TORONTO — Toronto actor Joe Dinicol knows well the grind of trying to become a star in Los Angeles, something his character Nick is also doing on the soapy new Canadian series "The L.A. Complex."

"I've slept on couches and stole sugar and toilet paper from Starbucks," the Stratford, Ont., native said in a recent interview, recalling the three winters he toiled away on the audition circuit during pilot season in Tinseltown.

"I've slummed it very, very much -- and then the next day you're screen testing on the Fox studio. That's the way it is there and so it becomes not a waiting game but a patience game," added Dinicol, who's worked as a busboy in between acting gigs.

"If you have the patience to be there and the stamina to stick it out, then those are usually the people who end up making it."

Australian-born Jonathan Patrick Moore, who plays Connor the ladies' man on the series that airs Tuesdays (at 9 p.m. ET) on MuchMusic, hasn't had it as rough. But he did have to start off on a humble note when he first moved to L.A.

"My first couple of nights was in a hostel," said Moore, who starred in the long-running Australian series "Neighbours" and now lives in L.A.

"But I've not had to live in my car, which is good. I know a couple of people who do.

"One guy I was thinking of, he (sleeps in his car) because he just wants to focus on nothing but acting, so that means he won't take another job of any other kind."

Such is the meta experience for the comely cast of "The L.A. Complex," which was shot in Hollywood and Toronto and debuted earlier this week.

Executive produced, written and directed by Martin Gero (HBO's "Bored to Death"), the steamy series -- which was recently picked up by the American CW network -- follows six mostly Canadian fame-seekers who bond at The Deluxe Suites, a.k.a. The Lux, in Hollywood.

Connor (Moore) is the secretly insecure Australian star of a medical drama and the envy of his peers who can't land a steady gig (coincidentally, Moore also starred on a medical drama, "All Saints," back in Sydney).

Those peers include Nick (Dinicol), a bumbling, bespectacled nice guy who's struggling in his standup comedy career; broke actress Abby (Toronto's Cassie Steele), who's lived in her car; fallen star Raquel (Vancouver native Jewel Staite), who fears she's too old for roles; and seductive dancer Alicia (Vancouver's Chelan Simmons).

Then there's hip-hop songwriter Tariq (Toronto native Benjamin Charles Watson), who becomes entangled in the life of recording artist Kaldrick King (Houston-born Andra Fuller) in episode 2, airing Tuesday.

"Hollywood's a very weird place," said Dinicol, who started his career as a child actor at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival and tried standup comedy in Toronto to understand his "L.A. Complex" character.

"Everyone drives everywhere, there's not a lot of neighbourhoods, and I think that's what's cool about the show is that it shows you one of the few communities that might exist in a place like Hollywood."

With its frequent pool parties and relationship drama, The Lux brings to mind the setting of the hit 1990s series "Melrose Place."

And yet the motel apartment is based on a real residence -- the Highland Gardens Hotel, where many Canadian actors stay during TV pilot season. It was also the focus of the 2004 documentary "Camp Hollywood."

"I actually live, like, two blocks away from it, so I flew two-and-a-half-thousand miles up here to shoot about a place that I live two blocks from," said Moore, sitting in an office at the MuchMusic building in downtown Toronto.

"I haven't stayed there or been inside but I drive past it almost daily. I think it's captured the right vibe of people with scripts in hand, people trying to audition, when you have time off you're in the pool -- you're finding ways to keep busy and keep sane."