13 Stars Who Almost Had Totally Different Careers

With the way celebrities are presented to the world, it's easy to assume that they've always been famous, or at least working their way towards a career in entertainment. However, many stars begin their professional lives doing completely different jobs, which makes sense if they didn't enter into the industry as children. Here are 13 celebrities that almost ended up doing very different things with their lives.

13 Ken Jeong

Ken Jeong is best known for his role as the doctor in Knocked Up and his commitment to The Hangover films, but he wasn't always a comedic actor. Ken actually started out as a doctor and is still licensed to practice in California. That's kind of incredible: just think about the amount of work he had to have put in. You really have to wonder how he knew it was time to pull the plug on his career and completely change lanes. They do, however, say that laughter is the best medicine.

12 Danny DeVito

Before Danny DeVito made it big, he was a hairdresser for dead people. That's right, he worked in a mortuary. As he has said, "What happens when you get old? You pass. And you want to have a nice hair do. I used to go to the mortuary. There she would be - it was only women's hair I did - and she didn't talk back." Later he worked in his sister's beauty parlor and has said that he is super thankful for that job.

11 Whoopi Goldberg

But wait, hold on a second. Whoopi Goldberg also worked in the morgue, as a full on beautician. When she took the job her boss took an interesting route to making her comfortable in the position. She has said, "I heard a sort of creaking. I turned round and one of the drawers was slowly opening,' she tells Stella. Then someone sat up and waved at me. Someone who should have been dead [My boss] jumped out and said: 'That's the worst thing that could ever happen to you here, and it won't. So there's nothing to be scared of.' I was fine after that." Before that, she even worked as a bricklayer.

10 Meryl Streep

Meryl Streep's alternate career still could have been in the entertainment industry, albeit in a different way. The Oscar winner is actually trained as an opera singer and had an early career singing on stage. This talent proved beneficial to her acting career as well however, as she used it to sing her own songs in movies like Mamma Mia. Meryl can call Vassar, Dartmouth, and Yale all alma maters, and she is considered by many to be the best actress of her generation.

9 Tom Cruise

At one point, Tom Cruise was a devout Catholic studying to become a priest at seminary, but rumor has it that he got in trouble for stealing alcohol from the monks who were in charge and got thrown out of school. Obviously he went in a pretty different direction and has enjoyed a very successful acting career. He is also one of the more actively vocal members of Scientology, which his ex-wife Katie Holmes had to allegedly escape.

8 Jon Bon Jovi

Before the band Bon Jovi became a household name, Jon Bon Jovi was busy earning a living by making Christmas decorations. Not kidding. Now you can buy Christmas ornaments with his face on them, which is sort of ironic. He has also recorded Christmas songs, in addition of course in becoming a huge rock star with his first hit "Runaway" and also enjoying a pretty good acting career.

7 Hugh Jackman

Hugh Jackman was a P.E. teacher in England before he made it big. Funny enough, one of his former students grew up to be an entertainment reporter, and eventually the two had a run-in on a red carpet in Zurich. Hugh actually interrupted the interview to explain their connection: "Rollo, I'm sorry mate, but we go way back, I used to teach you at a high school in P.E., and I want to know how your physical education is progressing. It's very important to me."

6 Ryan Reynolds

Ryan Reynolds almost became a police officer, which would have been following in the footsteps of his two older brothers and also his father. He starting booking roles as a teen and ended up becoming an actor instead, and has actually played a cop in his career. Everything comes full circle. Most recently he found massive success with Deadpool, which has supposedly been in some form of development for the past 16 years. If you thought things move fast in Hollywood, well, they don't.

5 Gene Simmons

It's hard to imagine Gene Simmons doing anything besides being the lead singer of KISS, but he actually trained to become a rabbi. He also worked as a teacher, as well as an assistant at Vogue magazine. He actually cites The Beatles for having a major influence on his music career.

4 Steve Buscemi

Steve Buscemi was a firefighter in New York before making it big as an actor, but he never forgot his roots. After 9/11, Steve volunteered his services to help out during the emergency, and he declined photos throughout the process since he was doing it for good as opposed to publicity. He has said, “Firefighters are great at helping others. They're great at helping each other. But they're not always-they don't always know that they, themselves, are in need… Their first reaction would be, 'Oh, the next guy has it worse, you know?”

3 Gerard Butler

Gerard Butler got a law degree from Glasgow University, but then he got fired from his first job and decided maybe he should become an actor instead. On becoming an actor he has said: "It was always a dream as I was growing up. I would watch movies, mostly American movies, and be so engrossed in those stories, all I wanted to do was be there. I wanted to be part of that romance or that fantasy or be that warrior or that struggling soul who finally makes it good."

2 Harrison Ford

Harrison Ford is one of the most successful movie stars of all time and will go down in history as playing multiple beloved characters from massive film franchises. But he actually got a bit of a late start in the acting game and worked as a carpenter while he tried to break into the industry. He held that job all the way until he got his big break as Han Solo in Star Wars.

1 Angelina Jolie

If things didn't work out for Angelina Jolie as an actress, she was considering becoming a funeral director. Yes, really. Actually, we can kind of picture that, so it's not really the craziest idea in the world…