne Gilford, was also an actress and his grandmother, Anne Gwynne, was one of the original 'scream queens' working in horror movies.

Yet, acting as a career didn't occur to Pine until after he enrolled in the University of California, Berkeley.

"I didn't join a frat, so I was trying to find a social group," recalled Pine. "Theater seemed like an interesting thing. In hindsight, it makes a lot of sense."

It took a few years to get the ball rolling. Small breaks came in films like "The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement" with Anne Hathaway and "Just My Luck" with Lindsay Lohan.

At the time, Pine was clearly second fiddle to two actresses who had more box office clout than he. But today, he is keenly aware of how Hathaway grew up to become an Oscar nominated star while Lohan's career sank under the weight of drug and alcohol abuse from which she has yet to rebound.

"It reminds you of that saying, 'you never know who you'll see on the way up or down,'" said Pine, adding that because he grew up in L.A. "there was never that rush of excitement" to hit the Sunset Strip or Hollywood Boulevard clubs to party.

In the meantime, Pine's focus is on work.

"I don't know what's going to happen in two years. But right now, I'm going to enjoy it and do my best to create a career of longevity."