8 strange and unexpected ways Hollywood stars made money before becoming famous (17 photos)

We know them as red carpet regulars and screen heroes—dazzling, famous, confident, and fabulously wealthy.





But even future Hollywood stars once mastered professions they now recall with a smile. Some cleaned breast pumps with a toothbrush, some combed the hair of the deceased, and still others delivered mail. Here are 8 stories about how celebrities got their start.

1. Chris Hemsworth – the Breast Pump Avenger



Long before he wielded Mjolnir or donned the black suit in Men in Black, Chris Hemsworth was scrubbing breast pumps. At 14, the future Thor got a job at a pharmacy cleaning rental equipment. His job was to remove dried milk from the device with a toothbrush.





This hardly seems like preparation for superherodom, but the story made for a good laugh years later on TV. Armed with a toothbrush and wipes, Hemsworth could have easily added "World's Best Dairy Equipment Cleaner" to his resume if he'd wanted to.

2. Danny DeVito – the Dark Stylist



Before becoming a universally beloved figure and a diminutive screen giant, Danny DeVito cut clients' hair at his sister's salon. With scissors in hand, he styled hair with the same confidence with which he later conquered Hollywood.

Once, after the death of a client, her family asked DeVito to do her hair for the funeral. Danny agreed. His colleagues immediately nicknamed him "the part-time funeral home worker."



It turns out that before playing gangsters and eccentrics, DeVito's first unusual role was restoring beauty to the dead before their departure into eternity.

3. Clint Eastwood – a lifeguard on the shores of paradise



Staring through a scope as Dirty Harry wasn't Clint Eastwood's first task. He first stared at the sun while working as a lifeguard. During his service, he worked as a swimming instructor and lifeguard.



The job wasn't glamorous, but it was demanding. Perhaps it was then that Eastwood realized the power of presence without words.

He traded sunscreen for a holster, but some skills, like recognizing danger, stayed with him forever.

4. Meryl Streep – a Typographic Legend



Before she started collecting Oscars like postage stamps, Meryl Streep earned her living by odd jobs. To pay for her studies at the Yale School of Drama, she waitressed and typed.

On stage, she was tireless. The student took on several roles a year, astonishing her professors with her incredible range. Even then, transforming characters came easily to her.



Between long shifts at the cafe and hours at the typewriter, Streep quietly forged the focus and determination that made her a great actress.

5. Steve Carell – Postman Pechkin



The best boss in the world once had the worst mail route. Steve Carell was a mail carrier in rural Littleton, Massachusetts. He worked there for about six months in the mid-1980s, delivering mail in his Toyota Corolla.



He tried to inject joy into his work, for example, personally answering children's letters to Santa Claus. Carell recalled steering with one hand, leaning over the passenger seat to retrieve packages. "It was one of the hardest jobs of my life," he admitted on a talk show.

Neither snow nor rain could stop Steve, although he was better at making people laugh than serving them.

6. Jennifer Aniston – a reluctant courier



This audience favorite once called strangers and weaved through traffic. Jennifer Aniston worked as both a phone operator and a bike courier in New York City. And she was terrible at both.

She describes her experience as a courier at 19 as the hardest thing in her life. She recalled crashing into a car door. She described working on the phone this way:

I was a nightmare. I kept thinking: why do we need to call people at lunchtime?



The bike and phone failures were just stepping stones. Aniston eventually landed a role on Friends, turning her awkward first steps into a springboard to fame.

7. Melissa McCarthy – a barista with character



Before becoming an Oscar nominee and comedy star, Melissa McCarthy brewed lattes at a Starbucks in Santa Monica. She didn't have a car, so walking to work and occasionally panicking at the machine were part of her routine.

One day, her idol, Chris Farley, walked into Starbucks.

"I was so emotional that he was standing right there that I just burst into tears," McCarthy admitted in an interview.



She may have felt awkward in front of her idols back then, but today McCarthy conquers the screen with the same ease with which she once panicked at the bar.

8. Bradley Cooper – the Columnist in Love



Before captivating audiences as Hollywood's leading hunk, Bradley Cooper tried his hand at journalism. As a senior at Germantown Academy, he wrote a heartfelt column about love for the Philadelphia Daily News.

"Can best friends of the opposite sex date without ruining their friendship? In my case, yes... for now," he wrote, perfectly capturing all the awkwardness and sincerity of teenage experimentation.



Apparently, some questions don't get any easier with age. But at least Cooper asked them first in print.