Everyone has to start somewhere, including the rich and famous. Breakout star Himesh Patel delivered papers until his early twenties.
Patel, who spent eight years on the soap opera "EastEnders," recently made his feature film debut in the new rom-com "Yesterday," in which he plays a struggling singer-songwriter.
"When I was on 'EastEnders,' I still had a paper route until I was 21 and left home," the 28-year-old told The New York Times. "I hated it at the time."
He's far from the only celeb who started out with a less-than-glamorous gig. Read on to see how six other rich and famous people made their first few bucks.
Barack Obama scooped ice cream
President Barack Obama earned minimum wage working at a Baskin-Robbins in Honolulu, Hawaii as a teen.
"Scooping ice cream is tougher than it looks. Rows and rows of rock-hard ice cream can be brutal on the wrists," Obama wrote on LinkedIn in 2016. While not easy, "it taught me some valuable lessons," he added. "Responsibility. Hard work. Balancing a job with friends, family and school."
Gwen Stefani worked at Dairy Queen
Pop star Gwen Stefani also served up ice cream as a teen — in her case, at a Dairy Queen in Anaheim, California. "When I started there, I fit in my outfit," Stefani joked about her first gig, according to Us Weekly. "When I ended there, I did not fit in my outfit."
Dairy Queen did serve as a bit of a think tank, though: According to Interview Magazine, Stefani, her brother and one of their friends came up with the idea for their band, "No Doubt," while working together at DQ.
Jeff Bezos flipped burgers at McDonald's
Well before founding Amazon, billionaire Jeff Bezos was frying up burgers at McDonald's.
"My first week on the job, a five-gallon, wall-mounted ketchup dispenser got stuck open in the kitchen and dumped a prodigious quantity of ketchup onto every hard-to-reach kitchen crevice," Bezos told Cody Teets, author of "Golden Opportunity: Remarkable Careers That Began at McDonald's."
"Since I was the new guy, they handed me the cleaning solution and said, 'Get going!'"
Still, the experience was worthwhile, Bezos said: "You learn a lot as a teenager working at McDonald's. It's different from what you learn in school. Don't underestimate the value of that!"
Jennifer Aniston cut hair
Before Jennifer Aniston made it big in Hollywood, she was cutting hair as a high schooler.
When asked about the weirdest thing she ever did to make money during a round of "Burning Questions" on Ellentube with Ellen Degeneres, the actress responded, "I cut hair in the ninth grade and made $10 a haircut."
Alden Ehrenreich picked passion fruit
Alden Ehrenreich, who played the title character in "Solo," the latest film in the "Star Wars" franchise, got his big break at 19. But he started earning money well before he launched his acting career.
"When I was 13, I got my first job — working on my uncle's passion fruit farm in Santa Barbara," the 28-year-old told the online investing platform Wealthsimple. "My duties were to pick and sort passion fruit, install fence posts and irrigation systems, and drive a large tractor.
"It was real-deal physical work, and every day was completely exhausting."
Lin-Manuel Miranda ran a Slushee machine
The creator of the hit Broadway musical "Hamilton" used to run the Slushee machine at his aunt's store, he revealed on Twitter, using the hashtag #firstsevenjobs:
He also had a gig at McDonald's, manning the cash register. "I did the counter from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., so I was the one you yelled at when you were too late for breakfast," Miranda told Chicago Tribune theater critic Chris Jones.
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