Megan Fox, Nicholas Galitzine & More Whose First Jobs Are Relatable AF
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Originally appeared on E! Online
Every actor starts somewhere, and sometimes that somewhere is a world away from the spotlight.
Long before Margot Robbie smashed the patriarchy in Barbie, she manned the counter at Subway.
"I've worked in restaurants behind the bar, in the kitchen," she shared in a video for the Australian Council of Trade Unions. "I did retail for two years. I've done some secretary work."
Julia Roberts may have only been 20 when she showed up in Mystic Pizza, but the Georgia-born star had already steeled herself for the real world by scooping ice cream. Meanwhile, Sandra Bullock was surely the Miss Congeniality of bartenders, Megan Fox dressed as a banana to let passing drivers know there was a smoothie shop thataway and dispensing swirls of frozen yogurt was just one of the early gigs keeping the idea of acting alive for Nicholas Galitzine.
Stars' First Met Gala Appearances
More from E! Online
Teen Mom’s Tyler Baltierra Reacts to “Disappointing” Decision From Carly's Adoptive Parents
Pregnant Hailey Bieber Shares Behind-the-Scenes Photo From Her and Justin Bieber's Maternity Shoot
Point being, what a blend of first jobs!
As the consummate entertainer Hugh Jackman once mused, "When you first go into the workforce, your first job, whether it's 7-Eleven or whatever it is, you realize that you've got a role to play—a responsibility—and people are expecting you to fulfill it."
After working at that particular convenience store, he told Fast Company in 2019, "I was left with this feeling that I could make my way. I could work with my hands, my feet, and my brain."
So sure, now they're breathing rarified air, but keep reading to see what more stars did for work to stay afloat:
Margot Robbie
"I think I've had every kind of job," the Barbie star said in a video for the Australian Council of Trade Unions from 2010.
"Before [the long-running Australian soap opera] Neighbours, I was working at Subway. I've worked in restaurants behind the bar, in the kitchen. I did retail for two years. I've done some secretary work."
Julia Roberts
The Oscar winner scooped ice cream at Baskin-Robbins before she delivered Mystic Pizza.
Brad Pitt
Once upon a time, he worked at an El Pollo Loco in Hollywood. "Man's gotta eat," Pitt said on Ellen in 2019, adding that he felt "no shame" about his days dressed as a chicken for the fast food chain.
Other gigs to pay the rent included moving furniture and chauffeuring strippers around. The latter admittedly got "really, really depressing," Pitt said during a 2007 Oscars roundtable, so he quit after only two months, "even though it was really good money I needed at the time."
But, making one last drive, he met a woman who was in an acting class he decided to check out and the rest is history. As he concluded, "Strippers changed my life."
George Clooney
The Oscar-winning actor and producer didn't go to medical school before scrubbing into E.R. in 1994, but he did sell insurance.
"I had a lot of rotten jobs," Clooney said on the Late Show With David Letterman in 2012. "I sold insurance door-to-door, but it didn't work out well. The first day I sold one [policy] and the guy died."
Nicholas Galitzine
The English actor didn't mind the idea of a day job.
"I believe we're a resilient bunch," the Idea of You leading man said of actors in general, telling Backstage that over the years he worked at Abercrombie & Fitch ("a very low point"), took on catering jobs, coached kids' sports, spent time as a "manny" and worked at a frozen yogurt shop with future Bridgerton star Simone Ashley.
Jimmy Fallon
The late-night host started off working in a grocery store. Which wasn't bad, minus having to scrape gum off the welcome mats.
Chris Hemsworth
The Thor star got his first job at 14 "cleaning breast pumps" at a pharmacy, and as he said on The Tonight Show, "repairing them as well, occasionally."
"They would rent them out, the machines would come back," he explained, "and I would have a toothbrush, a little spray and wipe..."
But Hemsworth wasn't one to nurse a grudge.
Tom Hanks
When he was in high school, the Oscar winner sold popcorn and peanuts at Oakland Athletics games, a tear-free gig since there's no crying in baseball.
Amy Adams
Before walking red carpets, she waited tables at Hooters. Which, she said, was a great way to earn money to buy a car.
Oprah Winfrey
As a teenager she worked at a grocery store near her father's barber shop in Nashville and "hated it with a passion," she recalled during a 1992 visit filmed for The Oprah Winfrey Show.
Not least because she "wasn't allowed to talk to the customers," she said, adding, "Can you imagine that for me?"
But Winfrey diligently showed up for work without fail. "The only thing that got me out of the store," she said, "was the fact that I got myself a job in radio broadcasting."
Sandra Bullock
While sharpening her acting chops at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theater, the Oscar winner supported herself bartending.
"I learned a lot of accents as a bartender," Bullock told the Associated Press. "A lot of girls came in looking for rich husbands. I learned to imitate them."
Channing Tatum
Art reflects life: The Magic Mike star's own days as a male stripper under the stage name "Chan Crawford" inspired the 2012 box office hit.
Nicki Minaj
The rapper revealed she started off waiting tables at Red Lobster restaurants: "I've gotten fired from all three or four of them."
Mindy Kaling
Before she was in front of the camera, Mindy worked behind the counter at a video store. Admitted the actress, "I think I learned nothing from it."
Rachel McAdams
The Notebook alum once worked at McDonald's, where, she acknowledged, "I was not a great employee."
Vivica A. Fox
The Independence Day star says she was inspired to go into the entertainment industry after seeing Diana Ross and Michael Jackson in concert, but she "never forgot" where she started: Working at a hot dog stand!
Denzel Washington
The actor's first job was cleaning up at a local barbershop when he was 11 years old. While working there, he learned a lot about acting and "hustling!"
Sasha Obama
The first daughter, who graduated from university of Southern California in 2023, reportedly had a summer job waiting tables and working the takeout window at a seafood restaurant on Martha's Vineyard when she was 15.
Emma Stone
Before she was a top dog in Hollywood, Emma worked behind the counter at a dog treat bakery. Seeing puppies all day? Doesn't sound too ruff.
Jennifer Aniston
Before her star-making role as Rachel on Friends, the actress made her allowance cleaning toilets ("I'm actually pretty good at it," she's said) and was later a bike messenger in NYC.
Russell Crowe
As a teenager, the actor spun tunes at an Australian nightclub under the name "Russ Le Roq" to pick up women.
Hugh Jackman
The Wolverine actor manned the counter at a 7-Eleven in Sydney before being fired for talking to the customers too much. The manager "just wanted me to get them out," he told Fast Company. "I said, 'There's no one else here and I want to chat.'"
Christopher Walken
The star of The Deer Hunter and Hairspray was already a child actor—"I was in sketches with Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin," Walken told The Guardian. "Never got paid a cent!"—when he spent a summer as a trainee lion tamer in the circus when he was 16.
"Who's going to turn that down?" he said. "I would come into the cage and wave my whip."
The lion, Sheba, would "lazily get up and sit like a dog and maybe give a little roar," he continued. "I like cats a lot. I've always liked cats. They're great company."
Megan Fox
The Transformers star previously worked at a smoothie shop, where once a week someone had to dress up as a piece of fruit and stand by the highway to entice customers. "I was a banana," Fox said on Ellen in 2012, "a giant banana."
