From Ordinary To Famous: Celebrities And Their Lives Before Fame

When he was just 18 years old, Steve Buscemi took the New York City Firefighters’ exam and worked as a firefighter for four years. When the 9/11 attacks happened, he temporarily rejoined Engine Company 55 to serve at the World Trade Center. Now he is renowned for his work as a character actor.

In addition to being a courtroom sketch artist, Terry Crews played for the NFL from 1991 to 1997 before pursuing an acting career. Despite not taking any acting classes prior, Crews managed to land a breakout role in the 2002 comedy film Friday After Next.

Before earning her breakout role in The Wolf of Wall Street, Margot Robbie was making sandwiches at Subway. When asked about it on Hot Ones, she said, “I think I was really good at it though, because I, you know, would really spread everything out to the edges evenly — the right amount of everything," Robbie also starred in a few commercials, independent thriller films, and TV shows while auditioning for roles in Hollywood.

Becoming a Hollywood heartthrob wasn’t an easy road for Pedro Pascal, best known for his role in the hit series The Last of Us. He started out as a struggling theater actor in New York City. While working on stage, Pascal also worked regular day jobs such as waiting tables to support himself in one of the most expensive cities in the world.

Before his big break on the award-winning series Girls, Adam Driver was in the Marine Corps. Driver had hoped to join Juilliard but didn’t make it in. So he worked odd jobs and eventually enlisted in the Marines. However, the actor’s time there ended after two years due to a sternum injury.

Best known for his role as Thor, Chris Hemsworth had quite a few odd jobs before becoming famous. His most notable one, however, was cleaning breast milk pumps at a pharmacy. Hemsworth also appeared in an Australian soap opera and was a contestant on Dancing with the Stars.

Before becoming a chart-topping pop star, Taylor Swift worked at her family’s Christmas tree farm picking praying-mantis pods off trees. While doing this, she also sang at local events and fairs in Pennsylvania. Swift eventually moved to Nashville, where she caught her big break in the music industry.

Eva Longoria is a beauty queen turned actress who rose to fame after her appearance in the comedy drama Desperate Housewives. She worked at Wendy's for three years before becoming Miss Corpus Christi USA. After college, Longoria was signed by a theatrical agent and worked as a headhunter while auditioning for roles.

Rachel McAdams, best known for her iconic roles in Mean Girls and The Notebook, was an accomplished figure skater early on in life. The actress also had a part-time job at McDonald’s for three years while studying. Her former drama teacher convinced her to take up acting instead of pursuing a career in political science.

After high school, Matthew McConaughey spent a year in Australia, where he worked menial jobs such as washing dishes and shoveling chicken manure. When McConaughey finally got into college, he signed up to study law but eventually switched to film.

Before Gwen Stefani became a member of the band No Doubt, she worked a couple of odd jobs, with her first being a swim instructor and lifeguard at a pool. After that, Stefani landed a job at a local Dairy Queen. She eventually left it behind to work as a department store makeup artist.

Whoopi Goldberg found success after the release of The Color Purple in 1985. But before that, the actress had stints as a bank teller, a bricklayer, and even a mortuary cosmetologist. At one point, Goldberg also did some waitressing and gave acting classes at a theater troupe.

Before her hit role in Friends, Jennifer Aniston kicked off her career in theater. She worked in off-Broadway productions such as For Dear Life and Dancing on Checker’s Grave. Off the stage, Aniston held several part-time jobs such as being a telemarketer, waitress, and even a bike messenger to support herself.

After dropping out of college (two credits shy of graduating) to pursue an acting career, Brad Pitt supported himself by working a variety of odd jobs. He drove strippers around in limousines, moved refrigerators, and even dressed in a chicken costume to promote an El Pollo Loco restaurant.

Now one of Hollywood’s highest-paid actresses, Jennifer Lawrence, acted in various church plays and musicals before becoming famous. When the actress was 14, her mother encouraged her to pursue a career in modeling. But Lawrence picked acting instead and dropped out of school to audition for roles in the city.

One can’t hear Ryan Gosling’s name and not think of his role in The Notebook. However, what most people don’t know is that Gosling started off as a child actor, appearing on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse when he was just 12 years old. From there, he starred in various TV series till his breakout role in The Notebook.

Academy Award-winning Whale actor Brendan Fraser borrowed his mother's car and drove from Seattle to Hollywood. His goal? To make it big as an actor. Fraser quickly landed a minor role and a year later, a breakout role in the comedy film Encino Man.

Sydney Sweeney rose to fame after her role in the HBO hit series Euphoria. While she was still pursuing acting, her family moved to LA, but had a difficult time making ends meet in the expensive city. So Sweeney worked as a tour guide for Universal Studios to support herself and her family.

The Academy Award-winning actress dropped out of high school as a freshman to pursue acting. Stone moved to LA with her mom to audition for roles, and while there, took online high school classes and worked at a dog-treat bakery.

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson rose to fame as a wrestling personality on WWE, and is now one of Hollywood’s most successful actors. In a tweet from 2015, he let fans in on the fact that at 13, he worked as a dishwasher. Years later, he had hopes of playing in the NFL, but injuries held him back from that, leading him to pursue a career in wrestling instead.

Adrien Brody became famous after his role in the 1993 drama, King of the Hill. Before that, he performed magic tricks at kids' parties, took several acting classes, and appeared in an off-Broadway play. Brody even starred in a PBS TV film.

Amy Poehler has been a go-getter since childhood. Before starting college, she worked part-time at an ice cream parlor, singing Happy Birthday to customers while dressed in “old-timey” outfits. In her 2013 New Yorker piece, she wrote, “...I was reminded of things I already secretly knew about myself. I wasn’t shy, I liked to be looked at, and making people laugh released a certain kind of hot lava into my body that made me feel like a queen.”

Tony Hawk kicked off his career as a street skateboarder who dominated skateboarding competitions. In the ‘90s, Hawk started his skateboard businesses, Birdhouse and Blitz, which both became successes. He rose to fame after the release of his video game Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater in 1999.

Raised in a musical family, the Jonas brothers began performing from a young age. Nick and Joe were on Broadway, while Kevin appeared in TV commercials. It was only after record executives heard a demo featuring all three that they became an official band and signed with Columbia Records.

Tiffany Haddish is now a successful actress and comedian, but what you might not know about her is that she was once homeless. Haddish lived in her car during her twenties while working as an Air New Zealand customer service agent at LA International Airport and Alaska Airlines.

Luke Wilson's acting career took off when he played the lead role in the short film Bottle Rocket. As a versatile actor, Wilson’s decades-long career now spans multiple film and television projects. Before all the fame and success, Luke worked as a clerk at the Container Store.

Mathews Lillard is best known for his role as Shaggy in the live action and animated releases of Scooby Doo. After only a short time in college, Lillard quit school to pursue a career in acting. His big break came when he was cast as co-host of the Nickelodeon skateboarding show SK8 TV.

Chris Stapleton dropped out of his biomedical engineering degree program in college to pursue a singing career instead. He was a car salesman, an ice truck driver, and even worked at a pizzeria while writing songs and singing in bars.

After failing his last college course by one point, actor and comedian Zach Galifianakis moved to New York. Galifianakis did stand-up comedy gigs around the city and worked as a busboy to make ends meet. Appearing on the NBC sitcom Boston Common launched his career, eventually landing him his breakthrough role in The Hangover.

Greta Gerwig is the Oscar-nominated director behind movies like Barbie, Lady Bird, and Little Women. Gerwig intended to be a playwright but turned to acting when she wasn’t accepted into any playwriting MFA programs. To support herself financially, she juggled acting with working as a nanny and SAT tutor.

Before Beyoncé was a Grammy Award-winning singer, she helped sweep hair off the floors of her mother’s hair salon. While there, she’d put on solo shows for the women visiting the salon. The singer started taking vocal lessons at the tender age of 9 and won 35 talent shows.

Cindy Crawford is best known as one of the world's most iconic supermodels. But what you probably didn’t know is that she grew up in a small town and worked in cornfields for ten hours a day before being discovered. Crawford got a scholarship to study at Northwestern, but dropped out to pursue modelling full-time.

Over the years, Ben Affleck has become a renowned actor, screenwriter, director, and producer. To focus on acting, Affleck dropped out of college. His first role was in a Burger King commercial, followed by several minor roles. After the success of Good Will Hunting, a film he co-wrote and starred in with Matt Damon, Affleck's career took off.

When he was twenty-four years old, Kenny Chesney found fame as a country artist in Nashville. But before that, he held down a couple of odd jobs, including telemarketing and mail sorting. Chesney also worked as a valet and resident performer at a [ignorant person] tonk bar called The Turf.

Meghan Markle was a professional calligrapher before she landed a role as Rachel in the hit series Suits. Markle even landed the opportunity to design Paula Patton and Robin Thicke’s wedding invitations due to her exceptional skills. On top of that, she worked other freelancing jobs while auditioning for roles in Hollywood.

In 2016, Melissa McCarthy was the second-highest-paid actress in Hollywood. But before all the glitz and glamor, McCarthy worked jobs at Starbucks and the YMCA, both within walking distance of her apartment. Her last job before landing her breakout role was at the theater company Groundlings.

Prior to landing an Oscar Award-winning role in Dreamgirls, Jennifer Hudson worked at Burger King and as a singer on a Disney cruise line. Hudson also competed in the 2004 season of American Idol, reaching the final 12 before being eliminated.

Before playing Cookie Lyon in the hit series Empire, Taraji P. Henson worked a few jobs to pay off her student loans. Henson worked mornings as a secretary at The Pentagon and evenings as a singing-dancing waitress on a dinner-cruise ship called the Spirit of Washington.

Natasha Lyonne started out as a child actor with a recurring role on Pee-wee’s Playhouse before breaking into the film industry. In her teen years, Lyonne made small appearances in two American Pie sequels and several other films. She also briefly took on roles in off-Broadway stage productions before landing her Emmy Award-winning role on the hit Netflix series Orange Is the New Black.

In his memoir “Naturally Tan”, France revealed that he worked several jobs as a young adult, including being a flight attendant. Describing the job as an experience that included “some of the hardest moments of his life,” Tan quit flight attending after just two months. He went on to have a successful career in fashion design before starting his journey as a media personality on Queer Eye.