Before they were famous

Jobs Before They Were Famous
Kate Lorenz, CareerBuilder.com

We’re bombarded with images of today’s celebrities, but did you ever wonder what they were doing before their faces were splashed across the tabloids, television and Internet? Whether just trying to pay the bills or taking that first step on the ladder of success, these celebrities all had modest starts far-cries from the upper-celebrity, paparazzi-bait they are today. Here are some of the jobs your favorite celebrities held long before super-stardom.

George Clooney
Today’s hunkiest of movie heartthrobs held a smattering of odd jobs to get to where he is today. In his native Kentucky, Clooney sold men's suits and shoes and worked in department store stockrooms. He also cut tobacco earning $3 an hour. Upon arriving in L.A., he did odd jobs for his aunt, actress Rosemary Clooney, worked construction and cleaned a theater to pay for acting.

Simon Cowell
After quitting school at the age of 16, Cowell held a series of odd jobs before landing a job in the mail room at EMI Records. “I understood instinctively that this wasn't something where you were going to get handouts. This was a job where you could fail or succeed based on your own instincts, your tenacity,” Cowell said on CNN. “So I would just drive everybody crazy from the minute I was delivering mail because I would walk into everyone's offices and tell them they should give me a better job.”

Ellen Degeneres
“I actually liked my first job. I was driving cars out of a car wash, you know, once the car comes out, you get in and you wipe it. That was exciting to me to drive the nice cars and wipe down the [dashboard] with Emerald,” Degeneres said on Larry King Live. “The worst job I ever had -- and I lasted a half a day -- was I worked in a glove factory in Atlanta, Texas. It was horrible. I was checking for too many fingers or a hole or something and gloves would just go by ... Everything I did that was a nine-to-five job I hated ... I worked in a law firm. I was a court runner. I just hated being in an office.”

Nina Garcia
Week-to-week, this regular judge and critic on television hit “Project Runway” helps decide which fashion designers are in and which are out. The Colombia native started her career in the public relations department of Perry Ellis and its then-designer Marc Jacobs. She moved on to Mirabella magazine and worked her way up the ranks until she became fashion director of Elle magazine, which is still her day job.

Faith Hill
Way before she was Mrs. Tim McGraw, selling more than 30 million records and earning countless awards, Faith Hill was trying to make it big in Nashville. Hill sold t-shirts at the renowned country music event Fan Fair, worked as a receptionist at a music-publishing company, and packaged fan merchandise for country legend Reba McEntire.

Oprah Winfrey
The media mogul and philanthropist began her broadcasting career while still in high school. Winfrey was an announcer at WVOL radio in Nashville.

Brad Pitt
"My first job was on the corner of LaBrea Boulevard and Sunset. I stood there wearing a chicken costume to advertise for this fast-food place," Pitt once said. He also played chauffeur to strippers. "I'd catch their clothes, so the guys wouldn't steal them," he said. "It wasn't a bad job."

Ralph Lauren
He’s this year’s No. 13 on the Vanity Fair 100 list but the founder of Polo Ralph Lauren started his preppy empire with a stint in retail sales. Lauren’s first foray into apparel was working as a salesclerk at Brooks Brothers.

Jay Leno
Upon arriving in Los Angeles after graduation, the late-night funnyman wrote for the TV show “Good Times” and performed a warm-up act for singers Johnny Mathis and Tom Jones.

Vince Vaughn
If Vaughn ever decides to change careers, he could probably be pretty successful going back to his first job. Before he was a “Swinger” or “Wedding Crasher,” the actor who’s known for his quick-and-slick talking performances, worked as a telemarketer in Waukegan, Ill.

Denzel Washington
Washington's mother helped him get his very first job at a local barbershop called Modernistic when he was just 11 years old. “I learned about business … Just about the value of a dollar,” Washington said on “The Oprah Winfrey Show.” “I was brushing collars. I think my base salary was $11. And I could turn that into 50 if I was good.”

Johnny Depp
Before he was an Oscar-nominated actor, Johnny Depp sold pens. "You're calling people who don't want you to call them," he recalled. "You put on your best fake voice and try and sell them a gross or two of ballpoint pens with their name printed on them." Depp was still selling pens when Nicolas Cage suggested that he try acting, and he soon landed his role in the film A Nightmare on Elm Street.

Nicole Kidman
Young Nicole Kidman's first love was ballet, but she also practiced mime and drama. In her adolescent years, she worked regularly at a local theater, and eventually dropped out of high school to pursue acting full-time. She broke into movies at age 16, landing a role in the Australian holiday favorite Bush Christmas.

Chris Rock
Comedian Chris Rock worked at Red Lobster. "The thing about Red Lobster is that if you work there, you can't afford to eat there," he once told Jay Leno. "You're making minimum wage. A shrimp costs minimum wage... I cleaned up after the kids. Kids don't eat. I used to zero in on a kid. 'Don't touch that scallop. Please don't touch that scallop...'"

Halle Berry
This future Oscar winner got her first taste of the spotlight at the Miss Teen All-American Pageant, representing the state of Ohio in 1985. The following year, she was the first runner-up in the Miss USA Pageant which was a catalyst for a stint in modeling. It was this that eventually led to her first weekly TV series, 1989's "Living Dolls."

Salma Hayek
Before she was on Hollywood's radar, Salma Hayek was a superstar in her native Mexico thanks to a role on the soap opera Teresa. Anxious to make films and to explore her talent and passion, Hayek left the soap and Mexico in 1991, and left her heartbroken fans spreading rumors about an affair between Hayek and Mexico's president.

Russell Crowe
Way before he was in Gladiator and A Beautiful Mind, Russell Crowe worked, very briefly, as a waiter. Luckily, the aspiring actor and musician didn't like the service industry and turned toward more creative endeavors.

Snoop Dogg
On The Tonight Show, rapper and actor Snoop Dogg told Jay Leno he was fired from his first job as a grocery bagger. "I was better at stealing the groceries," he later explained, "than I was at bagging the groceries!"

Quentin Tarantino
When Quentin Tarantino dropped out of ninth grade, his mother insisted he get a job. He did, and promptly began working at the Pussycat Lounge -- a local adult entertainment theater. Years later, he landed a job as a "production assistant" on a workout video. His job duties: Cleaning up dog mess from the front lawn of the house in which the video was being shot.



Sources: Biography.com, Chicago Sun-Times, CMT.com, CNN, The Larry King Show, The Oprah Winfrey Show, Orlando Sentinel, Playboy.com, San Diego Union-Tribune, Women’s Health.