Nine Successful Careers That Were Launched Totally By Accident

Just about any celebrity in Hollywood has a personal story to share about how they landed their big acting break, they told us about the hustle, the grind, about the hard work and persistence. Although there is another element that contributed in sending several celebrities to their path of stardom, and that element is Serendipity. Sometimes all you need to do is to be in the right place at the right time.

Here are nine celebrities and the random run-ins that launched their careers.

Marilyn Monroe

Before becoming the Hollywood icon she is today, Monroe initially worked at a munitions plant where she inspected parachutes and sprayed airplanes to make them fire retardant. As luck may have it, that factory was owned by English movie star Reginald Denney. His friend, a certain actor called Ronald Reagan (Yes, the president) assigned a photographer for YANK magazine to take some pictures, so the photographer decided to snap a photo of Monroe for the cover of the magazine.

That one shot would change her life forever making her a Hollywood household name for generations. Norma Jean went golden blonde shortly thereafter as 20th Century Fox signed her to a contract and changed her name. Marilyn Monroe was born.

And the rest, as they say, is history.

John Wayne

Another legendary actor that was born under a different name is John Wayne, the true icon of the Western genre.
Born with an unfortunate name but with a powerful physique and a natural athletic ability, Marion Morrison played football in his high school team, winning the state championship in 1924.

Wayne won a football scholarship USC, and would have continued playing if it wasn’t for the little bad luck incident that visited each of our protagonists today, in his case taking the shape of a cruel and unfortunate injury while body-surfing. And just like that a promising football career was over.

Injured and unable to pay for school, John lost his scholarship, and ended up dropping out of USC. Shortly thereafter, Wayne started looking for work at the local movie studios while trying to make ends meet.

Back then whenever extras were needed for a movie, they would just grab whoever was standing around. John quickly landed small parts like "football player in background" and "football player on sideline." Because guess what? He had the build of a football player.

Soon after that, he caught his big break. And as it is the case with many other celebrities, his big break came not as a role, but a person. Wayne became friends with legendary director John Ford, who pulled some strings here and there and managed to Wayne his first leading role, and to later casting him in Stagecoach, the movie that gave birth to "The Duke".

Rosario Dawson

Another Hollywood celebrity that came from humble origins is Rosario Dawson.

Growing up in one of the roughest neighborhoods of New York City is tough. Growing up without a home in that neighborhood is tougher. You see, the very apartment she was living in when she was discovered was one that had been vacant before her mother broke into it and made it their home.

What happened?

Fifteen years old Rosario Dawson was hanging out on a porch when her ticket to Hollywood appeared out of nowhere. Passing by were a screenwriter named Harmony Korine and a photographer called Larry Clark who didn’t hesitate on walking up to her saying that she’d be a great fit for one of the characters in Korine’s new screenplay.
Breaking and entering may be a criminal offense that we wouldn’t precisely recommend, but for a teenage Rosario Dawson that was probably the key instrument in her discovery. It’s probably safe to think that if they haven’t broken into that apartment, she wouldn’t have been sitting in front of her ‘borrowed’ apartment when opportunity came knocking.

Charlize Theron

At age 19 young Charlize Theron bought a one way ticket and decided to move to Hollywood with only a suitcase. She was flying from New York where a devastating knee injury had just shattered her dreams of being a ballet dancer.
With limited resources Charlize was living in a dirty pay-by-the-hour hotel, subsisting on stale rolls ripped off from restaurants, trying to survive on the pay checks she had received from modeling in New York, until one day those checks stopped.

Desperate, young Charlize called her mom to ask for money, I guess all of us would have done the same in her situation. Her mother naturally sent her a check to help pay the rent, but guess what happened next? Murphy’s law happened and the check bounced.

Looking back at that moment Theron said in an interview with Oprah “I’m like, ‘It’s survival, people.’ If I didn’t cash that check, I wouldn’t have had a place to sleep that night.”

That was a five hundred dollars check but the bank just wouldn’t accept it, which let Theron to start arguing loudly with a teller who was trying to convince her that she could not remove money from a South African account, needless to say, things got really heated.

What she didn’t know at the time is that standing behind her in line was a talent agent who handed her his card after witnessing that scene and proceeded to introduce her to casting agents.

“If I hadn't been in the bank that day, I honestly don't think I'd be here right now” Charlize Theron.

Djimon Hounsou

While most household names in Hollywood began their career in Los Angeles actively seeking out roles in the entertainment industry, Djimon Housnou had it all the other way around, as he was just homeless kid wandering around the colorful streets of la Ville Lumière.

Djimon arrived to Paris at the age of thirteen from Benin in West Africa. Unable to find a job, he ended up sleeping under bridges and scavenging trash cans for food - And we thought that Rosario and Marilyn had it bad.

Luckily for the young boy, things changed for the better when fashion designer Thierry Mugler discovered him sleeping under a bridge and made him a fashion model. Hounsou immediately graced the catwalks of Paris and London with a new found popularity.

Shortly thereafter, he quit his modeling career and went to Hollywood where he worked on Gladiator by Ridley Scott, Amistad by Steven Spielberg and Blood Diamond with Leo DiCaprio and Jennifer Connelly, among many other movies.

Because of that initial chance encounter under a bridge, Housnou went from being homeless to becoming the fourth African male African to receive an Oscar-nomination. Who says dreams don’t come true?

Tim Allen

Like all our protagonists today, Allen also experienced a painful bad luck episode that paved the way to his success. In this case the unfortunate experience was being caught the Kalamazoo airport with over 650 grams of cocaine on his person.

The idea of spending two years in a cell in a state penitentiary is enough to scare the living daylights out of the best of us. For smaller guys like Tim however, surviving in the big house becomes even more terrifying.

Luckily for Allen, he excelled at playing to his strengths, which in this case was being the funny guy, so whenever he was approached for “dates” he’d make the neo-Nazis laugh, he’d start cracking jokes left and right and eventually he’d even end up putting on comedy shows for other inmates.

After resurfacing from his 28-month term, a friend of Tim dared him to stand up on an open-mic night at a comedy club in Detroit, and as you might have guessed, Allen didn’t choke.

When you have to do some serious improv for two years because your life depends on it, performing in front of a slightly tipsy crowd is hardly what you call a terrifying experience. Allen took the mic and immediately became an instant hit. And before the blink of an eye, Tim Allen went on to star in the hit Home Improvement.

From a prisoner in a state penitentiary to a celebrity comedian, “Sometimes you have to hit bottom to know where to go.” Allen later told a reporter about his turning around story.

By the way, if you don’t know who Tim Allen is, you might be familiar with his roles in the Toy Story movies, giving the voice to the jovial Buzz Lightyear.

Danny Trejo

Another celebrity that spent time in jail is Danny Trejo, the go-to guy for any director who might need an actor to play a grizzled villain or an anti-hero. You might remember him from Robert Rodriguez’s feature film Machete, playing the character by the same name.

They say that your vice may just become your salvation, that was certainly the case for Trejo who not only was struggling with life behind bars, but also fighting drug addiction on top of it. Luckily for him, he learned to combine both struggles in the most beneficial way, converting himself into a true adherent of the 12-Step Program during his final stint in San Quentin.

After years of struggle, Trejo finally managed to turn his life around, he embraced sobriety and quit drugs for good. Soon after that, Trejo became a drug counselor, the job that ultimately led him to his unlikely road to stardom.
What happened?

One day, a mentee asked him to visit the studio where he worked to help him cope with his cocaine issues while performing on the set of Runaway Train. Once on the set Danny was asked to be an extra appearing as a San Quentin inmate, the same prison where he found sobriety (what a coincidence, right?) The directors figured that thanks to his distinctive face and grizzled appearance, he seemed ideal for the part. That chance casting later led to a quick succession of similar offers and eventually resulted in Hollywood stardom.

Harrison Ford

Harrison Ford is with no doubt one of the most talked about Hollywood personalities, especially now that the force has finally awakened. Ford’s debut in Hollywood however, was anything but a tour de force, quite the opposite actually.

In his very first film Zabriskie Point, Harrison had the singular bad luck of having all his scenes edited out of the final version, every single one, an impasse that may have pushed Ford to consider quitting acting altogether.

With a family to support he turned to carpentry, because he had a great deal of experience and was already making a decent living from it. This was until he had a chance meeting with George Lucas, who invited him to the film set of American Graffiti. Ford at this time was already 30.

His big break however didn’t come until 1977 when Star Wars came around, and Lucas initially hired Ford to read lines for actors who were auditioning, but liked Ford’s performance so much that he decided to cast him as the infamous galactic smuggler called Han Solo.

According to George Lucas, Ford's casting was the most serendipitous, but ultimately that he was better than any of the actors who were actually auditioning for the role.

At that time Ford was still working as a full-time carpenter.

Mel Gibson

Mel Gibson is arguably one of the most famous Australian actors that ever lived, his movies generated well over two billion dollars in the US alone, and he’s even got two Oscars to go with it… Oh, and a couple of pretty viral YouTube videos too. Although his career speaks for itself having spent the better part of three decades in the business, his entrance to the spotlights however, was as accidental as it gets.

While living in Australia, Gibson’s close friend Steve Bisley needed a lift to an audition in a far and desolate location. Gibson said yes, apparently not even considering the possibility of trying out. Little did he know that he was just about to get his big break due to a ridiculous stroke of luck.

You see, the night before the audition, Gibson got into a drunken bar fight that lead him to show up to the audition sporting a face full of fist shaped bruises, probably the last look any of us would wanna bring to a job interview.

The director walking around in the room, couldn’t help but notice Gibson’s bruised face and told him to return later, because the film was looking for offbeat faces and Mel’s seemed ideal for a rough and rugged role.

As fate would have it, the movie in question turned out to be George Miller’s Mad Max.

Gibson returned a few weeks later, only this time his face was no longer covered in cuts and bruises and the director went from wanting to cast him as a strange-looking villain, to asking him to read for the only character who doesn't look like an apocalyptic freak, and just like that Mel Gibson ended up landing the charismatic lead role in Mad Max, the franchise that would make him famous all over the world.

Sometimes You Just Need Luck!