32 Weird Jobs Celebrities Had Before They Got Famous
Very few people can say that they started out working their dream job and celebrities — excluding some well-known child stars, of course — are certainly no exception. Many of the biggest names on the A-list used to make a living doing something completely different than what they are now famous for, but at least some of them can say that one of their earliest jobs was especially different. Take a look at some of our favorite examples of not-so-average professions famous people took on before hitting it big.
Meghan Markle (Calligrapher)
Even before Meghan Markle married Prince Harry, she knew how the write like a princess. According to People, the former Suits cast member used to work part-time as a professional calligrapher, writing out wedding invitations for the likes of Robin Thicke and Paula Patton and even teaching the craft.
Whoopi Goldberg (Mortuary Cosmetologist)
Even before teaming up with a “spirited” Patrick Swayze in the 1990 romantic supernatural thriller, Ghost, Whoopi Goldberg knew a thing or two about the dead. The future EGOT winner recalled to David Letterman on Late Night how she used to work in a mortuary putting makeup on corpses and styling their hair.
Matthew McConaughey (Golf Course Armadillo Hunter)
Matthew McConaughey broke through in the industry with his unforgettable performance in Dazed and Confused in 1994. Earlier than that (as he revealed to GQ), the Academy Award-winning Texas native worked at Oak Forest Country Club initially to just rake the golf course sand traps, until he was asked to also help get rid of an armadillo infestation. All right, all right, all right.
Christopher Walken (Lion Tamer)
Did you ever notice how often Christopher Walken has played an animal — such in 2016’s astonishing The Jungle Book remake as King Louie or in the 1998 animated adventure, Antz? Well, as the Oscar-winner revealed to Vanity Fair, he actually has a unique connection with animals, having gained some experience with lion taming while working at a traveling circus.
Simu Liu (Birthday Party Spider-Man)
When Simu Liu led the Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings cast in the title role, technically, that was not his first time playing a Marvel Comics character. While on Jimmy Kimmel Live, the Chinese-Canadian actor shared that he used to dress up as Spider-Man and entertain children at birthday parties.
Jennifer Lopez (Law Office Tax Return Filer)
Most people know that one of Jennifer Lopez’s earliest jobs before becoming “Jenny from the Block” was dancing with the Fly Girls on In Living Color. Yet, the Bronx Times revealed that, before even then, she spent her Saturdays at the Thomas Lavin Law Office filing tax returns.
Margot Robbie (Sandwich Artist)
From the way Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn speaks so passionately about a certain breakfast item in 2020’s Birds of Prey, you might think the Australian actor knows a thing or two about making sandwiches, and you would be correct. The Academy Award nominee spoke to Sean Evans on Hot Ones about her time as a “sandwich artist” at Subway, where she actually invented a few delicious concoctions of her own.
Terry Crews (Courtroom Sketch Artist)
A lesser-known fact about Terry Crews is that he is an exceptional drawer and even showed some of the best examples from his portfolio on Jimmy Kimmel Live. During that same visit, the Brooklyn Nine-Nine cast member and America’s Got Talent host recalled how he put that talent to great use by working for a television station sketching scenes from local trials in his hometown of Flint, Michigan.
Megan Fox (Smoothie Shop Banana Mascot)
One time when Megan Fox appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, the actor fell prey to the host’s recurring “jump scare” gag, courtesy of a person dressed as up as a banana. The costume choice was in reference to the Transformers movies star’s first job at a smoothie shop, for which she would, sometimes, have to dress as the yellow fruit to promote the business.
Hugh Jackman (Clown)
While known best for playing very intimidating characters like Wolverine in the X-Men movies, Hugh Jackman is known to be a very funny and charming presence offscreen. It makes sense when you discover the Australian actor used to work as a clown, but would reveal to Howard Stern that his talents were limited to juggling and found entertaining children above three years old quite difficult.
Eva Mendes (Hot Dog On A Stick Vendor)
Fun fact: one of Eva Mendes’ earliest show business gigs was appearing in Will Smith’s 1998 “Miami” video before reuniting with him in Hitch seven years later. Before then, she made dough working at a “hot dog on a stick place,” which she revealed to Australia’s Will & Woody radio show (via Daily Mail) that she was actually fired from for giving an inappropriate Secret Santa gift to a coworker.
Sylvester Stallone (Girls Boarding School Dorm Bouncer)
Even if Sylvester Stallone had not written one of the best sports movies ever, 1976’s Rocky, he could have landed the title role of the aspiring boxer by his physicality alone. According to a profile by People, his jacked frame came in handy when he was 18 and started working at a Swiss boarding school to both teach gym and keep unwanted guests out of the girls dorms.
Wanda Sykes (NSA)
As one of the funniest people of her generation — and the star of one of Paramount+’s best stand-up comedy specials — it may come as a surprise to learn that Wanda Sykes used to work for an organization as serious as the National Security Agency. However, as she explained on The Rich Eisen Show, her job did not involve covert operations or filing classified material, but “buying stuff” for the office, mostly.
Chris Pratt (Coupon Salesperson)
Before joining an insane amount of franchises (including the MCU’s Guardians of the Galaxy movies to the Jurassic World trilogy), Chris Pratt had humble beginnings as a supporting character on hit TV shows Everwood and Parks and Recreation. However, his true beginnings were even humbler, having revealed during an appearance on Conan that he once sold coupons door-to-door and did well enough to manage his own office of salespeople.
Taylor Swift (Praying Mantis Exterminator)
Years before taking on the world as a hit singer-songwriter, Taylor Swift grew up on a Christmas tree farm where everyone in her family was given a different task. As she told Esquire, the star of the sensational “Eras Tour” had the job “picking praying-mantis pods off of the trees” so that customers would not have an invasion of multi-legged uninvited guests.
Brad Pitt (Chicken Restaurant Mascot)
With how many intimidating roles Brad Pitt has played, from Fight Club’s Tyler Durden to Cliff Booth in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, the last thing anyone would think to call the actor is “a chicken.” Yet, you would not have been wrong if, decades ago, you spotted him when he made a living dressed as the mascot for California chicken restaurant El Pollo Loco, as he recalled on The Ellen Show in 2019.
Cindy Crawford (Corn Shucker)
One of the most famous models of all time, Cindy Crawford, first took on that profession in Chicago when she was 17, at a rate of $1,000 per day. A profile for Town & Country mentions that the modeling gig “sure beat shucking corn for $4 an hour,” which is something she did for a summer when she was younger.
Helen Mirren (Amusement Park Blagger)
Academy Award winner Helen Mirren technically got her start as an actor by participating in the National Youth Theatre before she was invited into the Royal Shakespeare Company, but first started honing her performance skills as a “blagger” for a London amusement park. While appearing on Mark Maron’s WTF Podcast, she defined “blagging” as shouting “something incomprehensible out to someone just to get their attention.”
Taraji P. Henson (Pentagon Secretary/Tina Turner Cover Singer)
Some of Taraji P. Henson’s most famous roles, such as Shug in Hustle & Flow and Cookie (a notable TV divorcée) on Empire, are linked to the music industry — a fact that is made even more interesting when you discover she used to work on a Potomac River cruise ship singing Tina Turner covers. Per Vanity Fair, at that same time, the future Academy Award nominee’s day job was at the Pentagon as a secretary.
Steve Buscemi (Firefighter)
While not exactly a “weird” job, it is intriguing to learn that Steve Buscemi used to work as a New York firefighter before landing roles like Mr. Pink in Reservoir Dogs. He would later revisit this time in his both onscreen (in The King of Staten Island) and in real life when — per The Independent — he volunteered to help his old company, Engine 55, search for survivors of the World Trade Center attacks on September 11, 2001.
Ken Jeong (Doctor)
After starring in 2009’s The Hangover cast and the Community cast made him a star, Ken Jeong led his own sitcom called Dr. Ken. The short-lived ABC comedy was actually based on the comedian’s previous career as an internal medicine specialist, during which he pursued comedy merely to “let off some steam,” as he shared to NPR.
Ashton Kutcher (Cereal Factory Sweeper)
Before hitting it big as Michael Kelso in the That ‘70s Show cast and, later, making innovations in the tech industry, Ashton Kutcher got his start in the cereal industry. To be more precise, as he recalled on Hot Ones, the actor swept the floors of loose Cheerios shavings at a General Mills factory.
Halsey (DMV Photographer)
As a chart-topping Grammy nominee and a non-actor who nailed her SNL hosting gig, Halsey is a person who boasts many skills but has only demonstrated a few to the public, as it turns out. She revealed in a tweet that, when she was still “Ashley Frangipane,” she worked “loads” of different jobs, but the one that caught our eye was taking “license photos at the DMV.”
Zayn Malik (Boxer)
While he did not actually make a living doing this, before competing on The X Factor and joining One Direction made Zayn Malik a star, he trained in boxing in his mid-to-late teens. In 2013, he told Daily Star (via Digital Spy) that he aspired to pursue the sport full-time at some point.
Jennifer Aniston (Bike Messenger)
As part of the Friends cast, Jennifer Aniston became one of the highest-paid actors of her time, but in her earlier years, did several odd jobs for her mother’s advertising firm. One of them, as she shared on The Tonight Show, was being a bike messenger “for a day” that she admits she decided to finish out by taking a cab for final delivery.
George Clooney (Insurance Salesman)
Despite technically growing up in a show business family (his father, Nick Clooney, is a former TV personality, and his aunt, Rosemary, acted), it took time for George Clooney to find fame of his own. According to The Standard, the Oscar-winning actor and filmmaker worked various low-paying jobs early on — one of which was going door-to-door, selling insurance.
Jon Hamm (Adult Film Set Dresser)
Very few A-listers would be willing to admit they worked in the adult film industry, but Jon Hamm had no problem talking to Howard Stern about it. For $100 a day, the Emmy-winning Mad Men cast member worked as a set dresser for, as he described them, “Skinemax movies.”
Amy Adams (Hooters Server)
Many people might say that they first saw Amy Adams when she appeared on The Office in its first season, but others might be able to claim she served them at Hooters. The Academy Award nominee told Entertainment Tonight that the restaurant chain gig was a “great way” to make ends meet during college before she found success as an actor.
Chris Hemsworth (Human Milk Pump Cleaner)
During a game of “True Confessions” with Kumail Nanjiani and host Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show, MCU star Chris Hemsworth’s potentially false personal fact stated that he used to clean and repair human milk pumps for pharmacies to rent when he was 14. It turned out to be the truth.
Danny DeVito (Morgue Hairdresser)
An artist known for his morbid sense of humor — as he has demonstrated by his crazy moments as Frank Reynolds on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and by helming movies like Duplex and Death to Smoochy — is Danny DeVito. Perhaps he got it from the several times he worked as a hairdresser for female corpses — a story he shared on The Always Sunny Podcast (via Unilad).
Channing Tatum (Exotic Dancer)
If you ever wondered how Channing Tatum learned to dance the way he does in 2012’s Magic Mike, according to an interview with Flicks and Bits, the drama was inspired by his own life before acting. In 2015, the actor recalled to Howard Stern how he started his brief exotic dancing career when he was 19 after dropping out of college.
Miley Cyrus (Undergarment Collector)
Miley Cyrus is one of the few examples on our list who actually did come from a show business family, but having a rock star like Billy Ray Cyrus as her dad also led to her first odd job. The former Hannah Montana star told Rolling Stone that, when she was much younger, her father used to pay her $10 for picking up women’s undergarments that had been thrown on stage during his concerts.
Some of these jobs would make us thankful to eventually be an actor or singer if we were in any of these celebrity’s shoes. However, others sound like an interesting way to make a living.
Very few people can say that they started out working their dream job and celebrities — excluding some well-known child stars, of course — are certainly no exception. Many of the biggest names on the A-list used to make a living doing something completely different than what they are now famous for, but at least some of them can say that one of their earliest jobs was especially different. Take a look at some of our favorite examples of not-so-average professions famous people took on before hitting it big.
Meghan Markle (Calligrapher)
Even before Meghan Markle married Prince Harry, she knew how the write like a princess. According to People, the former Suits cast member used to work part-time as a professional calligrapher, writing out wedding invitations for the likes of Robin Thicke and Paula Patton and even teaching the craft.
Whoopi Goldberg (Mortuary Cosmetologist)
Even before teaming up with a “spirited” Patrick Swayze in the 1990 romantic supernatural thriller, Ghost, Whoopi Goldberg knew a thing or two about the dead. The future EGOT winner recalled to David Letterman on Late Night how she used to work in a mortuary putting makeup on corpses and styling their hair.
Matthew McConaughey (Golf Course Armadillo Hunter)
Matthew McConaughey broke through in the industry with his unforgettable performance in Dazed and Confused in 1994. Earlier than that (as he revealed to GQ), the Academy Award-winning Texas native worked at Oak Forest Country Club initially to just rake the golf course sand traps, until he was asked to also help get rid of an armadillo infestation. All right, all right, all right.
Christopher Walken (Lion Tamer)
Did you ever notice how often Christopher Walken has played an animal — such in 2016’s astonishing The Jungle Book remake as King Louie or in the 1998 animated adventure, Antz? Well, as the Oscar-winner revealed to Vanity Fair, he actually has a unique connection with animals, having gained some experience with lion taming while working at a traveling circus.
Simu Liu (Birthday Party Spider-Man)
When Simu Liu led the Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings cast in the title role, technically, that was not his first time playing a Marvel Comics character. While on Jimmy Kimmel Live, the Chinese-Canadian actor shared that he used to dress up as Spider-Man and entertain children at birthday parties.
Jennifer Lopez (Law Office Tax Return Filer)
Most people know that one of Jennifer Lopez’s earliest jobs before becoming “Jenny from the Block” was dancing with the Fly Girls on In Living Color. Yet, the Bronx Times revealed that, before even then, she spent her Saturdays at the Thomas Lavin Law Office filing tax returns.
Margot Robbie (Sandwich Artist)
From the way Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn speaks so passionately about a certain breakfast item in 2020’s Birds of Prey, you might think the Australian actor knows a thing or two about making sandwiches, and you would be correct. The Academy Award nominee spoke to Sean Evans on Hot Ones about her time as a “sandwich artist” at Subway, where she actually invented a few delicious concoctions of her own.
Terry Crews (Courtroom Sketch Artist)
A lesser-known fact about Terry Crews is that he is an exceptional drawer and even showed some of the best examples from his portfolio on Jimmy Kimmel Live. During that same visit, the Brooklyn Nine-Nine cast member and America’s Got Talent host recalled how he put that talent to great use by working for a television station sketching scenes from local trials in his hometown of Flint, Michigan.
Megan Fox (Smoothie Shop Banana Mascot)
One time when Megan Fox appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, the actor fell prey to the host’s recurring “jump scare” gag, courtesy of a person dressed as up as a banana. The costume choice was in reference to the Transformers movies star’s first job at a smoothie shop, for which she would, sometimes, have to dress as the yellow fruit to promote the business.
Hugh Jackman (Clown)
While known best for playing very intimidating characters like Wolverine in the X-Men movies, Hugh Jackman is known to be a very funny and charming presence offscreen. It makes sense when you discover the Australian actor used to work as a clown, but would reveal to Howard Stern that his talents were limited to juggling and found entertaining children above three years old quite difficult.
Eva Mendes (Hot Dog On A Stick Vendor)
Fun fact: one of Eva Mendes’ earliest show business gigs was appearing in Will Smith’s 1998 “Miami” video before reuniting with him in Hitch seven years later. Before then, she made dough working at a “hot dog on a stick place,” which she revealed to Australia’s Will & Woody radio show (via Daily Mail) that she was actually fired from for giving an inappropriate Secret Santa gift to a coworker.
Sylvester Stallone (Girls Boarding School Dorm Bouncer)
Even if Sylvester Stallone had not written one of the best sports movies ever, 1976’s Rocky, he could have landed the title role of the aspiring boxer by his physicality alone. According to a profile by People, his jacked frame came in handy when he was 18 and started working at a Swiss boarding school to both teach gym and keep unwanted guests out of the girls dorms.
Wanda Sykes (NSA)
As one of the funniest people of her generation — and the star of one of Paramount+’s best stand-up comedy specials — it may come as a surprise to learn that Wanda Sykes used to work for an organization as serious as the National Security Agency. However, as she explained on The Rich Eisen Show, her job did not involve covert operations or filing classified material, but “buying stuff” for the office, mostly.
Chris Pratt (Coupon Salesperson)
Before joining an insane amount of franchises (including the MCU’s Guardians of the Galaxy movies to the Jurassic World trilogy), Chris Pratt had humble beginnings as a supporting character on hit TV shows Everwood and Parks and Recreation. However, his true beginnings were even humbler, having revealed during an appearance on Conan that he once sold coupons door-to-door and did well enough to manage his own office of salespeople.
Taylor Swift (Praying Mantis Exterminator)
Years before taking on the world as a hit singer-songwriter, Taylor Swift grew up on a Christmas tree farm where everyone in her family was given a different task. As she told Esquire, the star of the sensational “Eras Tour” had the job “picking praying-mantis pods off of the trees” so that customers would not have an invasion of multi-legged uninvited guests.
Brad Pitt (Chicken Restaurant Mascot)
With how many intimidating roles Brad Pitt has played, from Fight Club’s Tyler Durden to Cliff Booth in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, the last thing anyone would think to call the actor is “a chicken.” Yet, you would not have been wrong if, decades ago, you spotted him when he made a living dressed as the mascot for California chicken restaurant El Pollo Loco, as he recalled on The Ellen Show in 2019.
Cindy Crawford (Corn Shucker)
One of the most famous models of all time, Cindy Crawford, first took on that profession in Chicago when she was 17, at a rate of $1,000 per day. A profile for Town & Country mentions that the modeling gig “sure beat shucking corn for $4 an hour,” which is something she did for a summer when she was younger.
Helen Mirren (Amusement Park Blagger)
Academy Award winner Helen Mirren technically got her start as an actor by participating in the National Youth Theatre before she was invited into the Royal Shakespeare Company, but first started honing her performance skills as a “blagger” for a London amusement park. While appearing on Mark Maron’s WTF Podcast, she defined “blagging” as shouting “something incomprehensible out to someone just to get their attention.”
Taraji P. Henson (Pentagon Secretary/Tina Turner Cover Singer)
Some of Taraji P. Henson’s most famous roles, such as Shug in Hustle & Flow and Cookie (a notable TV divorcée) on Empire, are linked to the music industry — a fact that is made even more interesting when you discover she used to work on a Potomac River cruise ship singing Tina Turner covers. Per Vanity Fair, at that same time, the future Academy Award nominee’s day job was at the Pentagon as a secretary.
Steve Buscemi (Firefighter)
While not exactly a “weird” job, it is intriguing to learn that Steve Buscemi used to work as a New York firefighter before landing roles like Mr. Pink in Reservoir Dogs. He would later revisit this time in his both onscreen (in The King of Staten Island) and in real life when — per The Independent — he volunteered to help his old company, Engine 55, search for survivors of the World Trade Center attacks on September 11, 2001.
Ken Jeong (Doctor)
After starring in 2009’s The Hangover cast and the Community cast made him a star, Ken Jeong led his own sitcom called Dr. Ken. The short-lived ABC comedy was actually based on the comedian’s previous career as an internal medicine specialist, during which he pursued comedy merely to “let off some steam,” as he shared to NPR.
Ashton Kutcher (Cereal Factory Sweeper)
Before hitting it big as Michael Kelso in the That ‘70s Show cast and, later, making innovations in the tech industry, Ashton Kutcher got his start in the cereal industry. To be more precise, as he recalled on Hot Ones, the actor swept the floors of loose Cheerios shavings at a General Mills factory.
Halsey (DMV Photographer)
As a chart-topping Grammy nominee and a non-actor who nailed her SNL hosting gig, Halsey is a person who boasts many skills but has only demonstrated a few to the public, as it turns out. She revealed in a tweet that, when she was still “Ashley Frangipane,” she worked “loads” of different jobs, but the one that caught our eye was taking “license photos at the DMV.”
Zayn Malik (Boxer)
While he did not actually make a living doing this, before competing on The X Factor and joining One Direction made Zayn Malik a star, he trained in boxing in his mid-to-late teens. In 2013, he told Daily Star (via Digital Spy) that he aspired to pursue the sport full-time at some point.
Jennifer Aniston (Bike Messenger)
As part of the Friends cast, Jennifer Aniston became one of the highest-paid actors of her time, but in her earlier years, did several odd jobs for her mother’s advertising firm. One of them, as she shared on The Tonight Show, was being a bike messenger “for a day” that she admits she decided to finish out by taking a cab for final delivery.
George Clooney (Insurance Salesman)
Despite technically growing up in a show business family (his father, Nick Clooney, is a former TV personality, and his aunt, Rosemary, acted), it took time for George Clooney to find fame of his own. According to The Standard, the Oscar-winning actor and filmmaker worked various low-paying jobs early on — one of which was going door-to-door, selling insurance.
Jon Hamm (Adult Film Set Dresser)
Very few A-listers would be willing to admit they worked in the adult film industry, but Jon Hamm had no problem talking to Howard Stern about it. For $100 a day, the Emmy-winning Mad Men cast member worked as a set dresser for, as he described them, “Skinemax movies.”
Amy Adams (Hooters Server)
Many people might say that they first saw Amy Adams when she appeared on The Office in its first season, but others might be able to claim she served them at Hooters. The Academy Award nominee told Entertainment Tonight that the restaurant chain gig was a “great way” to make ends meet during college before she found success as an actor.
Chris Hemsworth (Human Milk Pump Cleaner)
During a game of “True Confessions” with Kumail Nanjiani and host Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show, MCU star Chris Hemsworth’s potentially false personal fact stated that he used to clean and repair human milk pumps for pharmacies to rent when he was 14. It turned out to be the truth.
Danny DeVito (Morgue Hairdresser)
An artist known for his morbid sense of humor — as he has demonstrated by his crazy moments as Frank Reynolds on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and by helming movies like Duplex and Death to Smoochy — is Danny DeVito. Perhaps he got it from the several times he worked as a hairdresser for female corpses — a story he shared on The Always Sunny Podcast (via Unilad).
Channing Tatum (Exotic Dancer)
If you ever wondered how Channing Tatum learned to dance the way he does in 2012’s Magic Mike, according to an interview with Flicks and Bits, the drama was inspired by his own life before acting. In 2015, the actor recalled to Howard Stern how he started his brief exotic dancing career when he was 19 after dropping out of college.
Miley Cyrus (Undergarment Collector)
Miley Cyrus is one of the few examples on our list who actually did come from a show business family, but having a rock star like Billy Ray Cyrus as her dad also led to her first odd job. The former Hannah Montana star told Rolling Stone that, when she was much younger, her father used to pay her $10 for picking up women’s undergarments that had been thrown on stage during his concerts.
Some of these jobs would make us thankful to eventually be an actor or singer if we were in any of these celebrity’s shoes. However, others sound like an interesting way to make a living.
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