Before the red carpets and the franchise contracts, plenty of famous actors were doing something far less glamorous. They were holding up a product, smiling on cue, and hoping the director would call it a wrap. Thirty seconds of airtime was often the first paying job on a long résumé.
Commercials have always been a quiet training ground. They teach timing, hitting a mark, and working with a crew, and they pay the bills while an actor waits for something bigger. These eleven names all have a documented ad in their early history.
Drew Barrymore
Drew Barrymore came from a family of performers, so the camera was familiar early. She appeared in a dog food commercial for Gaines when she was only eleven months old. It is often cited as her very first on screen job.
The ad came years before her breakout role in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial in 1982. By then she already had a lot of time in front of lights and crews. She went on to become an actor, producer, and talk show host.
Brooke Shields
Brooke Shields began modeling as a baby. At eleven months old she appeared in a television commercial for Ivory Snow soap. The ad put her in front of a national audience before she could walk.
She later moved into film and became a well known face of the late 1970s and 1980s. Her early commercial and print work helped her get noticed by casting directors. Decades later she still works in television, theater, and books.
Jodie Foster
Jodie Foster was about three years old when she landed a Coppertone sunscreen commercial. She was cast as the child in the brand’s famous tanning image. It was the first step in a career that has now lasted more than five decades.
Television roles and Disney films followed during her childhood. She later won two Academy Awards for Best Actress, for The Accused and The Silence of the Lambs. She has also built a career as a director.
Kirsten Dunst
Kirsten Dunst started in commercials as a toddler. By the time she was a young child she had appeared in dozens of them, and reports often put the number at more than fifty. That steady work gave her real experience on set.
Her film debut came in a segment of New York Stories in 1989. She then drew wide attention in Interview with the Vampire in 1994. Later roles included Spider-Man and Melancholia.
Leonardo DiCaprio
Leonardo DiCaprio worked as a child in television commercials in the 1980s. His early ads included spots for Matchbox toy cars and Bubble Yum gum. He was a kid in Los Angeles chasing auditions, like thousands of others.
Small television parts came next, including a recurring role on Growing Pains. His movie breakthrough was This Boy’s Life in 1993, followed by What’s Eating Gilbert Grape. He won the Best Actor Oscar for The Revenant.
Brad Pitt
Brad Pitt’s early jobs in Los Angeles were not glamorous. One widely reported gig had him dressed in a chicken costume to promote the restaurant chain El Pollo Loco. He has talked about odd jobs like that in interviews over the years.
He also took small television roles in the late 1980s while looking for a break. That break came with Thelma and Louise in 1991. He later became a leading man and a producer through his company Plan B.
Ben Affleck
Ben Affleck grew up acting in Massachusetts and worked as a child in commercials. One of his early ads was a Burger King spot in the early 1980s. He was a kid then, long before he had any idea of the career ahead.
He also appeared on the PBS series The Voyage of the Mimi. Later he co wrote Good Will Hunting with Matt Damon, and the two won an Oscar for the screenplay. He has since directed several films, including Argo, which won Best Picture.
Bryan Cranston
Bryan Cranston did not become a household name until he was in his forties. Before that he made a living as a working actor, and that included television commercials. One of the ads often mentioned from that period is for Excedrin.
He played the dad on Malcolm in the Middle from 2000 to 2006. Then he starred as Walter White in Breaking Bad, which earned him four Emmy Awards for Best Actor in a Drama Series. His path shows that steady early work can pay off late.
Tom Selleck
Tom Selleck was a struggling actor in the 1970s who picked up commercial work to get by. He appeared in a number of ads, including ones for Pepsi. His look made him a natural for that kind of spot.
He landed the lead in Magnum, P.I. in 1980 and played the role for eight seasons. The part won him an Emmy Award. More recently he has been known for leading the CBS drama Blue Bloods.
Sarah Michelle Gellar
Sarah Michelle Gellar was working as a child actor in New York at a very young age. Her early credits include a Burger King commercial, which has been reported as the ad that got her noticed. She moved on to stage and television roles as a kid.
She became a star as the title character in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which ran from 1997 to 2003. She also appeared in the film I Know What You Did Last Summer. Her commercial work was just the beginning of a long run on screen.
Britney Spears
Britney Spears was a young performer from Louisiana who was already competing in talent contests. Among her early credits was a television commercial for Parkay margarine, according to published profiles. She also trained in New York as a child.
She joined The Mickey Mouse Club in the early 1990s, alongside other future stars. Her debut single, Baby One More Time, came out in 1998 and made her an international pop name. Her early advertising work sits near the very start of that story.
