Celebrities’ every day jobs before becoming famous

Terry Crews found star status with comedy hits like White Chicks and Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and his job prior to acting fame was strangely connected to his fictional crime-fighting portfolio.

In 1987, he worked as a sketch artist for the “worst murder case in Flint, Michigan, history”. According to the actor, their regular artist wasn’t able to attend so they said: “‘Terry, we need you to come in, we need you to do this.’ And I went in and pinch hit it, and I became their sketch artist! It was nuts!”

Mad Men‘s Jon Hamm might be best-known for his fictional adventures in marketing, but if you can believe it, his real-life career pre-fame was even more colourful.

After losing a catering gig, a friend handed over their job as a set dresser for soft-core porn movies. “I’d lost my catering gig. I was like, ‘I need a job.’ My friend said, ‘You can have my job. I’m doing set dressing,'” he told Esquire in 2018.

It’s not just Ghost that had Whoopi Goldberg in close contact with the dead. Before she found fame, Whoopi became a licensed beautician and got a job doing “hair and makeup on dead people”.

She told Oprah’s Master Class that being a mortuary cosmetologist is a “rough gig”. “You have to be a certain kind of person. And you have to love people in order to make them worthy of a great send-off.”

Recently wed to NFL star Travis Kelce and earning billions as a country singer-turned-pop star, it’s hard to see how Taylor Swift’s life could feel any more Hallmark.

But when she was just a small town girl, she worked on her family’s Christmas tree farm in Pennsylvania picking praying-mantis pods off of the trees. She explained to Esquire in 2014: “The only reason that was my job was because I was too little to help lift trees.”

Taking pride in their work is a key part of every actor’s motivation, but for Margot Robbie this principle extended past her Hollywood hits to her more everyday employment.

The actress previously worked at fast-food chain Subway and told First We Feast she was “really good” at making their signature sandwiches. ‘I, you know, would really spread everything out to the edges evenly — the right amount of everything.”

Desperate Housewives star Eva Longoria spent six years working at fast-food classic Wendy’s and still remembers their key steps to making the perfect burger.

She explained the importance of order on the Rachael Ray Show, saying:”What we learned at Wendy’s was mayonnaise goes on the bun first, to seal the bun, so the bun stays nice. Then you put the ketchup. And [then] mustard goes on the meat, because it brings out the flavour of meat.”

Some stars find true value in their life before fame, though most don’t return to their old profession once Hollywood comes calling. But Steve Buscemi was an exception. Following 9/11, he returned to his former firehouse in Manhattan and found comfort in spending time with his old colleagues. 

The actor worked as a firefighter for five years, taking the FDNY civil service test at just 18. He explained: “It was enormously helpful for me because while I was working, I didn’t really think about it as much, feel it as much.”

Overnight hit Heated Rivalry had audiences swooning over its two male leads and the rollercoaster of their relationship. But neither star thought they’d be making it to the Met Gala any time soon when they were cast in the Canadian TV show.

Before finding sudden success as hockey player Shane Hollander, Hudson worked as a waiter at The Old Spaghetti Factory. A TikTok made while he was still working there recently went viral and made fans fall for the new star even more.