Celebrities Who Worked at Fast Food Restaurants Before They Were Famous

The Lego Movie 2 star recently returned to the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., where he was first discovered as a budding actor while working there 20 years ago. “Every time I go back I’m reminded of the thousands of shrimp I ate off of people’s plates on the way back to the kitchen,” he wrote on Instagram. “Please tip your server. Leave at least 20%. Also leave some shrimp.”

Long before the comedian was making people laugh on Saturday Night Live, the 34-year-old was scooping cones at Cold Stone Creamery. “Now that was a fun job because the real task of the job was to steal small samples of the ice cream without people noticing,” she said on Live with Kelly and Ryan.

Before the “Keep Your Head Up” singer was a pop star, he worked at McDonald’s in his hometown of Chester, New York. “I make a mean McFlurry,” he said on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen.

While guest hosting Live with Kelly and Ryan the actress said she worked as a hostess at California Pizza Kitchen in high school, which came with perks. “It was the golden era of CPK really. And I ate free every time I worked. The servers weirdly got a discount, but they would give the host/hostess a free meal every time they worked. Maybe because we weren’t getting paid much.” Philipps added that she worked there until she landed her Freaks and Geeks pilot, noting the position entilled a work ethic in her while she was young: “My parents did buy me a car, I lived in Arizona, but I had to pay for the car insurance. Every month I had to give my dad a check.”

“Me at one of my first jobs running the cash register at Long John Silver’s,” The Office star captioned this throwback photo. “My parents taught me that if I wanted something I had to work for it and earn my own money,” she added.

The actor appreciated his job at the McDonald’s drive-thru so much, he penned a doting op-ed to the burger chain in The Washington Post. In it, he credits Mickey D’s with helping him hone his accents as a struggling actor — and keeping him fed with burgers that were “headed for the trash.”

Before she was a certified material girl, Madonna was behind the cash register at Dunkin’ Donuts in Times Square — but not for long. The pop star was fired after one day for squirting jelly on a customer.

The Dreamgirls star got her start at Burger King — and made a return visit to the drive-thru with James Corden during her Carpool Karaoke episode.

“I wanted to have a Quinceañera when I was 15 and my family didn’t have the money, so I got a job at Wendy’s and paid for it myself,” the actress revealed to Redbook in November.

After leaving a scholarship at Central Michigan and before walking on to the University of Wisconsin football team, Watt took a job delivering pizzas for Pizza Hut in Pewaukee, Wisconsin to make money. “I’ve been back to that Pizza Hut a couple of times and every time I drive by, I get that feeling, ‘I used to work here, delivering pizzas, mopping floors and now I work in the NFL,'” the Houston Texans star told USA Today. Watt, now a celebrity spokesperson for Papa John’s, added, “It was a humbling experience, it brought me back to earth, and it was a good experience. I wouldn’t be who I am today if I hadn’t done that.” 

To help his mother “make ends meet,” the comedian got a job at Weinerschitzel when he was 17. “I ended up getting fired because I was playing on the intercom system at the drive-thru, telling jokes,” he told MTV. 

“I had a small town life — I worked at the local McDonald’s for three years,” the Canadian actress told the New York Times of life before fame. 

The actress’ first job out of high school was as a hostess, then waitress, at Hooter’s. “It was a great way for me to earn money for college,” she told ET.