Leah Remini knows that Hollywood employment can be a fickle beast.
The “King of Queens” alum, who replaced Erinn Hayes for the current season of CBS’ “Kevin Can Wait,” spoke to co-star Kevin James for a “CBS This Morning” about her career path and when she knew she had made it in the industry.
“I don’t think anybody in this business ever thinks they really made it,” Remini replied. “You have some success — you just don’t have job security. This is not a job for somebody to go, ‘I’ve made it.’”
James agreed that actors “never know” how long they’ll continue to have success in the business. He quipped, “It’s always a sense of, they’re gonna figure you out.”
The “Zookeeper” actor then teased his longtime co-star with, “You’ve done great … You were on ‘Fired Up.’” Remini chuckled at James bringing up her short-lived NBC sitcom that she co-starred on with Sharon Lawrence in the late 1990s.
Hayes played Kevin Gable’s (Kevin James) wife, Donna, on “Kevin Can Wait,” but the network announced in the summer that she would not return, and the character was killed off in the Season 2 premiere that aired last month.
Remini, who also appears on “Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath,” is now the female lead on “Kevin Can Wait,” playing Kevin’s former cop partner, Vanessa Cellucci.
“Kevin Can Wait” airs Mondays at 8/7c on CBS.