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Backstage: Are you working to support your acting career? Ever wonder where some of your favorite celebrities paid their dues before their big breaks? Here are 19 actors on their unglamorous, undesirable, and just-plain-awkward day jobs.
9 comments:
Sarah Keller
said...
Being a lion tamer is not an awkward day job- it's a really cool day job! The rest of the jobs weren't really surprising- it's pretty expected that at some point you're going to have to work a pretty bad job to make ends meet. It's not surprising that a lot of famous actors/actresses worked in fast food at some point (it's a pretty typical young adult job), although it is comforting. It's interesting to me that the two people who admitted to being strippers in the past were both men- I wonder if it's harder for women to get out of that kind of a job or if they're just less likely to admit it. It seems like one of those things that an aspiring actress would have to think very hard about before doing- it's definitely something that might end up following them and might eventually end up as bad publicity, or might result in them getting typecast. With guys it's just a charming story from their crazy days, but I think the media would have a much different reaction if they found out that a famous actress used to be a stripper.
I love this article. I find it so fascinating to read what real actors do as a day job. This proves that actors won't spend their life weighting tables while they are in between jobs, but they can do something really cool! I hope that some of our actors read this article and are inspired. Inspired to not give into the stereotype of just being a waiter or a bar tender. Actors have very special unique hidden talents that can definitely be applied to "real world" jobs! It is sad to see so many of them give into this. However, the world does need waiters and bar tenders.
It's always nice to be reminded that artists come from all different backgrounds, and that they had to overcome various obstacles to get to where they are today.
So often there's this fear with having to "settle" and work at a job that isn't what you want to do with your life. It's the fear of selling out and getting stuck in a place that you don't want to be in that discourages so many young people nowadays.
I think that what's important is to be ready when opportunity knocks. Often we need to make our own opportunities, too. Putting ourselves out there will create more chances for discovery.
Well, I guess it just goes to show that if you want something you have to work for it. Now, I guess that doesn't count for a lot of people, but if these it certainly does. In life, you should experience many things because you never know when it will help you in the future. Over half of these people said that they had learned something from their jobs. And I have to say, working in the fast food industry isn't really that much of an awkward job. That is quite normal for people trying to get their first jobs. A LOT of people work in fast food gigs when they are just starting out. A LOT of people also work as waitresses. These are not special jobs. The chicken farmer one was just about the only odd job that these people worked. I wouldn't have expected that one.
This was cute! It's nice to see that they had average jobs once and that those average jobs were what got them to where they are now. (Except for the lion tamer... dang, I want to tame lions! That sounds sooooo cool!!) Some of the jobs were pretty awkward; a set dresser for soft-core porn? A Chauffeur for strippers? I mean, when you think about it, it's a great story to tell when you get older and it was a job which helped pay the bills. I agree with Sarah, when the male actors say that once they used to be strippers it's one thing, but if a female actress had that as a past job, people would react differently. Which, you know, is not fair. These are jobs and this is how people make money. We all have to start somewhere so even if these jobs are wacky or awkward or SUPER COOL (I mean common!! Lion taming?! Flipping LION TAMING!!!) they're an honest job! At least none of them were in the bank robbing or assassination business :D right?
This is very interesting to read because you would not expect any of these people to work in a fast food restaurant. It just proves that you don't have to be a rich kid to go far in life. Everyday people have become huge actors in the industry. People should never give up on their dreams. Many people don't believe that you can go from working at McDonalds to become a huge movie star. Everyone needs to get some extra money somehow. These are hard working people and they worked to get some money when they were younger and now they are making a lot of money.
Does this article have trouble with understand what "awkward" means? Some of these jobs are really fascinating and interesting. I feel like I'm getting a look inside the minds of some of my favorite actors and actresses. Yeah, being a porn set dresser could be awkward, being a caddy or a waitress isn't awkward; it's a normal job that normal people have. We all start somewhere. Some of us start at Hooters, some of us start as strippers, and some of us clean chicken coops. We all start somewhere. Jobs like these keep us humble. Someday, I'll tell people about my summer job and it will get huge laughs like this article intended to. For now, I use it to my advantage and learn from my experiences.
This article was quite surprising and hilarious but also really humbling. It's nice knowing that I am going to school working towards what I want to do rather than being a stripper to make ends meet. Sure, when I go home I work at Old Navy but I don't think that's nearly as traumatic as working as a stripper or in fast food. I wonder how their old skills transfer into their work today. I'm sure people skills are definitely transferable seeing as I use the people skills I've learned at Old Navy here all the time. But, what about lion taming? This article definitely puts some perspective on going to school versus what you might have to do to get where you are supposed to be.
I think its really funny to read stuff like this because it reminds you that the big name actors are (and were) real people too. Just like any of us, many of them had financial troubles when first starting out. I think this does a lot to both humanize them, but also show how that there is hope for people even when its hard. Even the most successful people have had to do work that wasnt their favorite in order to get where they are. And for some people, like channing tatum, its actually work that came to help them later in life. It goes to show that any experience can turn out to be valuable.
9 comments:
Being a lion tamer is not an awkward day job- it's a really cool day job! The rest of the jobs weren't really surprising- it's pretty expected that at some point you're going to have to work a pretty bad job to make ends meet. It's not surprising that a lot of famous actors/actresses worked in fast food at some point (it's a pretty typical young adult job), although it is comforting. It's interesting to me that the two people who admitted to being strippers in the past were both men- I wonder if it's harder for women to get out of that kind of a job or if they're just less likely to admit it. It seems like one of those things that an aspiring actress would have to think very hard about before doing- it's definitely something that might end up following them and might eventually end up as bad publicity, or might result in them getting typecast. With guys it's just a charming story from their crazy days, but I think the media would have a much different reaction if they found out that a famous actress used to be a stripper.
I love this article. I find it so fascinating to read what real actors do as a day job. This proves that actors won't spend their life weighting tables while they are in between jobs, but they can do something really cool! I hope that some of our actors read this article and are inspired. Inspired to not give into the stereotype of just being a waiter or a bar tender. Actors have very special unique hidden talents that can definitely be applied to "real world" jobs! It is sad to see so many of them give into this. However, the world does need waiters and bar tenders.
It's always nice to be reminded that artists come from all different backgrounds, and that they had to overcome various obstacles to get to where they are today.
So often there's this fear with having to "settle" and work at a job that isn't what you want to do with your life. It's the fear of selling out and getting stuck in a place that you don't want to be in that discourages so many young people nowadays.
I think that what's important is to be ready when opportunity knocks. Often we need to make our own opportunities, too. Putting ourselves out there will create more chances for discovery.
Well, I guess it just goes to show that if you want something you have to work for it. Now, I guess that doesn't count for a lot of people, but if these it certainly does. In life, you should experience many things because you never know when it will help you in the future. Over half of these people said that they had learned something from their jobs.
And I have to say, working in the fast food industry isn't really that much of an awkward job. That is quite normal for people trying to get their first jobs. A LOT of people work in fast food gigs when they are just starting out. A LOT of people also work as waitresses. These are not special jobs. The chicken farmer one was just about the only odd job that these people worked. I wouldn't have expected that one.
This was cute! It's nice to see that they had average jobs once and that those average jobs were what got them to where they are now. (Except for the lion tamer... dang, I want to tame lions! That sounds sooooo cool!!) Some of the jobs were pretty awkward; a set dresser for soft-core porn? A Chauffeur for strippers? I mean, when you think about it, it's a great story to tell when you get older and it was a job which helped pay the bills. I agree with Sarah, when the male actors say that once they used to be strippers it's one thing, but if a female actress had that as a past job, people would react differently. Which, you know, is not fair. These are jobs and this is how people make money. We all have to start somewhere so even if these jobs are wacky or awkward or SUPER COOL (I mean common!! Lion taming?! Flipping LION TAMING!!!) they're an honest job! At least none of them were in the bank robbing or assassination business :D right?
This is very interesting to read because you would not expect any of these people to work in a fast food restaurant. It just proves that you don't have to be a rich kid to go far in life. Everyday people have become huge actors in the industry. People should never give up on their dreams. Many people don't believe that you can go from working at McDonalds to become a huge movie star. Everyone needs to get some extra money somehow. These are hard working people and they worked to get some money when they were younger and now they are making a lot of money.
Does this article have trouble with understand what "awkward" means? Some of these jobs are really fascinating and interesting. I feel like I'm getting a look inside the minds of some of my favorite actors and actresses. Yeah, being a porn set dresser could be awkward, being a caddy or a waitress isn't awkward; it's a normal job that normal people have. We all start somewhere. Some of us start at Hooters, some of us start as strippers, and some of us clean chicken coops. We all start somewhere. Jobs like these keep us humble. Someday, I'll tell people about my summer job and it will get huge laughs like this article intended to. For now, I use it to my advantage and learn from my experiences.
This article was quite surprising and hilarious but also really humbling. It's nice knowing that I am going to school working towards what I want to do rather than being a stripper to make ends meet. Sure, when I go home I work at Old Navy but I don't think that's nearly as traumatic as working as a stripper or in fast food. I wonder how their old skills transfer into their work today. I'm sure people skills are definitely transferable seeing as I use the people skills I've learned at Old Navy here all the time. But, what about lion taming? This article definitely puts some perspective on going to school versus what you might have to do to get where you are supposed to be.
I think its really funny to read stuff like this because it reminds you that the big name actors are (and were) real people too. Just like any of us, many of them had financial troubles when first starting out. I think this does a lot to both humanize them, but also show how that there is hope for people even when its hard. Even the most successful people have had to do work that wasnt their favorite in order to get where they are. And for some people, like channing tatum, its actually work that came to help them later in life. It goes to show that any experience can turn out to be valuable.
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