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1. Jason Momoa erstwhile worked astatine a surf store successful Hawaiʻi. "I was 19 and folding t-shirts," helium told Reuters successful 2011. To onshore his archetypal acting gig arsenic a lifeguard connected Baywatch, helium lied and said he'd won Hawaiʻi's Model of the Year.
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"You person to person a resume. I'm like, 'What americium I gonna archer them? I don't person anything,'" helium recalled earlier this year, during an occurrence of Today's Sunday Sitdown. "So, I was like, 'Yeah, I've done Louis Vuitton. I did immoderate Gucci.'"
2. Charles Melton was a canine walker connected the Wag! app. During a 2019 quality connected Live with Kelly and Ryan, helium revealed that helium "actually got the audition" for Riverdale portion successful betwixt walking dogs.
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"I was the fig 1 canine walker," helium said with a smile. "Over 300 dogs successful 2 months. I inactive get notifications, like, requests for radical to person maine locomotion their dogs."
3. Vera Wang started fig skating arsenic a kid and competed connected a nationalist level until she was 20 — erstwhile she failed to suffice for the 1968 Winter Olympics. "I was devastated erstwhile I did not suffice for the Olympic team," she told Post magazine successful 2020. "I had a tense breakdown and ended up doing a semester successful Paris, wherever I realized I had a passionateness for fashion."
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Throughout Vera's career, she has combined her emotion for fig skating and manner by designing costumes for Olympic skaters similar Michelle Kwan and Nathan Chen. "It’s not for the faint of heart," Vera told People successful 2018. "If 1 strap were to break, oregon if the beading connected the sleeve gets caught erstwhile they turn, their full Olympics is over. That is however superior it is."
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4. Tan France became a formation attendant with Britannia Airways erstwhile helium was 19. In his memoir titled Naturally Tan, helium reportedly wrote, "It was meant to beryllium a six-month seasonal job, but I lone lasted 2 months."
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He thought "all they're doing is serving beverage and java and a spot of thing else," but helium rapidly recovered retired during grooming however "very difficult" the occupation would be. During a formation from Spain to England, immoderate travelers were "so rude" to him that helium snapped astatine them, past told different formation attendant helium quit.
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5. Dwayne Johnson worked arsenic a dishwasher astatine a pizza parlor. In a 2015 tweet, The Rock wrote, "First occupation astatine 13yrs aged washing dishes from 3-1130pm daily. Yup, these days I inactive lavation each dish."
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6. Simu Liu dressed up arsenic Spider-Man for children's day parties earlier helium became a Marvel superhero. On a 2021 occurrence of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, helium said, "I'd rotation up to a 6-year-old's parties, and I would fundamentally get physically assaulted by them for an hr due to the fact that cipher ever believed that I was the existent Spider-Man."
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"I worked for a institution that was a small stingy. I consciousness similar if you had gotten a movie-quality suit, and you showed up, immoderate kids mightiness really believe. I had more...Walmart. Less Marvel, much Walmart."
7. Kumail Nanjiani had a unsocial job, with fractional of the clip dedicated to making websites and the different fractional to fixing children's laptops. To bash the latter, helium worked astatine a mediate schoolhouse wherever astir of the students came from low-income households connected the South Side of Chicago. "My occupation was to marque definite that the laptops were functioning. It was an intolerable job," helium said connected a 2025 occurrence of the My Hollywood Story podcast.
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If the laptop wasn't moving owed to negligence, the students were charged $100. He told the communicative of a miss who came successful with a laptop with h2o pouring out. She claimed she didn't cognize what happened, and helium asked her if she'd utilized it successful the rainfall the erstwhile day. When she said yes, helium told her it would outgo $100 to fix. "But I didn't marque it rain," she argued. "God made it rain."
8. Lucy Liu worked arsenic a secretary, hostess, and adjacent an aerobics instructor. "I worked 7 days a week," she said during a 2008 interrogation with the Seattle Times. "I knew I needed wealth if I was going into acting due to the fact that I was astir apt not going to beryllium making a batch of wealth disconnected the bat. ... To me, it was grueling work, but I was excited by the thought astir wherefore I was doing the work."
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9. Drew Afualo worked for the NFL arsenic a integer contented creator. During a 2022 interrogation with HuffPost, she said, "When I yet got my occupation there, I was like, 'This is it for me. My life’s gonna instrumentality off. This is what I’ve ever wanted.'" However, it wasn't each it was cracked up to be. "It was honestly benignant of a nightmare. I was truthful disheartened, disillusioned due to the fact that I was like, 'This is expected to beryllium my imagination job. Why americium I truthful bittersweet each the time?'"
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Okay, possibly Drew moving successful contented instauration isn't ace surprising, but the crushed she was fto spell is. "The irony of maine getting fired from determination is 1 of the reasons they said they fired me. They said I couldn’t physique a platform. It turns retired I can."
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10. Constance Wu was a nanny, arsenic good arsenic a server and idiosyncratic assistant. In 2017, she told Vulture that she was "really broke" and "in tens of thousands of dollars successful debt: recognition card. Car. Personal. Student loans. I paid for my assemblage each myself."
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She earnestly considered giving up connected acting but decided to instrumentality with it, adjacent if that meant inactive being a server astatine 45. "I’m good with not having a super-secure manner due to the fact that if you’re doing what you like, you don’t request worldly to capable immoderate bare holes," she told The Cut successful 2016.
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11. Simone Ashley worked astatine a froyo shop. Amid Bridgerton's chaotic success, she reportedly appeared connected the Josh Smith's Great Chat Show podcast and said, "There were galore years I was moving successful a frozen yogurt store and waitressing. I wasn't getting [acting] jobs. I was being rejected. I was auditioning and auditioning and learning. I deliberation each of america successful immoderate manufacture we choose, we each bash the hustle, we each bash the grind, and it's bully to beryllium arrogant of that and to admit that for sure."
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Interestingly, she worked astatine the frozen yogurt store with idiosyncratic who would besides spell connected to go a celebrated actor. "I utilized to enactment and service froyo with Nick Galitzine,” she said during a Vogue cooking video. "I saw him, the past time, astatine a displacement wherever we were serving froyo together. And then, years later, the adjacent clip I saw him was really astatine the Met Gala, which is conscionable benignant of crazy."
12. Keanu Reeves worked successful landscaping. During a 2025 People interview, helium said, "Well, I was like, the young kid, truthful I was pushing the lawnmower, I was getting asked to spell into the histrion and getting handed a chainsaw."
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"But it was fun. I liked it," helium concluded.
13. Ken Jeong was a doc with a specialty successful interior medicine. On an occurrence of NPR's All Things Considered podcast, helium said, "During the day, I was a doctor. At night, you know, I was a comic. And it was truly conscionable to fto disconnected immoderate steam. It conscionable became my golf, you know, successful galore ways. Most doctors person play arsenic a hobby. Mine was doing comedy."
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"I ne'er fto connected I was a comedian," helium continued. "I ne'er acted out. It was truly important to me, like, to not beryllium Patch Adams. I was truthful ace superior arsenic a doctor. I would bark orders to my nurses. I was hardcore. I wanted to marque definite I did my occupation right. I was perfectly trained to beryllium a physician. You know, it wasn't a fluke. I worked hard astatine it."
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14. And finally, Randall Park hated his occupation arsenic a information defender astatine the Hammer Museum successful LA. During a 2022 SiriusXM Raw Dog Comedy interview, helium said, "It's basically, you conscionable basal there, and that's it. ... If they're leaning successful excessively adjacent [to the art], I person to beryllium the 1 to beryllium like, 'Hey, backmost up.'"
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"If idiosyncratic wanted to prime up a coating and tally off, what americium I gonna do? You know? No. It's yours."
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