8 Actors Who Were Teachers Before They Were Famous

Most of us picture a famous actor’s early years as a string of auditions and waiting tables. For a surprising number of them, the day job was a classroom, a gym or a drama studio.

Some taught for a few months, and others spent years in education before they switched careers. Here are eight actors whose first audiences were students.

Hugh Jackman

During a gap year in 1987, Jackman worked at Uppingham School in England. Business Insider describes him as a gym teacher there, while People notes he also worked as a teaching assistant. He was barely out of school himself.

He also taught drama and coached sports during his time there. Years later, he recognized an entertainment journalist on a red carpet as a former gym student and teased him on camera. The clip became a small piece of internet history.

Jon Hamm

Hamm’s teaching job was a homecoming. After graduating, he took a job at the John Burroughs School in St. Louis, Missouri, the high school he’d once attended. He taught drama.

One of his students also went on to fame. Ellie Kemper was in his classes, and the two later starred together in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. His own breakthrough came later, when he rose to worldwide fame in 2007 as Don Draper on AMC’s Mad Men.

Liam Neeson

Neeson’s teaching career was more of an attempt than a long run. He attended a two year teacher training course at St Mary’s College in Newcastle, with a classroom career in mind. The plan didn’t last.

He has described how hard it was to manage discipline problems. In an interview with ESPN, he recalled that one pupil refused to settle and wanted to disrupt the whole class. Acting turned out to be the better fit.

Jesse Williams

Williams was committed to teaching for years. He taught American Studies, African Studies and English for six years in the Philadelphia public school system. He also worked as a long term substitute in kindergarten and seventh grade.

In 2005 he began studying acting and left the classroom. He later became known as Dr. Jackson Avery on Grey’s Anatomy. He told PureWow in 2021 that high school was his favorite level to teach, because he could connect with the students.

Billy Crystal

Crystal’s early stage was a school in New York. His first audience was a classroom on Long Island, and he worked as a substitute teacher to earn money while pursuing another career. That career was comedy.

In the 1970s, while trying to make a name as part of a comedy trio, he earned his living as a substitute at Long Beach Junior High School. He later became the star of When Harry Met Sally… and many other hits.

Gabriel Byrne

Byrne tried several jobs before acting. Among them, he taught Spanish and history at Ardscoil Éanna in Crumlin, Dublin. It’s an unusual combination of subjects for a future screen actor.

His route into film wasn’t a straight line. The teaching years are a reminder that many actors arrive at the profession through other work first, and Byrne’s list of earlier jobs is longer than most.

Lin-Manuel Miranda

Miranda taught before Hamilton made him a household name. Early in his career, he taught English at his old high school, Hunter College High School. Like Jon Hamm, he went back to the place that had shaped him.

Another roundup lists him among stars who taught English in New York before they found fame. He is best known as a composer and performer, yet he also acts on stage and screen, which is why he earns a spot here.

Greg Davies

Davies spent far longer in education than most names on this list. He spent 13 years in the teaching profession before switching to comedy at 32. He taught drama.

He found fame as Mr Gilbert, the head of sixth form in The Inbetweeners. He later played a drama teacher in the Channel 4 sitcom Man Down, shooting scenes in the very classroom where he had taught in real life.