15 Celebrities Who Were Discovered in Unexpected Ways

Although now a world-famous supermodel and wife to Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady, Bündchen signed up for a modeling class at age 13 just to get a free trip to São Paulo, and actually wanted to become a professional volleyball player. For the first meal of the trip, the 55 girls went to McDonald’s, and a modeling agent picked her out specifically.

Braxton had grown up singing, but she didn’t pursue it professionally until songwriter Bill Pettaway, who later produced Missy Elliott, Justin Timberlake, and Jay-Z, overheard her singing at a gas station. It didn’t take long for her to drop out of college and sign to Arista Records in 1990 with her sisters as the girl group, the Braxtons.

Things you probably didn’t know about Marilyn Monroe: she is a natural brunette, her real name is Norma Jeane Mortenson, and she lived in foster homes and orphanages for most of her childhood. The beauty icon was actually working at an aircraft factory when she was discovered by an army photographer who took her photo. After starting to work with him, she quit her job, divorced her husband, changed her name, went blonde, and after a few years, signed a contract with an acting agent.

Music executive Scooter Braun discovered the “Peaches” singer completely on accident—in fact, he was trying to search for another artist’s videos on YouTube when he clicked on one of Bieber’s videos instead. Braun apparently called every school district where Bieber lived in Ontario until his mom called him back, asking him to stop, and the rest is history.

Before Wayne became a Western film symbol, he was actually the props guy at Fox Film Corporation after leaving his college football scholarship behind due to an injury. At Fox Studios, Wayne was noticed by John Ford, who began casting him as an extra in films, like Stagecoach, then Raoul Walsh eventually granted Wayne his first lead role.

Ford’s story is all luck—long before his acting career, the Star Wars and Indiana Jones actor used to be a carpenter. One day, a man named George Lucas hired him to build cabinets in his home, and you can probably guess the rest. Lucas wanted to cast Ford in American Graffiti, and from there, he became a star.

The Queen’s Gambit actress was once a normal girl walking her dog on the street…until she was spotted by a modeling agency. To be exact, she was scouted by Sarah Doukas of Storm Model Management, who also discovered Kate Moss. While she didn’t become a star until this year, her first role was in the indie horror film The Witch in 2015.

In the 1990s, a commercial happened to be shooting outside of 15-year-old Dawson’s apartment, so she sat on her front porch to watch. Out of luck, director and screenwriter Larry Clark and Harmony Korine approached her to ask if she’d be in a movie. Her first role was Ruby in Clark's Kids.

When the Baywatch legend was still a fitness instructor in Vancover, she attended a British Columbia Lions CFL game in 1989 where she was put on the Jumbotron and went the equivalent of viral for that time period. By October, she was the Playboy cover girl and the next year, she booked her first television role in Charles in Charge.

Before Jonas was a Disney kid, the L'OFFICIEL star tagged along on his mother’s trip to the hair salon at age five, and was singing when he was overheard and given a talent manager’s card. He soon starred on Broadway in Les Misérables, Beauty and the Beast, and A Christmas Carol, and signed his first record deal at age 11.

The summer before high school, Moore had finally saved up enough money to book time at an Orlando recording studio, and the FedEx delivery man who overheard her singing sent her recording to a mutual friend, the head of Urban A&R at Epic Records. Later, she had a meeting with a label representative, unaware it would lead to a career.

Portman was discovered at a pizza shop eating a post-dance-class meal with her mother when a modeling agent approach her. But even at age 10, Portman didn’t enjoy being judged on her looks, and asked to be in contact with their acting agents instead.

Before he played God (literally), Freeman was a longtime lover of movies as a kid, and saved up all his cash to go see new films. But after receiving a drama scholarship as a teenager, he had to put a pause on his dreams to pursue a career in the U.S. Air Force instead. However, by 1959, he moved to Hollywood to become an actor and received recognition for the first time in Another World.

Depp never had dreams of becoming an actor—he wanted to be a musician instead. He originally moved to LA with his band in the 1980s and happened to attend his friend Jackie Earle Haley’s audition for A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Wes Craven decided to cast him instead.

The Guardians of the Galaxy actor used to be—wait for it—a Bubby Gump Shrimp Company waiter in Maui. One day at work, he met director Rae Dawn Chong who cast him in her upcoming horror movie. Let’s just say, he wasn’t a waiter for much longer.