Everybody’s got to start somewhere. Even the biggest A-list celebrities had to earn their first pay cheque through some sort of dead end job; Jennifer Aniston waited tables, Brad Pitt wore a chicken suit, and James Franco flipped burgers. Some celebrities even had different careers in mind; Angelina Jolie’s had aspirations to become a funeral director, Channing Tatum had a love for stripping, and Tom Cruise was all set to become a priest. Weird. Eventually though they struggled through the bad tips, worse uniforms and long hours to break into acting. Sadly, one job does not equal instant success. Here are some of the biggest Hollywood stars in some of their smallest roles:

1. Lucy Liu
Lucy Liu is an undeniably beautiful, successful and talented Hollwyood A lister.She appeared in 72 episodes of the hit show Ally McBeal, made her big break on the silver screen alongside Drew Barrymore and Cameron Diaz in Charlie’s Angels, and starred in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill Volume 1&2. So what roles built up to this dazzling career? Well, she played Woman #3 on an episode of Home Improvement, Woman #3 on Bachelor of the Year and my personal favorite ‘Courtney the waitress’ on Beverly Hills, 90210.

2. Channing Tatum
Channing Tatum may come across as the jock who likes to re-live his stripper past in Magic Mike, backflip his way through Step-Up and play soccer in She’s the Man but he has starred alongside Samuel L. Jackson in Coach Carter, joined Jonah Hill in 21 Jump Street and recently played Martin Taylor in Side Effects. So where did it all begin for Mr. Tatum? Que the dramatic music and gaze into the distance. It’s CSI: Miami.

3. Ryan Reynolds
Ryan Reynolds started off his comedic career in a great little TV show called Two Guys, a Girl, and a Pizza Place. He starred in 81 episodes before the show got cancelled, after which  he landed a sort of breakthrough role in Van Wilder. Soon after he found a string of films that varied from dramatic thriller to easy rom-com, and became the star he is today. However, before the box office hit Reynolds had to work his way up through a series of much, much smaller roles such as ‘Jay De Boom’ on The X Files, ‘Ben Colson’ in When Friendship Kills and ‘Seth’ in the TV movie Sabrina the Teenage Witch.

4. Jennifer Lawrence
Oscar winner, food lover, and modern day feminist; Jennifer Lawrence is a star. The starlet once said: “There are actresses who build themselves, and then there are actresses who are built by others. I want to build myself. It appears that she is indeed the former as she clawed her way up the ranks though roles such as ‘Abby Bradford’ in Cold Case, ‘Frantic Girl’ in Not another High School Show, and a mascot in Monk.

5. Alexander Skarsgard
Alexander Skarsgard is probably best known for his role on True Blood as the vicious but gorgeous, and mostly very naked, Eric. Recently though, he has been breaking into film through in movies such as Battleship, Melancholia, and What Maisie Knew. However, he actually starred in a massive feature films alongside Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson and Will Ferrell before he ever took on the role of vampire stud. Remember Meekus and his love for those “Orange Mocha Frappachinos!”? Yep, that’s him!