12 Celebrities Who Worked Regular 9 to 5 Jobs Before They Were Famous
From Starbucks employee to professional calligrapher, these celebs had normal jobs just like you.
Celebrities seem to have the life, right? From showing up on every red carpet to appearing in all your favorite movies and TV shows, these stars live like royalty (and some of them are royalty). But before they were your favorite television and movie stars, these celebrities worked “normal” 9 to 5 jobs.
From taking insanely complicated orders at Starbucks to being paid to exterminate armadillos, there is quite a range of celebrities’ first jobs, and here’s a look at some of them in their days before fame.
1. Melissa McCarthy
Where she worked before fame: Starbucks
What she said about her first job: “When I first moved here, I didn’t have a car, so I had jobs I could walk to. So, I worked… at Starbucks” the actress shared in an interview.
2. Meghan Markle
Where she worked before fame: Calligrapher
What she said about her first job: “I did calligraphy for the invitations for, like, Robin Thicke and Paula Patton’s wedding … it’s super-lucrative, because there are so few people doing it. What’s funny is I probably still have some calligraphy business cards floating out in the world.”
3. Amy Poehler
Where she worked before fame: Ice cream shop
What she said about her first job: “If you were young, you were expected to have a part-time job. I got one, scooping ice cream at Chadwick’s … Summer jobs are often romantic; Chadwick’s was not. Hard and physical, the job consisted of stacking and wiping and scooping and lifting.”
4. Margot Robbie
Where she worked before fame: Subway
What she said about her first job: “I think I was really good at it though, because I would really spread everything out to the edges evenly — the right amount of everything … I actually don’t go that often anymore, because I watch them make it badly — and I’m upset.”
5. Rachel McAdams
Where she worked before fame: McDonalds
What she said about her first job: “I had a small-town life — I worked at the local McDonald’s for three years … they would only let me be the ‘’friendly voice’’ that greeted you when you entered the restaurant. I was slow — I would be organizing the sweet-and-sour packets in the customer’s takeout bag while the line snaked out the door.”
6. Matthew McConaughey
Where he worked before fame: Armadillo exterminator
What he said about his first job: “The first real job that I got paid for was raking the sand traps at [a country club] … when the greenskeeper came to me and said, ‘Look, we’re having a problem with some armadillos that are eating the greens… I’d like to hire you… [to] spotlight them on the green and pick them off.”
7. Lucy Liu
Where she worked before fame: Multiple jobs in New York
What she said about her first job: “I worked seven days a week … I worked five days a week as a secretary and on weekends, during the day, worked as an aerobics instructor and in the evening worked as a hostess.”
8. Jennifer Aniston
Where she worked before fame: Telemarketer
What she said about her first job: “I was a telemarketer selling time-shares in the Poconos. I didn’t make one sale. I was terrible at it. I was like, ‘Why do we have to call people at dinnertime?’”
9. Harrison Ford
Where he worked before fame: Carpenter
What he said about his first job: “I had to have another source of income. So I became a carpenter … Through carpentry, I fed my family and began to pick and choose from among the roles offered.”
10. Sandra Bullock
Where she worked before fame: Waitress
What she said about her first job: “I was a really good waiter… I feel that everyone should wait tables for at least a year before they go out into the workforce.”
11. Taylor Swift
Where she worked before fame: Her Family’s Christmas Tree Farm
What she said about her first job: “I would go around and pick the praying mantis pods off the trees so that when people bought the trees, they wouldn’t have bugs hatching in their houses.”
12. Nicki Minaj
Where she worked before fame: Red Lobster
What she said about her first job: “If you’ve ever eaten at Red Lobster, I probably took your order… That’s what made me want to hurry up and follow my dream because I was like… ‘This is not for me.’”
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