21 Celebrities Who Rose From Poverty Without Nepotism

The phrase “nepo baby” has become shorthand for stars whose paths were eased by famous parents. Think Lily-Rose Depp, Gwyneth Paltrow, Hailey Bieber, Zoë Kravitz, Jack Quaid, Maya Hawke, and more. Don’t get me wrong, they’re all undeniably talented. Many have poured a lot of time and energy into acting, music, or their businesses. But it’s not far-fetched to say that they entered an industry where the door was already cracked open, with introductions already in place.

Yet not everyone in Hollywood, music, or television began that way. Many started with nothing at all. Some were from small towns with no connections or were born in homes fractured by addiction or poverty. Their stories, in my opinion, are far more interesting than the nepo baby outrage that the mainstream news keeps bringing up. They remind us that ambition and grit can change the course of a life. Here are 20 celebrities who started at the bottom and have shown that a difficult upbringing doesn’t define destiny.

1. Leonardo DiCaprio

Long before red carpets and private villas, DiCaprio was a kid in East Hollywood whose parents scraped by. His father sold comic books, his mother worked as a secretary, and their neighborhood was filled with crime and addiction. The Inception star once told the Los Angeles Times, “I grew up very poor, and I got to see the other side of the spectrum.” Beaten up in school, he begged his mom to take him to auditions. “I was 15, and I said to my mom, ‘I want to be an actor. Please take me to auditions.’ Because I had to get out of that public school system," he recalled.

Eventually, that persistence led to his earlier films, What's Eating Gilbert Grape and Titanic, then into an Oscar, and today, to one of the most bankable names in Hollywood.

2. Demi Moore

Moore’s childhood was constant motion, 30 moves before she turned eighteen, following her alcoholic parents from place to place. She dropped out of high school at sixteen, convinced that acting was her ticket out of poverty. “We weren't dirt poor, but we didn't have a lot of money,” she told The Guardian. “I had so little I had nothing to lose and everything to gain by taking the risk.” That risk became Ghost and G.I. Jane, cementing her as one of the most iconic actresses of our generation.

3. Hilary Swank

Swank grew up in a Washington trailer park before moving with her mother to California. When they couldn’t afford rent, the two slept in their car while she auditioned for roles. She once explained, “The negative part of it was learning about class at such a young age, not from my friends, but from my friend’s parents, who would say, ‘You aren’t to hang out with her.’” She went on to win two Oscars.

4. Nicki Minaj

Nicki Minaj’s father battled addiction and once set their house on fire with her mother inside. As she told Rolling Stone, “When I first came to America, I would go in my room and kneel down at the foot of my bed and pray that God would make me rich so that I could take care of my mother.” Music became her escape, and eventually her empire.

5. Justin Bieber

Raised by a single mother in Ontario, Bieber often felt the sting of being poor. “I remember sitting in restaurants with my mother and she'd make me order water instead of soda,” he said in 2015. That first paycheck (earned from his breakout single “One Time”) went toward supporting her.

6. Mariah Carey

Carey has described her childhood home as a “shack” and her family as “broken and dysfunctional.” Music became the thread that held her together. “When I say without money, I mean, like, we really didn't have much of anything!” she admitted in 2020. Today, one song alone, “All I Want for Christmas Is You”, earns her millions annually, a striking reversal of her early scarcity.

7. Jennifer Lopez

Jenny from the block wasn’t a metaphor. Lopez grew up in the Bronx, sometimes sharing a bed with her sisters. She dropped out of college to pursue dance, sleeping on couches in studios when she couldn’t go home. “My dad worked nights, and I was aware of how much he was doing for us. My mom was a Tupperware lady and also worked at the school. I always felt that I couldn’t let them down,” she told W Magazine.

8. Mark Wahlberg

Wahlberg’s adolescence was greatly affected by drugs, violence, and he even had a stint in jail after being charged with attempted murder. “As soon as I began that life of crime, there was always a voice in my head telling me I was going to end up in jail,” he later admitted. Prison was the turning point. He cleaned up, pursued music, and eventually became a Hollywood mainstay. The roughest kid on his block turned into one of the industry’s most bankable stars.

9. Jim Carrey

Carrey’s family went from middle-class stability to living in a van when his father lost his job. At 15, Jim worked as a janitor to help support them. On Inside the Actor’s Studio, he recalled, “We lived in a van for a while, and we worked all together as security guards and janitors.” That desperation only sharpened his comedic drive.

In 1985, years before Hollywood knew his name, he wrote himself a check for $10 million, post-dated ten years in the future, with the memo line reading “acting services rendered.” A decade later, after landing Dumb and Dumber for exactly that sum, the symbolic gesture had turned into reality.

By the 1990s, he was making $20 million per film.

10. Jay-Z

Brooklyn’s Marcy Projects were where Shawn Carter grew up. Drugs, crime, and scarcity was normal in his childhood. He sold crack as a teenager, but music gave him another outlet. “We were living in a tough situation, but my mother managed; she juggled,” he told Vanity Fair. From rapping on street corners to becoming hip-hop’s first billionaire, Jay-Z embodies self-made success.

11. Leighton Meester

Born while her mother was in prison for drug trafficking, Meester was raised by her grandmother until her mother’s release. She started acting classes as a teen, preferring the adult sessions because, as she explained, “I couldn't relate to kid stuff. 'Jimmy doesn't like me!' Who cares? I was worried we didn't have gas money or food.” The girl who started with no advantages became Blair Waldorf on Gossip Girl.

12. Chris Pratt

Before Marvel, Pratt was living in a van in Hawaii. He described those years to The Independent, “We just drank and smoked weed and worked minimal hours, 15 to 20 hours per week, just enough to cover gas, food and fishing supplies.” That sense of low ambition didn’t last. A chance audition landed him on “Parks and Recreation,” and soon after, in the Marvel universe.

13. Sarah Jessica Parker

Believe it or not, SJP was nothing like her character in Sex and the City. Growing up on Roosevelt Island, Parker’s family often struggled to pay basic bills. “We didn't have electricity sometimes. We didn't have Christmases sometimes, or we didn't have birthdays sometimes,” she told The New York Times. Yet her mother still found ways to expose the kids to theater and ballet. Eventually, she became one of the most well-known actresses of our time.

14. Jane Seymour

Before “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman” made her a household name, Seymour was broke. “I was literally penniless, homeless, owing more money than you can imagine without knowing it,” she recalled to Business Insider. That desperation shifted overnight when she landed the role.

15. Walton Goggins

Goggins arrived in Los Angeles with only $300 in his pocket. He hustled nonstop, working at a health club, selling cowboy boots, even running a valet company. “Along with all of that I was very fortunate to start working as an actor straight away,” he told Business Insider. Those odd jobs eventually gave way to a steady career in film and TV, including The Shield and The Hateful Eight.

16. Jon Hamm

Before “Mad Men,” Hamm had only $5 to his name and was months behind on rent. He later admitted: “At a certain point, I had owed my landlord here in LA about seven or eight months’ worth of back rent that I somehow talked her into being fine with.” That gamble worked and he became Don Draper, earning $250,000 per episode by the end of the series.

17. Glen Powell

You know him as the heartthrob of Anyone But You and Twisters, but landing those roles wasn’t easy. In fact, Powell nearly quit acting during the pandemic when Top Gun: Maverick was delayed. “I was depleting a bank account to a point where my accountant was like, ‘This pandemic cannot last much longer,’” he said. When the film finally premiered, his career, and finances, shifted overnight.

18. Viola Davis

Davis grew up in rat-infested apartments in Rhode Island, often going hungry. She once told Variety, “Although my childhood was filled with many happy memories, it was also spent in abject poverty. I was one of the 17 million kids in this country who didn't know where their next meal was coming from.” Davis is now an EGOT winner.

19. Shania Twain

As one of five kids in Ontario, Twain often went to school hungry. “It's very hard to concentrate when your stomach's rumbling,” she said. The "You're Still The One" singer admitted she didn’t have the courage to ask classmates for food. Music was a dream, but it was also her way out. Today, she’s a country icon.

20. Kelly Clarkson

Before American Idol crowned her its first winner, Clarkson lived paycheck to paycheck in Texas. “We lived prepay check to prepay check,” she told the Dallas Morning News. “Rich people say [money doesn’t buy happiness], not poor people. I don't know one poor person that's going, 'Money doesn't buy happiness.' It pays you to get out of eviction notices." That blunt honesty carries into her music and talk show today.

21. Dolly Parton

Parton’s story is the archetype of rags-to-riches. Born the fourth of twelve children in Tennessee, she grew up in a one-room cabin without running water or electricity. Her parents paid the doctor who delivered her with a sack of cornmeal. Even with fame, she never pretended those roots didn’t shape her. “I'm proud of my hillbilly, white trash background,” she said. “To me, that keeps you humble. That keeps you good. And it doesn't matter how hard you try to outrun it, if that's who you are, that's who you are.” That honesty, paired with her music, made her one of the most beloved entertainers in America.