Jon Hamm
Like many other actors on the list, growing up, Jon Hamm never considered acting a serious career path. His grandfather wanted him to be an engineer, and though Hamm never followed through on that, it made him discard acting as a career choice. What did seem at a time as a potential career path for Young Jon Hamm was sports.
The Mad Men star was an accomplished athlete back in high school, and he was the star of the swim team, the football and the baseball team. His temporary college job, however, had nothing to do with scooping ice cream or selling burgers. Hamm answered an application for actors, published in his college message board. That was his first serious role, in a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, after which he went on to teach acting in high school, and later moved to L.A. to try his luck in the big league.