Feeling Like a Failure? Read This & Be Inspired… 12 Celebrities that Failed Before Finding Success

Looking back at this weekend, and if there’s one thing I have to say it’s that Jennifer Lopez and Shakira were awesome at the halftime show. They looked so confident and put together on the stage. But why am I sharing this? Because I bet you that it wasn’t always that way. I bet you that they had insecurities when they first started out in their careers. And I bet you that there were many times in their careers that they failed.

So why share? Because oftentimes we look towards others wanting to be more like them. In reality, the majority of us “fail” before getting anywhere.

We go by different timelines, and we all succeed at different times. While one person is behind in one aspect, they may be ahead in another aspect of their life. Even for celebrities, that seemingly have their lives together, there are many ebbs and flows… that’s life.

So today, I want to share a few celebrities that failed before they found the life they needed and wanted.

Why?

Because sometimes we all need that reminder to keep trudging on when times are bad… To screw being perfect. And to do your best with what you have to do. To fail. But then get up. Because honestly, you never know what’s next in your road.

Celebrities that Failed Before Fame

1.) Harrison Ford

Harrison Ford came to Hollywood in 1964, but wasn’t discovered until the movie, Star Wars, in 1977. According to an interview, he was convinced that he’d wear out his face before he got his break.

2.) Jon Hamm

It took years of living in Hollywood to discover a role. When he asked about the worst part of acting, he once said,

“Mine would be living in L.A. for 10 years and not working, having no money and no prospects. The days were kind of great; it was the long nights staring at the ceiling waiting for the phone to ring. The uncertainty is always the difficult part, at least it has been for me.”

3.) Oprah Winfrey

She was fired from her first television job as an anchor in Baltimore for being too invested in her stories. She is now worth 3 billion dollars. Guess being “too invested” paid off?!

4.) JK Rowling

J.K. Rowling was on welfare while unemployed and divorced. When she wrote Harry Potter, she was turned down by 12 publishers before she found success. Now, she’s the ninth best-selling fiction author. She has sold at least 500 million copies of her books.

5.) Vera Wang

She spent 15 years working her way up at Vogue until she realized that her career couldn’t go any further. As a result, she became a fashion designer. She built a name for herself in the wedding gown industry.

Here’s what she said about her life…

Each time was very, very painful, to make a decision to leave. But I didn’t feel like I had reached the summit, the absolute top. It wasn’t like I was insanely ambitious, but in my own mind, I always fell short. And I think these two events were very influential for my outlook on life now. And what I do now couldn’t have happened without the first two. I had to constantly reinvent myself.

“It seems to be a similar thread throughout everything, which is that your life isn’t always measured by tangible results. What it really is in the end is the process, and what you learn about yourself and about life. That’s something I’ve taken with me. No matter how bad things get, no matter how discouraged I feel, no matter how much of a failure I feel like — and that applies to motherhood, friendship, everything — I try to believe there’s a reason, there’s a process, and there’s a learning experience. Maybe the journey is where I gained wisdom, where I gained confidence, a sense of reality, a sense of creativity. None of this has been easy. There’s an old skater’s saying: Don’t be afraid of falling. It’s 90 percent falling — otherwise, you don’t master anything. You might hurt your ass. Or break your ankle. Or crack a rib. It’s the same thing in life. There are other places to go. Other things to try. So don’t be afraid of failing. I think not trying is worse than failing. Have the courage to try. Otherwise, what are we here for?

6.) Mark Ruffalo

When he was 27 years old he was looking at kids in $100,000 cars with embarrassment. He felt that he had nothing. When asked about his struggle as an actor he said,

“It was brutal. The years are stripping away, but when you talking to anyone from home, you’re saying something like, ‘Well, I’m just working on my craft right now,’ when the truth is that I can’t get a f*cking job because no one will hire me. It was humiliating.”

And look where he is today!

7.) Lady Gaga:

Despite being signed by Def Jam at 19 years old, she was dropped months later. It took a few years before she was re-discovered.

8.) Meryl Streep

While you know her for iconic roles, such as Mamma Mia, she was once told that she “wasn’t beautiful enough.” It took determination and courage to pursue and to get where she is today.

9.) Jennifer Aniston

Before Friends, Jennifer Aniston had four failed sitcoms in a row. They were Molloy, Ferris Bueller, The Edge, and Muddling Through. Supposedly, in 1994, while pumping gas, Aniston asked NBC’s then-entertainment division president whether her career would happen. After that, he presented her with the script with Friends. And look what she has done since then!

10.) Connie Britton

She didn’t find fame until 39 years old when she was cast as Tami Taylor in the NBC series, Friday Night Lights.

11.) Walt Disney

He was fired from the Kansas City Star because he “lacked imagination and had no good ideas.” He failed multiple times before his movie premiered, Snow White.

12.) Jennifer Lopez

While she has had numerous successes, she also took awhile to find the right relationships. In a recent interview, she shared the reason behind so many failed relationships. Her reasoning… despite her success, she needed to love herself first as a woman before loving someone back.

So if these examples show you one thing, it’s this… you are never behind in your life. You have your own timeline. Just got to keep trudging on through the imperfect to get close to the imperfectly perfect life that you envision.

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