Just three years after re-locating to La La Land, Coquitlam's Daniela Bobadilla is part of cable TV history.

The 19-year-old actress has landed a co-starring role in the new Charlie Sheen sitcom, Anger Management, which debuted to a record audience of 5.7 million viewers when the premiere aired in the U.S. in late June.

Though it's already halfway through its first season on American TV, the show makes its Canadian debut on CTV on Aug. 12.

"It's a lot of hard work, but none of it has felt like work," Bobadilla said from her home in Los Angeles. "It's been amazing."

The show, which premiered south of the border on June 28, is based around the exploits of lead character Dr.

Charlie Goodson - played by Charlie Sheen - and is loosely tied to the 2003 film of the same name.

Cast as Sam Goodson, Bobadilla plays the part of Sheen's 13-year-old daughter. During the 10 episodes filmed so far, Bobadilla watches on as Sheen's character, who's cast as an anger management therapist, deals with both his patients' temper problems and his own.

"The writing was delicious, it was so brilliant," Bobadilla recalled of her audition in mid-February.

"My scene was so raunchy and unlike everything I've done, but in a really good, funny, human type of way. I was so excited."

Excitement was the order of the day during the auditioning process, but so was anxiety. Bobadilla heard from her agent one day before her audition that she had a chance at landing the part, prompting a scurried evening's worth of phone calls, visualization and practising her craft.

Her first audition consisted of reading lines in front of the show's creator and casting director, Bruce Helford.

After passing the initial litmus test, Bobadilla was called back two days later, only this time, her audition was in front of 30 high-ranking FX Network executives and Sheen.

The final decision came down to Bobadilla and one other actress. Rumour has it the executives preferred Bobadilla's counterpart, while Sheen, who ultimately had the final say, wanted to go with the Heritage Woods grad.

After playing the waiting game in an adjacent boardroom, Sheen approached Bobadilla and asked her to read a scene with him.

"[Sheen] came and got me from the waiting room and said, 'Hey I want to talk to you for a sec,'" Bobadilla recalled. "I thought I had no kneecaps and that I was about to fall over. I had to pretend that I wasn't there."

Later that night Bobadilla got word of her new gig from one of her many agents.

"He told me and I basically started screaming my head off. I didn't know what had happened, but it happened so fast," she said.

Though it's her highest-profile acting job yet, Bobadilla has worked extensively during her time in California: in 2012 alone she landed a part in the TV series Awake, while making a pair of guest spots on Desperate Housewives.

"It was weird," Bobadilla said. "I remember sitting there watching one of my favourite shows and then all of a sudden my face pops up."

But for all that success, there came the spectre of excess. Bobadilla's parents were initially wary about their 19-year-old daughter co-starring alongside someone with a reputation like Sheen.

"We were concerned of course at the very beginning," her father Carlos told The NOW Tuesday.

"We were hesitant, but sometimes you cannot stop a process like this one. This is the biggest opportunity in her life. And if we were to say no, it could be more risky than if we said yes."

Despite the stories and tabloid fodder, Bobadilla sees a different type of Sheen.

"He shocked me," she said. "He's the most human person I've met in Hollywood in a while. If I don't know who he was, I would not pick him out of a crowd. He took on a fatherly role within an instant. If anything, he's just really quiet."

As for the show's future, that depends on this season's ratings. Should a certain threshold be reached, 90 more episodes - spanning roughly seven additional seasons - will be in the offing.

"You have to keep everything fresh in this business, while still being a human while you're doing it - you can't get jaded," Bobadilla said of both her success, and survival, in Hollywood.

"You have to love it in order to get through all the struggles that you go through. The moment that I don't love it, it's time to go. But I don't see that ever happening."

. The Canadian premiere of Anger Management is set for 4 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 12 on CTV.

jkurucz@thenownews.com