13 Stars Who Had Unusual Jobs Before Finding Fame

But there are quite a few stars who had some pretty unexpected employers before landing their big break. From working as a decorator on the set of X-rated films to training lions for the circus, these stars had pretty unique occupations before making it big in Hollywood.

Find out what these stars did before fame…

1. Brad Pitt

Brad Pitt had a few unique jobs before finding fame including a gig working as a mascot for fast food joint El Pollo Loco. He also drove limos for strippers, chauffeuring them to and from bachelor parties and other events. In the end, he quit after only two months because “the novelty wore off very quickly and it got very depressing.”

“My job was to drive them to bachelor parties and things like that. I’d pick them up and sometimes they’d be crawling out the back window because their boyfriends didn’t know they were doing this. You’d drive them to the gig, collect the money, catch their clothes…it was not a wholesome atmosphere,” Brad recalled during Newsweek’s 2007 Oscar’s Roundtable.

2. Chris Hemsworth

As a teenager, Chris Hemsworth worked at a pharmacy in Australia and while that may be a pretty typical job, the tasks he had to do were not. Chris was in charge of cleaning and repairing breast pumps that the pharmacy rented out to mothers who were nursing.

“I literally worked for a pharmacy that would rent them out. The machines would come back and I would have a toothbrush, little spray and wipe,” Chris said during a game of True Confessions on The Tonight Show.

3. Meghan Markle

When Meghan Markle was an aspiring actress she worked at card and gift store Paper Source in Beverly Hills from 2004 to 2005. During that time, she taught calligraphy and reportedly wrote the invitations for Robin Thicke’s wedding to his now ex-wife Paula Patton.

“I would sit there with a little white tube sock on my hand so no hand oils got on the card, trying to pay my bills while auditioning,” she told Esquire. “I’m glad that in the land of no one seeming to appreciate a handwritten note anymore that I can try to keep that alive.”

4. Megan Fox

When Megan Fox was still a teenager, she got a job working at a smoothie shop. Instead of working the register, she was asked to dress up in a fruit costume to help promote the store.

“I only had one job growing up — I worked at a smoothie cafe. I used to have to dress up as a banana. I had the option of apple or banana. I always went with banana because it was thinner,” Megan reportedly told Nylon in 2009.

5. Cardi B

Before finding fame, Cardi B worked as a cashier at the Amish Market in New York City while going to school part time. After getting fired for giving a co-worker a considerable discount, her manager told her that she might want to think about another line of work.

“He was like, ‘You’re so pretty, you got a nice body.’ He told me to go across the street to New York Dolls, the strip club. That’s when I started stripping,” Cardi told The Fader.

6. Jon Hamm

Jon Hamm once had a job working on the set of porn films after a friend from college offered him the gig. He wasn’t appearing in the movies though — he was working as a set dresser for the Cinemax soft-core-porn movies. Looking back, Jon says he had to move the furniture around while avoiding “sweaty, naked people.”

“I’m, like, $150 a day? I will totally do that…But it was soul-crushingly depressing. There was no actual f–king, but it was so sad; the actors were dead but they were trying their best. I was like, ‘Man, this can’t f–king be it,’” Jon told Elle.

7. Hugh Jackman

Before he was a successful actor, Hugh Jackman once worked as Coco the Clown, performing at children’s birthday parties. His primary audience were toddlers but he at one point accepted a job for an older child’s party — and it went pretty badly.

“I was five minutes into my act — which was very lean on skill I have to say — and this kid whose birthday it was goes, ‘Mom, this clown is crap!’” Hugh shared on The Tonight Show. “So, I used to juggle eggs and I go, ‘Kids, do you want to throw eggs at me?’ and they go ‘Yeeaah,’ so they just pelted me with eggs. It was my very last time as a clown. I never did it again.”

8. Johnny Depp

When Johnny Depp first arrived in Los Angeles, he and his band got jobs working for a telemarketing company selling pens. Johnny quickly realized the whole thing was a scam and instead of making sales, he ended up telling people on the line that they shouldn’t make the purchase.

“The entire band had a job at this telemarketing place…We sold ink pens with [people’s] business name and everything and we also had the added pleasure of offering a trip to Greece, or grandfather clock or half a TV set or something,” Johnny shared on Jimmy Kimmel Live. “I was not good at it. I did make one sale…We’re making the deal and I finally said, ‘Sir, don’t buy these pens. You’re not going to Greece, I can guarantee you that.’ [He thanked me] in a very confused way.”

9. Danny DeVito

When Danny DeVito had just graduated from high school, his sister offered him a job at the hair salon where she worked. His sister even said she would pay for him to go to cosmetology school. After he graduated he eventually got a job at a mortuary doing hair for people who had passed on and were getting ready to be buried.

“It’s a little morbid…but it was only women’s hair I did,” he shared on Lopez Tonight. “Usually really old ladies…and they didn’t talk back!”

10. Christopher Walken

Growing up, Christopher Walken had odd jobs in television and movies but one summer he got a job as a trainee lion tamer with the circus. At the time he was just 16 and looking back, he says it was an incredible experience.

“I got a job as a trainee lion tamer. Who’s going to turn that down?” he told The Guardian. “I would come into the cage and wave my whip, and she’d lazily get up and sit like a dog and maybe give a little roar. I like cats a lot. I’ve always liked cats. They’re great company.”

11. Elizabeth Banks

As a teenager living in Massachusetts, Elizabeth Banks got a job at a popcorn shop called Pop-Corner. She sold treats out of a red booth during the summer and she says inside the shop, it could get swelteringly hot.

“It’s a little wagon that’s red that sits on the corner of my hometown and I handed popcorn out a window,” she told Us Weekly. “It was about 197 degrees inside of it. I worked there probably two summers.”

12. Pierce Brosnan

Back in 1969, Pierce Brosnan was an aspiring actor who performed with a theater company. One night before rehearsals, he came across a man giving a workshop about how to fire-eat. Pierce snuck in and ended up using the skill throughout his time with the troupe.

“There was a workshop and one night I came in to rehearse and I looked in and some guy was teaching people to fire-eat. There was a big group of people in there but I noticed that there were women and they had their tops off. So I thought I’d join in. This guy was a street performer and he was teaching us how to put the flames across the chest and the young ladies had to take their bras off — there were no bras then anyway. So I went to the workshop and I learnt how to fire-eat,” he told The Guardian.

13. Denzel Washington

When Denzel Washington was in his early 20s living in New York, he worked as a garbage man. Looking back on the experience, he says doing a job like that really put his acting career into perspective and made him realize how good he has it now.

“When I was 20, I worked for the sanitation department and I was a garbage man. I worked the back of the truck, 22 blocks — that’s hard. There is nothing that we do in movies that’s hard,” Denzel told Larry King.