10 celebrities and their hugely successful side jobs
Not content with being world-class in their chosen career, these celebrities are surprisingly good at their sideline jobs too. Here’s out list of enterprising celebs including comedian David Walliams who makes a cool living from writing children’s books.
Confidential
Don't miss out on the headlines from Confidential. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Not content with being world-class in their chosen career, these celebrities are surprisingly good at their sideline jobs too.
DAVID WALLIAMS
When David Walliams beat J.K. Rowling to the title of Britain’s top-selling children’s author last year with $31 million in sales, it was for the third year running — a remarkable feat for the man who made his name as a comedian on the very adult sketch comedy show Little Britain (2003-07).
But the 47-year-old’s books, which started with The Boy In The Dress (2008), now number 12, including last year’s wildly popular The Ice Monster and this year’s Fing, which has been in Nielsen BookScan’s top 10 children’s fiction list since its February release. Walliams is an outstanding example of a celebrity whose second job turned out as well, if not better, than their first.
VICTORIA BECKHAM
Pop star to fashion designer
She made her name as one fifth of the Spice Girls, even though she admits she doesn’t have
the best voice, but Victoria Beckham showed more natural talent at her second career as a designer of her eponymous fashion label. The 45-year-old was a runner-up at the British Fashion Awards last year and has a lot of industry credibility — so much so she is conspicuously missing from the upcoming Spice Girls reunion tour.
JESSICA SIMPSON
Singer to fashion purveyor
After successfully carving out a music career that saw her sell more than 10 million albums — and becoming one of the first celebrities to open up her private lives with trashy reality show Newlyweds: Nick And Jessica — Simpson created a hugely successful fashion label The Jessica Simpson Collection. It is believed the brand, which in addition to clothing also includes accessories such as handbags and shoes, was the first celebrity-helmed label to bring in more than $1 billion annual revenue.
JESSICA ALBA
Actor to baby baron
Jessica Alba is best known for playing Sue Storm in the Fantastic Four franchise and a string of popular romantic comedies, but the mother of three is also a shrewd businesswoman responsible for co-founding a billion dollar baby, beauty and cleaning brand. The Honest Company, believed to be valued at about $1 billion, sells items such as “safe, effective and honestly adorable” baby essentials, home cleaning products and items for personal care.
ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER
Bodybuilder to actor to politician to actor
One of the most famous of all the career transitions has to be that of Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is on his fourth incarnation. The 71-year-old Austrian-American first found fame as a bodybuilder before becoming one of Hollywood’s biggest action heroes as the star of movies such as Terminator. He then went into politics and became governor of California. And now he’s having one last crack at acting, in Terminator: Dark Fate and TV series Outrider.
GENE HACKMAN
Oscar-winner to novelist
He’s a double Oscar winner and has five decades of movies behind him, including Bonnie & Clyde and Unforgiven, but the 89-year-old American actor has had a successful second career as a novelist. He co-wrote three novels with undersea archaeologist Daniel Lenihan and a further two solo.
ASHTON KUTCHER
Actor to venture capitalist
Proving he’s so much more than a pretty face, Ashton Kutcher went from That ’70s Show bloke to super-savvy venture capitalist. The 41-year-old, who dropped out of the University of Iowa, has been at the forefront of tech companies investing in brands including Uber, Skype, Pinterest and Airbnb and is now estimated to be worth around $279 million.
JIM CARREY
Actor to painter
He was the comedy star of the 1990s, now the Ace Ventura actor is an acclaimed artist and political cartoonist. The 57-year-old Canadian has been creating everything from sculptures to cartoons in his studio — to some acclaim.
“I can’t not paint and I can’t not create. It’s just exploding,” he said. “I don’t know where it’s going.”
PROVING a second career needs more than a God-given talent to succeed, this sporty duo proved less successful at reinventing themselves.
USAIN BOLT
Olympic athlete to footballer
You’d think if you won nine Olympic gold medals (although one was taken away) and were thought of as the greatest sprinter of all time, your sports career might be done, but not so for Usain Bolt. The 32-year-old Jamaican athlete declared he really wanted to be a footballer — ideally for Manchester United. He settled for a trial with the Central Coast Mariners but his second career was short-lived and he left last November.
MICHAEL JORDAN
Basketball player to baseball player
He was the greatest basketball player of all time, so what nobody expected him to do was give it up and sign to a baseball team instead. But that’s what Michael Jordan did in 1994 when he joined the Chicago White Sox after his father’s death. He worked hard to perfect his game but was never going to hit the ball out of the park and returned to basketball in 1995 with a two-word press release, “I’m back”. It wasn’t for long and the 56-year-old is now a billionaire NBA team owner.
$14k a clip: NSW YouTube stars making more than you
YouTube stars in NSW are raking in thousands of dollars per video but it’s what they do in their clips that will drive traditional workers mad. Check out the rich list.
Glamming it up for a return to the racecourse
The first official racing carnival featuring the new $46.6m WINX stand at Randwick Racecourse is kicking off, with model and new mum Ksenija Lukich among those dressing up for the occasion.