20 Miserable, Odd Jobs Celebrities Had Before They Found Fame

Dreams of fame and fortune don't pay the bills. Before celebrities got their big break, they worked jobs like you and I (except for the few nepo babies or child actors who started young).

So, what jobs did celebrities once have? Do they miss it? Follow along to find out.

For this slideshow, 24/7 Tempo searched the internet for celebrity interviews and quotes about their life before fame.

Yup. You read that right. Christopher Walken once worked as a lion tamer at a circus for a brief time when he was 16. Talk about a really cool, odd job. This is definitely one of the strangest ones on our list.

Quite a few celebrities used to work in fast food spots. Jennifer Hudson, when she was 16, worked at Burger King and was known to sing at the drive-thru to customers.

If we bring up Burger King, we should also mention McDonald's. For three years, Rachel McAdams worked at McDonald's and didn't mind it. She has said that she was frustrated because of the fast pace and her desire to wash her hands constantly.

Trader Joe's employs over 50,000 people, and Christopher Briney was one of them. While in college in NYC, Briney worked at Trader Joe's and enjoyed his time there. He's previously said his coworkers were nice and friendly.

Before Margot Robbie starred in hits like "Barbie," "Suicide Squad," and "The Wolf of Wall Street," she worked as a sandwich artist at Subway. In interviews, she's happily stated that fact and patted herself on the back for making great subs.

From 1980 to 1984, Steve Buscemi worked as a firefighter in Manhattan. He even returned to his firefighting ways during the 9/11 attack, looking for survivors for a few days. Despite the title of this article, firefighting isn't a miserable job, although odd for an actor.

Tiffany Haddish had a lot of jobs before she got her big break, although most were customer service/support roles. She's worked at Alaska Airlines and Air New Zealand.

Before Harry Styles won us all over with his great voice and charisma, he worked at a bakery. He specifically worked at the W Mandeville Bakery in Cheshire, England.

Have you ever met an armadillo exterminator? Probably not. However, you've likely seen one on the big screen. Before becoming a beloved actor, Matthew McConaughey was an employee at the Oak Forest Country Club. At this country club, he got rid of pesky armadillos and raked the sand traps on the golf course.

Nicole Kidman is an excellent masseuse and loves doing them. Before becoming the incredible actress she is today, she was a massage therapist, a skill she used a lot as a teenager, helping her mom through her breast cancer diagnosis.

Many celebrities bused tables and took orders before becoming stars. Nicki Minaj is one of them. Before making it big in music, she worked as a Red Lobster waitress.

As interesting as it is being a flight attendant, it's not for everyone. Tan France, fashion designer and TV personality, once worked as a flight attendant for two short months. Originally, he was going to try to last six months, but the training was too intense.

What celebrity, specifically an actor, wasn't a barista at some point? This is just as common as serving or bartending. It's flexible enough to audition still and act. One actress/comedian who worked as a barista (specifically for Starbucks) is Melissa McCarthy. She also worked at the YMCA.

Makeup isn't just for the living. To get a body ready for a viewing, Mortuary Cosmetologists use their skills to make the body seem more at peace. It's an emotionally draining, but important job, and one that Whoopi Goldberg did before working in the entertainment industry.

Terry Crews is an incredible artist. Before getting into acting, and after playing college football, he worked as a courtroom sketch artist for WJRT in Flint, Michigan.

This is also a relatively common job for celebrities before making it big. Lil Nas X worked as a ride attendant before hitting it big in music at Six Flags, specifically supervising Yosemite Sam’s Wacky Wagons.

Amy Poehler can't forget her teenage summer job as an ice cream scooper to the point where she wrote an essay about it. For a short while, she worked at Chadwick's.

Can you picture Jennifer Aniston working as a bike messenger? Well, when she was 19, this was her job in NYC. She's giggled about her time as a bike messenger, saying it was the toughest job she's ever had because of how clumsy she was. She's even run into a door before!

Although now she's royalty, Meghan Markle previously worked as a freelance calligrapher. She even taught classes on calligraphy and gift-wrapping.

When saving money for school, Paul Rudd took on some strange jobs, including glazing ham. It was a long process where he would spend hours glazing sugar ham. In his interviews about this job, he's stated that he always left smelling like ham.