From Barack Obama scooping (not so) soft serve at Baskin-Robbins, to Johnny Depp cold calling strangers: 9 ordinary jobs stars had before they were famous

Not every celebrity was born into the spotlight – in fact, many of them began life as regular people with distinctly average jobs before working their way up to become the icons they are today. Here, we take a look at nine famous faces and the jobs they did before they made it big.

Hugh Jackman is one of Hollywood’s biggest stars thanks to his years playing Wolverine in the X-Men film franchise and starring in big-budget productions like The Greatest Showman. However, his life was not always so star-studded and glamorous. The Logan actor spent a gap year working at Uppingham School in England as a PE teacher. During an interview on the red carpet, Jackman bumped into one of his former pupils, Rollo Ross, who was working as a reporter. The actor joked: “Rollo, I’m sorry man, we go way back. I used to teach you at high school in PE and I want to know how your physical education is progressing. It’s very important to me.”

Before breaking into the industry as a successful rapper, Kanye West worked as a sales assistant at Gap. In lyrics from his debut album, “The College Dropout”, he even proclaims that he used to steal from the store. However, the retailer is now teaming up with the Gold Digger hitmaker and Yeezy, his fashion company, for a new clothing line called Yeezy Gap. The collaboration will be introduced in the first half of 2021. Kanye told The Cut magazine: “I’d like to be the Steve Jobs of the Gap.”

Recent scandals may have considerably dimmed Johnny Depp’s lustre, but until recently he was one of the best-paid stars in Hollywood. Before making it big in the movie business, Depp made a meagre living selling pens. Recalling his first experience in the working world to Hello magazine, he admitted to spending all day “calling people who don’t want you to call them”, adding: “You put on your best fake voice and try and sell them a gross or two of ballpoint pens with their name printed on them.”