C'mon bagging your dream job isn’t easy. Telling your parents you’re planning on interning UNPAID for six months, with little hope of a permanent job at the end of it is hardly a picnic. There’s rent to pay and family to reassure you’re feeding yourself more than pasta and pesto (a classic) – so sometimes our Plan A falls by the wayside as we try to Make It Happen.
And hey, while I love my job as a journalist – my first professional experience as a sales assistant for four years while trying to break into the magazine industry taught me a lot. 1) The customer is sometimes wrong. 2) Patience is a virtue. 3) How to make friends at work 4) Juggling a job, university assignments, interning and maintaining a semblance of a social life.
So we were pretty chuffed to hear that Hollywood’s finest, Liam Hemsworth, had his fair share of humbling work experience before he hit the big time. ‘My first job was a baker,’ he revealed on Aussie radio station Nova FM. ‘I made bread for Baker's Delight, and then I worked at a bowling alley.’ Good egg.
So let us take you on a trip down memory lane to remind you of 9 celebrities first jobs before they got their big break…
Amy Adams
The five-time Oscar nominee worked as a waitress as Hooters bar in her early 20s. 'It was a great job out of high school,' Amy says. 'I was a hostess at first and then I waited tables for a while and it was a great way to earn money for a car!'
Emma Stone
The 28-year-old actress has won a Golden Globe for her role in La La Land, playing a struggling actress in - you've guessed it - LA. And before she hit the big time IRL, Stone revealed to Vogue that she worked at an actual Dog Cafe. 'Pop Tarts, but for dogs. And Pupcakes,' she said. 'Then there was a kind of dog Oreo made with carob and honey. A mom would come in and buy them for her kid because she thought dog Oreos were healthier.'
Andrew Garfield
Before hitting Hollywood, The Amazing Spiderman actor earned cash making coffee at Starbucks in North London. 'I thought that’s the John Hughes movie I’ve been waiting to live within,' Andrew admitted. And he was very excited about his new gig and 'girls reading literature with black rimmed glasses.' He thought: 'I’m going to be the barista that woos them all and wins them all,' he thought. 'Or they realize after a period of months that in fact, the skinny guy is the guy to go with.' We bet he’d get our name right.
Sandra Bullock
Before the Gravity actress won our hearts in some of the best 90s rom-coms ever, as a struggling actor in New York in the ‘80s Sandra Bullock supported herself working as a bartender.
Kanye West
As any dedicated Twitter follower may attest to, you wouldn’t exactly picture Kanye West in customer service...well, you’d be wrong dear friends. The rapper was a sales assistant at Gap once upon a time, while he was still in high school. Oh, what a shopping experience it would have been.
Eva Mendes
‘I was one of those kids who couldn’t wait to get my work permit,’ Eva said. ‘Because at 15 you get your work permit in California. I worked at this pizza/pasta place in the mall and it was great. It was called ‘Ciao.’
Rooney Mara
'I was like a baby sitter my whole life,’ according to Rooney. 'I don’t know how much I got paid. Probably much more than is necessary to watch a child - like $8 an hour.’
Jennifer Aniston
You know those people who ring up trying to sell stuff to you down the phone? Yep, someone could have been taking a call from Rachel Green in the early '90s. 'I moved to L.A. and was telemarketing next to a Taco Bell.'
Chace Crawford
In between dropping out of college and landing his role in Gossip Girl, Chace was parking cars in Malibu. 'I parked Jessica [Simpson’s] car once.' He used to even take souvenirs after his travels as a valet. 'I used to take gum.' Interesting choice.
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