Actress Sofia Vergara’s first ambition was to be a dentist.

The 43-year-old had never considered a career in modelling or acting and always wanted to fix people’s teeth as a way of earning money. But after she was spotted by a talent scout on a Colombian beach at the age of 17 and cast in a commercial, she changed her mind and set her sights on conquering the showbiz world, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

“I wanted to be a doctor but at that time, 20 years ago, women weren’t really doctors. You were supposed to get married and have your kids and medicine was very difficult and required a lot of time. So the next best thing was dentistry, because you could be a dentist and just go home. You had the nine-to-five (aspect to it),” Vergara told Stylist magazine.

After making a career for herself in South America, Vergara moved to Los Angeles in 2005 and starred in a couple of sitcoms that flopped. But her faith led to her becoming the highest paid TV actress in the world, earning $37 million a year.

Vergara, who is engaged to Joe Manganiello, demands $325,000 per episode for her role on TV show “Modern Family”, and has numerous endorsement deals with companies such as Diet Pepsi, CoverGirl, At&T and Head & Shoulders.