From McDonalds to Starbucks, these 21 famous people once worked in the restaurant industry

Do you remember your first job? We all start somewhere, and no matter where we end up, most folks can say they come from humble beginnings. Those first jobs teach you about what it is to work hard, albeit thanklessly in most situations. Celebrities love to wax poetic about their first jobs, and like many of us everyday folks, they got their start in the restaurant industry.

Making the jump from behind the counter, putting together burgers, and filling fry orders to red carpets and big screens is a major and certainly transformative journey. Here are celebrities who have talked about their experiences working in fast food.

1. Andrew Garfield

Andrew Garfield was living his young dream when he worked at Starbucks while living in London when the franchise first opened there.

"I had this idealized image of what that would be. It arrived in London, and I thought, 'Well that's the John Hughes movie I've been waiting to live within, with multiple girls reading literature with black-rimmed glasses," he told Jimmy Kimmel.

"And I'm going to be the barista that woos them all and wins them all. They realize after a period of months that, in fact, the skinny guy is the guy to go with!"

2. Shania Twain

In an interview with ET Canada, Shania Twain looked back fondly at her days working at McDonald's. "I worked in several departments, but I always loved the drive-thru. I always love, like, 'Welcome to McDonald's, can I take your order please?' It's just very quite rhythmic, and I like to serve. I like to make people happy," she said.

"The drive-thru was always particularly fun because you could speak to the people on the other side without seeing them... I like good service, and, you know, I learned a lot of that at McDonald's."

3. Jennifer Hudson

In 2018, Jennifer Hudson told PEOPLE, "My first and only real job was working at Burger King. I used to sing at the drive-thru window. That was my microphone."

4. Chappell Roan

In an interview with Nardwuar, Chappell Roan spoke about her time working for Scooter's Coffee during the pandemic, saying, "I was working the drive-thru, you know. Wore the headset. It was awesome."

5. Nick Cannon

Nick Cannon opened up to The New York Times in 2013 about working at a Wienerschnitzel location in Los Angeles.

"I got fired,” Cannon recalled of his time there. “I had to do the drive-thru, so I would be telling jokes through the window, picking on people in their cars. You put a microphone in front of me…I’m going to tell some jokes."

6. Amy Adams

Amy Adams has been asked about her past waitressing at Hooters on many occasions. The actress explains it was a well-paying gig that she was open to when she had just turned 18 and was saving up for a car.

"Honestly, I have no problem with it. It just makes me laugh because there are so many elements to a person’s life and it’s a great thing to teach kids because, three months in orange shorts and you have to talk about it forever,” Adams explained on THR’s Awards Chatter podcast.

"It was a really good job because at the time, minimum wage was $3.85 and they were willing to pay $7 to the hostesses and that for me—saving up for a car and being a dancer—I ran around in tights and a leotard all day long anyway. I learned that there was a difference between dance class and Hooters very quickly."

7. Tyler, The Creator

Tyler, The Creator was yet another star who spent time as a barista. "Starbucks was cool because I stole a lot of cheese danishes," he said, explaining to Jimmy Kimmel about how he worked there for two years before a new manager named Cindy fired him.

"I hope she's watching because I still hate her," he laughed.

8. Julia Roberts

The Pretty Woman star scooped ice cream at Baskin Robbins before her big break—according to the company's 2009 post on Twitter.

9. Mark Hamill

Mark Hamill enjoyed a short stint at Jack in the Box before getting fired for impersonating a clown while working the drive-thru. They were a little more gracious in welcoming him back a few years ago for a commercial announcing the return of Spicy Chicken Strips and French Toast Sticks.

10. Madonna

Madonna briefly worked in a Dunkin Donuts but was yet another future celeb fired for goofing off on the job. Using the machine that fills jelly donuts, Madonna allegedly squirted jelly at a customer—or at least that's the story she told Howard Stern.

11. Lin-Manuel Miranda

In May 2019, Lin-Manuel Miranda shared his name tag on Twitter from his first job, a gig working at McDonalds.

Last year, he talked about that job with Chef José Andrés: "I worked the cash register. This was the rare McDonald's that did delivery, and that was huge because when you're making $4.25 an hour, you can get tips, and that was a little bit beyond the minimum wage I was making. You would think that would turn me off to McDonald's forever, but no."

12. Eva Longoria

Eva Longoria did a long bid in the fast food world, working at Wendy's for six years. She first got the job when she learned she had to pay for her quinceanera.

"I couldn’t wait to get to work and make my own money. There was never any resentment because I saw how hard my mother worked and all she did for my sister. I wanted to do whatever I could to help."

13. Pharrell Williams

Pharrell Williams worked at McDonald's a few different times, getting fired on three different occasions. The producer had the last laugh when, along with Justin Timberlake, he developed the McDonald's "I'm Lovin' It" jingle.

14. Gwen Stefani

In a brief Marie Claire interview, Stefani admitted Dairy Queen is where she made her first dollar—without expanding further.

15. Brad Pitt

Brad Pitt used to don the chicken suit as the mascot for El Pollo Loco. He said there was "no shame" in the gig, looking back on the job.

16. Rachel McAdams

Rachel McAdams told Glamour about her three years working at McDonalds alongside her siblings.

"I was 16 and directing kids' theater, which didn't totally pay the bills. It was a great place to work, but I had a little bit of an OCD thing with hand washing and just didn't have time," she recalled of her time in fast food.

"They were like, 'Hey, the drive-through's backing up. Stop washing your hands!' I was not a great employee; I broke the orange juice machine one day."

17. Kate Walsh

Kate Walsh worked at both Burger King and Dairy Queen, and she's got a great sense of humor about the back-to-back fast food gigs. She spoke about her teenage work gig on Live with Kelly and Mark:

"My very first job was a cashier at Burger King in Tucson, Arizona. And I occasionally worked the drive-thru. I'd go wherever I was needed! My second job was at Dairy Queen. I stayed in the fast food royalty."

18. Megan Fox

In a 2009 interview with Bang Media, Megan Fox looked back at her time working at Tropical Smoothie Cafe as a teenager.

"I was 15. I would have to go out in the street wearing a gigantic banana costume and dance to try to get customers to come in. There was no anonymity, the costume had a big hole cut out so that everyone would see your face," she recalled.

"My friends from school would drive back and forth and yell all kinds of awesome obscenities at me."

19. Eva Mendes

Eva Mendes worked her way through the mall's food court in search of the perfect part-time gig.

"I was one of those kids who couldn't wait to get my work permit. Because at 15, you get your work permit in California, and I couldn't wait to legally work. I worked at this pizza/pasta place in the mall, and it was great. It was called 'Ciao.' There was a sneeze guard so I would serve people,you would have to give it to them over the bar. I could not tell you how many times I would serve that food through the glass," Mendes told The Wall Street Journal.

Later, she worked at Hot Dog on a Stick. "They are very strict about [the handmashed lemonade], you have to rotate and dip the dog and do the lemonade and do the cash register–it's a whole thing. They run that operation with an iron fist."

20. Barack Obama

The former president has opened up about his own time scooping ice cream at Baskin Robbins 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,” he wrote in a 2016 LinkedIn post about his "Summer Opportunity Project."

“As a teenager working behind the counter at Baskin-Robbins in Honolulu, I was less interested in what the job meant for my future and more concerned about what it meant for my jump shot... [It] wasn’t exactly glamorous, but it taught me some valuable lessons,” he wrote, reflecting on his teenage job. “Responsibility. Hard work. Balancing a job with friends, family, and school.”

21. Jennifer Aniston

Jennifer Aniston hasn't just played a waitress on screens big and small—she's also experienced the real thing. Anitson once waitressed at Jackson Hole, a diner chain. She revisited the Upper West Side location in 2014.

"I worked at a restaurant called Jackson Hole, on 85th and Columbus, burger joint. The best burgers, by the way. I worked there for about two and a half years, and they were so good to me," she recalled.

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