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 pᴀssing 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.”
Kourtney Kardashian
The Poosh founder’s first job was as a movie production ᴀssistant, where, she told Us Weekly, she yelled “cut” and “rolling” all day.