10 Celebrity Jobs Before Fame

We tend to think of celebrities as celebrities. Brad Pitt? Hollywood heartthrob. Lady Gaga? Global pop superstar. Steve Buscemi? One of the most recognisable faces in film and television. Harry Styles? Fashion icon, actor and former One Direction heartthrob.

But before the red carpets, sold-out tours and enormous Hollywood paycheques, these people had something much more relatable: jobs.

And they weren’t always glamorous.

Some waited tables. Some worked in fast food. One dressed as a chicken. Another dressed as a banana. One worked with dead people, while another actually worked with lions.

Honestly, suddenly answering emails for eight hours doesn’t seem so bad.

Here are 10 celebrities whose pre-fame CVs are considerably more entertaining than ours.

1. Brad Pitt Was a Chicken

Let’s begin with perhaps the greatest career trajectory of all time.

Brad Pitt once worked as a mascot for El Pollo Loco, the American fast-food chain. Yes, before he starred in Fight Club, Ocean’s Eleven and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, he put on a giant chicken costume and tried to attract customers.

Pitt has spoken about the job himself, explaining that he worked as the mascot during a restaurant opening in Los Angeles.

The job wasn’t exactly glamorous. Apparently, people occasionally flipped him off while he stood outside in the costume.

Still, he got paid.

And really, there is something beautifully Hollywood about Brad Pitt spending his early Los Angeles days dressed as a chicken while trying to break into acting.

As he reportedly put it when discussing the job: a man’s got to eat.

Career lesson: Never underestimate the chicken suit.

2. Hugh Jackman Was a Terrible Clown

Before Wolverine had claws, Hugh Jackman had… absolutely no clown skills.

Jackman worked children’s birthday parties as Coco the Clown, wearing a rented costume and attempting to entertain children despite admitting that he didn’t actually know any magic tricks.

He later recalled one particularly brutal experience when a child essentially reviewed his performance to his face.

The verdict?

He was rubbish.

Jackman reportedly tried juggling eggs to rescue the situation, which went about as well as you might imagine.

The job eventually came to an end after children started throwing eggs at him.

Somewhere out there is a universe where Hugh Jackman remained Coco the Clown and never became Wolverine.

Frankly, I need that alternate universe movie.

Career lesson: If a six-year-old tells you you’re bad at your job, perhaps listen.

3. Lady Gaga Was a Waitress

Before The Meat Dressed, Grammys and A Star Is Born, Lady Gaga was waiting tables in New York.

And apparently, she was pretty good at it.

Gaga has said she worked as a waitress for years and used the money to help fund her music career, including paying for demos and promotional materials.

She even described waitressing as a kind of performance because she would tell customers stories and try to keep dates romantic.

That actually makes perfect sense.

Of course Lady Gaga would somehow turn waiting tables into theatre. She has also spoken about working as a bartender and go-go dancer while pursuing music.

In 2025, Gaga even shared more about her restaurant days, revealing that she worked in Greek restaurants in New York and sometimes played up a Greek persona to earn better tips.

Career lesson: If you’re going to wait tables, at least make it performance art.

4. P!nk worked at McDonald’s.

Before P!nk was flying over stadiums, smashing out pop-rock anthems and generally doing whatever the hell she wanted, she worked at McDonald’s.

Specifically, she worked the drive-through.

And she apparently loved having the microphone.

P! nk once described herself as the “drive-through girl” and joked about having a Janet Jackson-style microphone and feeling like she had enormous power.

Considering the woman eventually became a global rock star, the title feels weirdly appropriate. She also worked at other fast-food restaurants when she was younger, including Pizza Hut and Wendy’s. Imagine pulling up to a McDonald’s drive-through in the 1990s and hearing P! I’ll take your order.

“Would you like fries with that?”

“Yes.”

“Excellent. Furthermore, I am going to become massively famous.”

Career lesson: Never underestimate the person behind the drive-through window.

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5. Whoopi Goldberg Worked in a Mortuary

This one is less “Haha, celebrity had a normal job” and more “WHAT DID I JUST READ?”

Before becoming an Oscar-winning actor, comedian and television personality, Whoopi Goldberg worked as a mortuary cosmetologist.

Goldberg trained as a beautician and worked doing hair and makeup on deceased people before her entertainment career took off.

She has spoken openly about the work and explained that she viewed it as a way of helping families during an incredibly difficult time.

She also worked as a bricklayer and bank teller while trying to make a living and pursue performance. It is one of those facts that sounds completely fictional until you hear Goldberg herself explaining it. And considering she later starred in Ghost, the universe clearly sensed humour.

Career lesson: Your weirdest job might eventually become your best pub quiz answer.

6. Steve Buscemi Was a Firefighter

Steve Buscemi’s pre-Hollywood career wasn’t just a random part-time job.

He was a New York City firefighter.

Buscemi worked with the FDNY from 1980 to 1984 before he began acting professionally. He served at Engine Company 55 in Little Italy and eventually left the department to pursue acting.

And his connection to the department didn’t simply disappear when he became famous.

Following the September 11 attacks, Buscemi returned to his old firehouse and worked alongside firefighters searching through the rubble.

So while plenty of celebrities have surprising pre-fame jobs, this one is genuinely impressive.

Before he was playing eccentric characters on screen, he was doing one of the toughest jobs there is.

Career lesson: Sometimes the previous chapter tells you more about someone than the glamorous one.

7. Harry Styles Worked in a Bakery

Harry Styles worked at a bakery in Cheshire before he became one of the world’s biggest pop stars through One Direction, solo albums, and sold-out stadiums.

At just 16, Styles had a part-time job at W. Mandeville Bakery in Holmes Chapel.

He also reportedly delivered newspapers and worked at a stable, mucking out horse stalls. So the teenage Harry Styles CV was basically:

Bakery worker. Newspaper delivery. Horse poo removal. Future global superstar.

Not exactly the career path you’d predict from someone who would eventually appear on fashion covers wearing Gucci.

His bakery job happened before he auditioned for The X Factor, where his life changed dramatically.

I wonder if the bakery staff knew they were working alongside future stadium royalty.

Career lesson: Always be kind to the person making your bread.

8. Megan Fox Was a Giant Banana

There are embarrassing first jobs.

And then there is wearing a giant banana costume outside a smoothie shop.

Before becoming a Hollywood star, Megan Fox worked at a smoothie café in Florida. One of her duties involved dressing up as a banana to attract customers.

Imagine being 15, walking past a smoothie shop and seeing a giant banana waving at you.

Then years later, that banana becomes Megan Fox.

Absolutely no notes.

Fox has spoken about the job as part of her early working life, and the story has become one of those wonderfully bizarre celebrity facts that refuses to disappear.

Somewhere in the multiverse, there is a photograph of someone asking:

“Who is that person in the banana suit?”

And the answer is:

“Future Megan Fox.”

Career lesson: Never judge a banana by its costume.

9. Nicki Minaj worked at Red Lobster.

Before Nicki Minaj became one of the biggest names in hip-hop, she worked as a waitress at Red Lobster.

Unfortunately, the job wasn’t a good fit.

Minaj has spoken about having a string of jobs before finding success and said she was laid off from Red Lobster.

In one story, she recalled a customer taking her pen after failing to leave a tip.

The rapper later said those experiences made her even more determined to pursue her dream rather than spend her life working jobs she hated.

That is probably the most Nicki Minaj career origin story imaginable.

Imagine being the person who refused to give Nicki Minaj her pen back.

Years later:

“Wait… wasn’t that the woman from Red Lobster?”

Yes.

Yes, it was.

Career lesson: Give the waitress her bloody pen back.

10. Christopher Walken Was a Lion Tamer

And finally, we arrive at the point where the celebrity CV simply stops making sense.

Christopher Walken once worked in a circus and trained as a lion tamer.

At around 16, he reportedly worked with a lion named Sheba.

Now, Christopher Walken already has the kind of voice that makes ordering a sandwich sound like a threat.

So it somehow feels completely believable that teenage Christopher Walken calmly walked into a circus enclosure to train a lion.

He has spoken about his circus experiences and his brief stint working with lions, describing it as an opportunity he simply couldn’t resist.

Most teenagers were getting weekend jobs in shops.

Christopher Walken was apparently thinking:

“Lion?”

“Absolutely.”

Career lesson: If someone offers you a job training a lion, perhaps ask a few more questions first.

From Chicken Costumes to Hollywood

The funniest thing about these stories isn’t actually the jobs.

It’s the fact that none of these people knew exactly where they were going.

Brad Pitt didn’t know he’d become Brad Pitt while dressed as a chicken.

Harry Styles couldn’t have known that his bakery job was a temporary stop before becoming a global pop star.

Hugh Jackman didn’t know that being a terrible children’s clown would eventually become one of the funniest stories he could tell about his early life.

And Steve Buscemi certainly couldn’t have predicted that his firefighting career would become an important part of his story long after he became famous.

That’s what makes celebrity origin stories so entertaining.

We see the finished product: the movie star, the musician, the award winner, and the person on the magazine cover.

We don’t see the awkward jobs, terrible shifts, weird uniforms, tiny paycheques and moments where they probably wondered whether their big dream was ever actually going to happen.

So next time you’re stuck in a job you hate, remember:

Brad Pitt was once a chicken.

And somehow, he made it work.

Want more weird celebrity stories?

If you enjoy the strange side of entertainment, refer to our deep dive into 15 Hollywood stars who disappeared from the spotlight, our look at the weird facts behind Jumanji, or go behind the scenes of Hot Ones and its bizarre celebrity interview formula.

Because apparently, celebrity life is considerably stranger than the red carpet makes it look.