Before they were famous, some of the biggest celebrities in the world were working odd jobs to make ends meet, just hustling and scraping by like anybody else. This list runs through celebs who found employment in strange and surprising places prior to landing their dream jobs. Do you work at Olive Garden? McDonald's perhaps? Well, maybe you're about to hit it big in Hollywood! Yes, this could be your origin story, because just like the rest of us, Kanye West, Megan Fox, Brad Pitt, and Helen Mirren all had to take some pretty menial, bizarre, and even humiliating jobs before they made it. That's just a taste of the celeb strangeness you'll find on this list. From selling pens over the phone to stripping for a couple dollar bills to doing makeup on dead people and even taming lions, the list of jobs that the rich and famous had before they were rich and famous reads like Kramer's resume on Seinfeld. Vote up the stars you think worked the best (or the worst) gigs before Hollywood came calling.
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Though DeVito may not be known for his own hair (or lack thereof), the tiny actor worked as a hairstylist one summer. Though he loved the perks of the job (the girls), when he started working at a local mortuary styling the hair of dead people, it got a little creepy for him, though he still would only work on women. Source: The Guardian, AOL TV
Back in the day, the superstar pushed ballpoint pens on the phone. The trick, according to Depp, was promising someone a big prize like a trip to Tahiti if they bought a handful of pens. However, Depp's guilt led him him to abandon the job, though he credits the gig as his first insight into acting. Source: Interview
Dustin Hoffman held many jobs while trying to make it as an actor, including being a doorman, stringing Hawaiian leis, checking coats, and even typing up the Yellow Pages, alongside 80 women. "I had no shame," Hoffman has said about his early job search. Source: Vanity Fair
Several biographers have claimed that in 1961, Jagger worked as a porter at Bexley Psychiatric Hospital, transporting peoples belongings in order to pay his tuition at the London School of Economics. It's rumored that Jagger lost his virginity to a nurse in a Bexley closet. Source: The Guardian
Before she played royalty, Dame Helen Mirren worked at the Kursaal Amusement Park trying to attract people to come onto the various rides. In the US we'd call her a "barker," but over in the UK, Mirren was known as a "blagger". Source: The Daily Mail
When Christopher Walken was a kid, he actually worked in the circus. He was the assistant lion tamer in a traveling tent, basically playing the tamer's son. Walken's lion was called Sheba and Walken says she was "like a dog, really" and that all he had to do was wave his whip and Sheba would roll over, sit up, and lay down. Source: Vanity Fair
Hugh Jackman held a few weird jobs before becoming the leading man he is today. A former gas station attendant, he was also a party clown, red nose and all, then he was a P.E. teacher. On a red carpet one day, one of his former students called him out, thus revealing Jackman's gym teacher past to the world. Source: Moviefone, CBS
Crawford did corn shucking back in DeKalb, Illinois when she was growing up, referring to it as "hot, dirty work." Now, what's corn shucking, you ask? It's removing the peel and outer leaves from the raw corn. Sexiest corn shucker ever? Source: Twitter
Before bellowing his way through action roles, Scottish actor Gerard Butler studied law at Glasgow University. He even worked as a civil lawyer in Edinburgh, reportedly drinking his way through the job until he was fired a week before qualifying for full fledged lawyerdom. Source: The Independent
Jonny didn't used to work on the docks. In fact, he used to work in Santa's workshop! Yes, the famous singer got his start constructing Christmas decorations! That's edgy, right? Now you get where "Livin' On A Prayer" comes from. Source: Ultimate Classic Rock
One tactic to get people to pay off their debts is to send a debt collector who looks like Demi Moore. Back in the '70s, Moore dropped out of Fairfax High School and started collecting debts before taking up acting. Source: People
It's the stuff Hollywood dreams are made of: Before he became the biggest star around, Brad Pitt would dress up like a chicken outside the fast food joint El Pollo Loco, waving to passing cars. No stranger to odd jobs, Pitt has also admitted to driving strippers around to different gigs, playing the music, and collecting the money! Source: NBC Los Angeles, People
In her early days, Victoria "Posh" Beckham dressed up as a sperm on roller skates for a BBC sexual education show called Body Matters. This was pre-Spice Girls and pre-David Beckham, of course, though we're sure she was the poshest sperm that ever lived even back then. Source: Star Crush
Before she was one hot mama, Tina Turner was taking care of hot mamas. While juggling her singing career, Turner became a nurse's aid in a maternity ward in St. Louis. During the day she helped with the moms and babies, and at night, she played the clubs, shaking her legs. Source: Nurse Appreciation
Before there was Thelma and Louise, there was Thelma and Anne... Taylor that is. It was at the clothing store where Davis posed as a mannequin in storefront windows alongside the actual mannequins. "Somebody saw me do that, and then he stopped to see what was now going to happen," Davis explains. "But I just froze. I didn't know, but I had an uncanny ability to be still." Her poses drew crowds left and right, which helped bulk up her resume when she turned to real high fashion modeling. Source: NPR
On The Ellen Show, sexpot Megan Fox admitted that her only real job was at smoothie shop in Florida. She worked behind the register, but once a week she'd dress up as a piece of fruit (a banana) and stand out by the highway. Ellen took the opportunity to scare the crap out of Fox by sending out someone dressed in a banana suit. Source: The Ellen Show
While studying journalism at Northern Kentucky University, George Clooney took a job cutting tobacco. His grandparents own a tobacco farm, so Clooney would help cut, chop, and strip the tobacco which helped Clooney never pick up a smoking habit of his own. He also sold insurance door to door before hitting it big. Source: The Telegraph
Whoopi Goldberg was a trained beautician before she became a huge comedy star and Oscar winner. At one point, she took a job as a makeup artist at a mortuary. Her boss actually acclimated her to the creepy setting by hiding in a drawer usually occupied by corpses, slowly opening it, then waving to his employee. Sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen. Source: Now Magazine
When she was 18 years old, the future five-time Oscar nominee worked at wings and boobs favorite Hooters. Adams paid her way through college with the gig and looks back at the job with fondness. "It was great," Adams has said of her time in orange hot pants. Source: ET Online
Winslet, who was referred to as "blubber" by the bullies in her school, worked at a deli shop before hitting it big time in Hollywood. In fact, Winslet was 17 years old and in the middle of making a pastrami sandwich when she got the call she'd won the role in Heavenly Creatures, her first film. She promptly went out and cried, presumably not from cutting onions. Source: The Guardian
As an exchange student in Australia, Matthew McConaughey found work cleaning out chicken coops and washing dishes. When asked what cleaning coops did for him, a characteristically philosophical McConaughey replied, "Those types of trips are really ones that leave a lasting impression." Source: Qantas
Though he was always late for work, young Vince Vaughn worked at the YMCA as a lifeguard. He has said that his first save was an old woman with floaties on who went too deep in the old peoples' pool. Nonetheless, he felt pride and accomplishment in "saving her life," but he eventually lost the job. Source: ABC7
Before Friends, Jennifer Aniston paid her bills by selling timeshares to people in the Pocono Mountains (in Pennsylvania). "I was awful," Aniston says about her phone hocking skills, adding that she'd feel so guilty that she'd frequently hang up on customers. Source: The Gloucester Citizen
Though it doesn't sound like the most exciting job, comedian Jerry Seinfeld warmed up for his successful comedy career by selling light bulbs back in 1976. Seinfeld used the fake name Dave Wilson and cold-called potential customers, pretending he had met them in the past. Seinfeld quit the job after a couple weeks, as soon as he could afford groceries. Source: People
Yes, Jon Hamm worked in porn. Unfortunately, he wasn't on-screen. No, the Mad Men star was a set dresser for semi-pornagraphic movies. Hamm has compared the films to "Skine-Max" type flicks, and said the job was ultimately very depressing. Source: The Daily Mail
Back in 2008, a 15-year-old Miley Cyrus confessed on The Tyra Banks Show that her first job ever was with Sparkles Cleaning Service when she was 11. The "Wrecking Ball" singer says it was her only normal job, and that she got exceedingly good at cleaning strangers' toilets. Yeah, right... Fun fact: P. Diddy and Stanley Tucci had jobs cleaning toilets as well! Source: Just Jared
This could be the sweetest odd job ever. After graduating college in 1984, future Daily Show host Jon Stewart took a job working for the state... as a puppeteer. Stewart would go to schools putting on puppet shows designed to help sensitize kids to the needs of the disabled. Source: The New York Times
When Kidman's mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, the 17-year-old dropped out of school and became a massage therapist to help her family make ends meet. She eventually got on path to pursue her dreams (becoming an actress, not marrying Tom Cruise) but we're sure she still gives a mean massage to this day. Source: Shape
Carrey dropped out of school at the age of 15 because his family was quite poor. He began to work as a janitor to support the family, even carrying a baseball bat around on his cart just because he wanted to "beat the heck out of something." Carrey says that if his acting career never took off, he'd still be working in the steel mills of Ontario. Source: Inside the Actors Studio
Unlike other stars who did innocuous jobs on porn sets, Sly Stallone actually ACTED in a pornographic movie. In order to pay the bills, Stallone starred in the softcore skin flick Party at Kitty and Stud's in 1970! Stallone claims he was so poor that he had to choose between either doing the porn or robbing someone. If you do your research, you can find some unique freeze frames of Sly from the movie. Source: Rolling Stone
Carpentry is one of the world's oldest professions, an occupation pursued by the likes of Jesus and Harrison Ford. Friends star Matt LeBlanc's grandfather was a carpenter, and when he was of age, LeBlanc started training to be a carpenter himself. He loved the idea of building things people would have for a long time. However, LeBlanc claimed he got "ants in his pants" for acting and moved to New York to pursue his non-carpentry dreams. Source: The Telegraph
Not only did No Doubt lead singer Gwen Stefani get her start pumping out custard at the Dairy Queen, but she also held a job at the Anaheim Plaza Mall. Stefani claimed that when she started her job at Dairy Queen, she fit into her outfit. By the time she was on her way out, though, she couldn't squeeze into the uniform. The power of ice cream! Source: US Magazine
Before she shacked up with Ryan Gosling (which may be the best job ever), Eva Mendes was one of those brightly-dressed cashiers at Hot Dog on a Stick. She was fired from the gig when she gave a secret Santa gift comprised of personal care products to a co-worker as a joke, a joke her boss apparently didn't find funny. Source: W Magazine
In response to a trending hashtag in August, 2017 that asked people to list their first seven jobs, Stephen Colbert revealed that he once made futon frames.
Though Wiig held a handful of jobs in her 20's - including working at Anthropologie, designing flower arrangements, and serving food to executives on the Universal lot, it was selling peaches at a farmer's market that she remembers most fondly. Wiig claims she only had to answer one question: "What's the difference between the white and yellow peaches?" Turns out the white ones are sweeter. Source: The New York Times
There may be a chance that Evangeline Lilly gave you peanuts and orange juice on one of your flights. Lily was a flight attendant for Royal Airlines, which she claimed was "the worst job ever." In order to get revenge on one of her nasty passengers, Lily said she farted in his face (Literally. She told the story on The Tonight Show!). Source: Hollywood Life
Chris Rock worked at the Red Lobster on Queens Blvd. in 1989, washing dishes. "I used to scrape shrimp into the garbage can and then load up the dishwasher,” Rock has said. “They kept me in the back because I had really f—ed-up teeth and they didn’t want people to think that shrimp f—ed up your teeth.” Other stars who worked in restaurants include Lady Gaga, Sandra Bullock, Renee Zellweger, and Nicki Minaj (who also worked at Red Lobster). Source: The New York Daily News
Before toying with the idea of becoming a plumber and long before biting the head off a bat, Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne did a stint in a slaughterhouse, cleaning up the remains. "For the first four weeks, I did nothing but throw up," Osbourne says of this totally metal early job. Source: The Telegraph
While he was a struggling comedian, Ray Romano was a futon delivery boy, a job that had its own perks. Romano once delivered a futon to Robert De Niro and also helped load one into Cher's car. Years later, Cher spotted the Everybody Loves Raymond star in a restaurant and stopped by to tell him that the futon was "a piece of crap." Source: The Huffington Post
Nashville star Connie Britton, who also folded clothes at Gap and the Limited, used to don her leg warmers and bandana to break a sweat and teach exercise classes. Add some thick socks and a pink leotard for the full picture. Other famous aerobics class instructors include Lucy Liu and Calista Flockhart. Source: E! Online
Way before he had his own fashion line, Kanye West folded T-shirts at the Gap. Unfulfilled by all that folding, the rapper allegedly partook in herbal refreshment on his breaks. These days, West has said he would like to be the creative director for the retail chain, acting as "the Steve Jobs of Gap." Source: Time
Future Oscar nominee (and host) James Franco started his career like many of us did - at McDonald's! But the experience meant so much to Franco that he wrote an open letter in the Washington Post claiming the organization was there for him when nobody else was. Other notable McDonald's employees include Rachel McAdams, Sharon Stone, and Jay Leno. Also in the fast food biz: Jennifer Hudson (Burger King), Queen Latifah (Burger King), and Madonna (Dunkin Donuts). Source: The Washington Post
Everybody knows that Channing Tatum got his start as a male stripper. The pictures are out there... heck, the movie is out there (Magic Mike). Yes, back in the '90s, Tatum strutted his stuff at strip clubs in Florida where he went by the stage name "Chan Crawford." Tatum would pull in $50 bucks a night, plus tips, which is a lot different than the millions he gets for starring in movies these days. Source: The Daily Mail
Scooping ice cream has long been a favorite among those who will someday be celebrities. Julia Roberts, Barack Obama, Leeza Gibbons, Eric Dane, and Amy Poehler worked at various places including Baskin Robbins and, in Poehler's case, Chadwick's. Poehler claims one of the worst parts of the gig was when teenagers would come in claiming it was their birthday, and Poehler was stuck singing and playing a kazoo over and over again. Source: New York Magazine
Beyonce's mother Tina owned a beauty salon when the former Destiny's Child was growing up. Queen Bey would sweep up the cut hair on the floors to make a living, while switching back and forth to receptionist. Coincidentally, her co-diva Mariah Carey also got her start sweeping up locks in a beauty salon! Source: People
