Lin-Manuel Miranda, Stephen Colbert, And Other Celebrities Reveal Their First Seven Jobs
We live in a wonderful age. Why? Because when the world wants its celebrities to answer questions they’re now able to simply able to throw them out into the online ether where they’re immediately answered.
This is why we now know that before he wrote, starred, and created Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda worked as a live model in Wesleyan drawing class, that Buzz Aldrin was a dish washer, and that before he became one of the world’s most famous comedian Stephen Colbert worked in construction.
It all started innocently enough, though. According to Time, the latest viral trend, #firstsevenjobs, began after a Twitter user by the name @mariancall asked her pals what their first seven jobs were. To get the ball rolling, Call revealed her first jobs.
What were your first 7 jobs?
Babysitting, janitorial, slinging coffee, yard work, writing radio news, voice-overs, data entry/secretarial
— Marian Call (@mariancall) August 5, 2016
But the internet and Twitter soon threw this question further afield, which inevitably led to it landing in front of a plethora of celebrities.
Stephen Colbert, who replaced David Letterman as the host of The Late Show earlier this year, was one of the first to respond, revealing that he’d had a number of peculiar jobs before he finally got into writing and performing.
#firstsevenjobs construction, bus boy, cafeteria server, library data entry, futon frame maker, futon salesman, waiter
— Stephen Colbert (@StephenAtHome) August 7, 2016
He was soon joined by Lin-Manuel Miranda. The Broadway superstar, whose work on Hamilton has been roundly lauded and saw him pick-up numerous Tony Awards just last month, revealed that not only did he work on the register at McDonalds, but that he was also a teacher, too.
#first7jobs
Slushee machine at my aunt’s store
Intern for WNET
McD’s…register
Data entry
Drawing 1 model
Community paper writer
Teacher— Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) August 7, 2016
Monica Lewinsky soon joined in on the viral trend, too, revealing that before she took up her infamous internship at The White House, which culminated in her having a brief sexual affair with Bill Clinton, she had a number of random jobs, which included being working on a lemonade stand.
#firstsevenjobs
art dealer (age 8)
lemonade stand
toy-o-rama
knot shop (LA)
knot shop (OR)@WhiteHouse @ThePentagon— Monica Lewinsky (@MonicaLewinsky) August 6, 2016
Before becoming an Academy Award-winning actress, Mira Sorvino also took up work in a number of random positions. Not only was she a script reader and did the obligatory stint as a waitress, considering she was a budding actress, but she also taught English in Beijing and was a Chinese tutor, too.
#firstsevenjobs
Babysitter
ESL teacher in Beijing
Copy editor
Waitress
Script reader
Bartender
Chinese tutor— Mira Sorvino (@MiraSorvino) August 7, 2016
You can check out some of the other surprising first jobs of the likes of Buzz Aldrin, screenwriter Steven DeKnight, Star Wars 9’s writer and director Colin Trevorrow, and This Is Spinal Tap’s Harry Shearer and Michael McKean by looking below.
#firstsevenjobs
Dish washer
Camp counselor
Fighter pilot
Astronaut
Commandant
Speaker
AuthorNow Global Space Statesman!
— Buzz Aldrin (@TheRealBuzz) August 7, 2016
#firstsevenjobs
Library clerk
Video store clerk
College gym monitor
Security guard
CD Rom game tester
ESL teacher
Writer for MTV— Steven DeKnight (@stevendeknight) August 7, 2016
comic book store, mcdonalds, shop and stop, halloween store, writer, director, producer #firstsevenjobs
— Max Landis (@Uptomyknees) August 6, 2016
laserdisc store clerk
construction
pizza maker
line cook
copywriter
bartender
PA, The Bachelor Season 1#firstsevenjobs— Colin Trevorrow (@colintrevorrow) August 7, 2016
Child actor
Night editor
Ad copywriter
Legislative intern
Newspaper proofreader
High-school teacher
Freelance journalist#firstsevenjobs— Harry Shearer (@theharryshearer) August 7, 2016
Paper boy, painter, stock boy, actor, songwriter, director, producer. #firstsevenjobs
— Michael McKean (@MJMcKean) August 7, 2016
What were your first seven jobs?
[Photo by Getty/Paul Zimmerman]