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Many Hollywood stars who now dominate both the big and small screens weren’t always living in the spotlight. Unless they were child prodigies, most had to navigate ordinary lives before their big breaks. For those who entered the acting world later in life—whether in their 20s, 30s, or beyond—they often struggled to make ends meet before fame came knocking. Even as they began landing minor roles in the entertainment industry, many continued to hustle and take on odd jobs to survive.
This list delves into the pre-fame lives of these actors. Below, we’ll uncover the surprising jobs ten A-list celebrities took on before their careers took off. From Los Angeles to New York and beyond, these stars now enjoy wealth and recognition, but their journeys weren’t always smooth. As you’ll discover, they once took on some truly unconventional roles just to stay afloat.
10. Brad Pitt
Long before Brad Pitt became a household name with his breakout role in Thelma & Louise and other legendary films, he worked as a mascot for a chicken restaurant. Yes, you read that correctly! It’s hard to imagine the Hollywood icon dressed in a chicken suit, but that’s exactly how he started.
During his early years, as Pitt navigated the challenging world of Hollywood auditions and casting calls, he still needed to earn a living and put food on the table. To make ends meet, he took up a job at a fast-food restaurant. While the role might have been humbling, it provided him with a steady income and the flexibility to rehearse his lines in his spare time.
Pitt’s job was as quirky as it sounds: he worked at El Pollo Loco locations in Los Angeles, donning a chicken costume to attract customers. Given the popularity of El Pollo Loco in the area, it’s no surprise Pitt landed the gig.
Interestingly, the experience also taught him valuable lessons about performance. Whether it was a major film role or a seemingly silly job as a chicken mascot, Pitt learned the importance of fully committing to a character and engaging the audience.
9. Johnny Depp
Before achieving global fame with iconic roles in Edward Scissorhands, Pirates of the Caribbean, and countless other films, Johnny Depp worked as a telemarketer. Growing up in Kentucky, he took on various odd jobs before relocating to Hollywood to pursue his dreams of stardom.
Among his odd jobs, the most peculiar was his stint as a telemarketer for a pen company. His task was to cold-call potential customers and persuade them to buy specialty pens. However, the job came with two major issues: (1) Johnny was terrible at it, and (2) he felt remorseful, believing he was deceiving people into what he considered a fraudulent scheme.
In an interview years later, Depp reflected on the job, saying, 'I sold pens over the phone. The catch was that you had to invent a persona, like ‘Edward Quartermaine from California,’ and convince strangers they could win a grandfather clock or a trip to Tahiti if they bought a bulk order of pens. It was a terrible experience.'
Despite its awfulness, the job had a silver lining. By fabricating names and backstories, Depp honed his ability to think on his feet and craft fictional narratives. This practice later proved invaluable when he had to embody diverse characters on screen.
Ironically, Depp only managed to close one sale during his telemarketing career. Overcome with guilt, he immediately pleaded with the customer to cancel the transaction and return the pens.
8. Christopher Walken
Christopher Walken is renowned for embracing eccentric roles in Hollywood. Even in seemingly ordinary parts, his unique delivery and enigmatic expressions add a layer of intrigue, making his performances captivating and unforgettable. It’s no surprise that his pre-fame life included an equally unusual job.
At just 16 years old, Walken ran away to join a traveling circus, where he trained as a lion tamer. This was around 1959, when the New York native left school and home to embark on a daring career working with some of the world’s most formidable big cats. Assigned to a lioness named Sheba, he quickly mastered the art of handling her as the circus toured various cities.
Reflecting on the experience, Walken once said, 'I didn’t run away; I simply took a job as a trainee lion tamer. Who could resist that? I’d enter the cage, wave my whip, and Sheba would lazily rise, sit like a dog, and maybe let out a small roar. I’ve always loved cats—they’re wonderful companions.'
Though he looks back on that time fondly, Walken didn’t stay long. After months of touring with the circus, he left to attend Hofstra University on Long Island. However, he soon dropped out to pursue dance and acting, eventually landing steady roles in film and television, cementing his place in Hollywood history.
7. Hugh Jackman
Long before Hugh Jackman became a household name for his iconic roles in X-Men and his Tony Award-winning performances on stage, he honed his skills in an unexpected way—as a birthday party clown. In his younger years, Jackman took on this quirky and somewhat humbling job to make ends meet.
Jackman would book gigs at children’s parties, entertaining kids and earning a living. Initially, the job wasn’t too bad. It was honest work, paid decently, and the young children he performed for were captivated by his act. Through this experience, he learned to market himself, entertain audiences, juggle, and more.
Reflecting on his clowning days, Jackman once said, 'At a three-year-old’s party, I was the best. I could juggle three things—swords, anything—but nothing more.' For a while, things went smoothly. However, when he started performing at parties for older kids, his act didn’t resonate as well.
At one eight-year-old’s party, his juggling act went disastrously wrong. Eggs fell and splattered everywhere, leaving an angry parent to clean up the mess and an unimpressed child who wasn’t entertained by his routine. Fortunately, Jackman’s career took a turn for the better, leading him to far greater success.
6. Matthew McConaughey
Alright, alright, alright… let’s talk about cleaning chicken coops! Before Matthew McConaughey became a Hollywood star, he was a young man studying law and later film. Thanks to a Rotary scholarship, he had the opportunity to travel abroad, choosing Australia as his destination. He ended up in a remote town called Warnerville, located along the central coast of New South Wales.
In Warnerville, McConaughey took on the humble job of cleaning chicken coops to support himself. The town was rural, with most residents working on farms, so it was only natural that McConaughey had to roll up his sleeves and get his hands dirty. He embraced the lifestyle, earning enough to enjoy surfing on local beaches and spending his free time immersed in nature.
Reflecting on that time, McConaughey spoke fondly of his year in Warnerville, describing it as transformative. 'Population 395,' he recalled. 'In the sticks, man. But I was cool with that. It was a life-changing year because I was stripped of all my usual comforts. I relied on myself—stumbled, fell, and survived. It was a year of self-discovery. I’m an extrovert, but that year was introspective, and it shaped who I am today. One of the best things I’ve ever done.'
5. Whoopi Goldberg
Before Whoopi Goldberg rose to fame with iconic roles in Ghost and Sister Act, and long before she became a staple on The View, she had an unusual fascination—working with the deceased.
Okay, that might not be the most accurate description. To clarify, she enjoyed applying makeup—just not on the living. In her younger years, Whoopi Goldberg became a licensed beautician. She attended beauty school, passed all the required exams, and earned her license. She was skilled at her craft!
However, when she needed work, no local beauty salons were hiring. One place that was, though, was a funeral home. They needed a mortuary beautician to prepare the deceased for their final farewells. Needing to pay her bills, Whoopi took the job. 'I did hair and makeup on the deceased,' she once explained in a 2015 video. 'There was an ad in the paper! And I’m a licensed beautician—I went to beauty school.'
That said, working in a funeral home isn’t for everyone. Handling the deceased day in and day out requires a unique kind of person. Reflecting on the experience, Whoopi said, 'It’s a tough job. You have to be a certain type of person. And you have to genuinely care about people to give them a proper send-off.'
4. Angelina Jolie
In her youth, Angelina Jolie had an unusual dream: she wanted to become a funeral director. Yes, the globally acclaimed actress and humanitarian once aspired to a career in funeral services. This ambition stemmed from a deeply personal experience with loss during her younger years, which shaped her profound sense of empathy.
When Angelina Jolie’s grandfather passed away, she and her family were deeply dissatisfied with how his funeral was handled. They felt his memory wasn’t honored as they had hoped, leaving them frustrated with the funeral industry. This experience inspired her to consider doing things differently.
In a 2011 interview with Bob Simon for 60 Minutes, Jolie reflected on how odd it now seems that she once wanted to become a funeral director. 'It sounds like a very strange, eccentric, dark thing to do,' she remarked, understating the peculiarity of the ambition. Yet, the disappointment of her grandfather’s funeral left a lasting impression on her.
'I was very upset with his funeral,' she shared during the interview. She even approached family members for funding to start a funeral business, aiming to revolutionize how death is approached in modern society. 'If acting hadn’t worked out, that would have been my backup plan,' she told Simon. Who knows? She might still pursue that dream someday.
3. Jim Carrey
It’s hard to picture Jim Carrey in any role other than acting. The comedian and film star has been entertaining audiences for decades with his impeccable comedic timing, versatile voices, and unforgettable facial expressions. However, despite his natural talent for humor, Carrey’s path to stardom wasn’t always straightforward during his youth in Toronto in the 1960s and 1970s.
At just 16 years old in 1978, Jim Carrey had to drop out of school to help his struggling family make ends meet. At one point, the future star of Liar, Liar even lived in a tent. For over two years, he worked as a janitor in a factory to earn a living.
That’s right—the man known for The Mask, Ace Ventura, and countless other comedic roles spent years cleaning toilets, sinks, and urinals. However, during this time, he was also refining his stand-up comedy skills. By 1979, he began performing in Toronto clubs, and by the end of 1980, he earned enough from comedy to leave his janitorial job behind.
2. Danny DeVito
Continuing the theme of unusual pre-fame jobs, Danny DeVito once worked in the funeral industry. Though he’s now a beloved actor with iconic roles in film, TV, and even commercials, one of his earliest jobs was as a hairdresser at a morgue.
In December 2022, DeVito shared this surprising fact on the “Always Sunny” podcast with his It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia co-stars. He casually mentioned how he used to style the hair of deceased women before achieving fame and success.
DeVito’s unusual job began innocently. With a talent for hairstyling and some formal training, he once had a client who passed away. Her family, who adored how he styled her hair, asked if he could prepare her for her funeral. Out of respect, DeVito agreed.
Word spread quickly, and soon other clients began requesting his services for their deceased loved ones. 'Consequently,' DeVito explained on the podcast, 'I did several.' A chilling yet fascinating chapter in his early career!
1. Sean Connery
Continuing the theme of pre-fame jobs tied to the afterlife, we turn to one of the most iconic James Bond actors: Sean Connery.
In his younger years, Connery worked at a funeral service in Haddington, Scotland. The business, run by Ronald Stark and his uncle, included a woodworking shop, a wagon manufacturing plant, and a coffin and mortuary service. Connery’s role involved polishing, cleaning, and bleaching coffins—a job he performed with dedication.
In a newspaper interview years later, Connery reflected on his time at the coffin shop, praising his boss’s unique skill in efficiently ‘fitting’ clients for coffins. '[Mr. Stark] had an uncanny ability to visually size-up clients for their coffins,' Connery recalled, adding a chilling tone to the memory. The article also highlighted how the shop sometimes overcharged grieving families for coffins.
The newspaper further reported that Connery admitted to regularly bleaching mahogany coffins to mimic oak during his time as a coffin polisher. Connery passed away in late 2020, just months after turning 90. One can’t help but wonder if he, too, fell victim to the same mahogany-bleaching trick he once employed.
