When you look at movie stars walking red carpets and collecting awards, it’s easy to assume they’ve always lived charmed lives. The reality is often a lot messier. Their journeys prove that success doesn’t always come from a perfect start. Here are 21 actors who overcame incredibly difficult childhoods before finding fame.

Discover 25 television performers who started in completely different professions before finding fame, from doctors and firefighters to teachers, athletes, bodyguards, and even an NSA employee.

Werner Klemperer made a career of ridiculing the people who forced his family to flee their homeland.

From the moment she was born, Lana Turner was a magnet for tragedy: She had a heartbreaking childhood, slept with awful men, lost her babies, and even more dire brushes with death. But it gets worse. Living a real-life horror story, her darkest moments led her straight to the most disturbing scandal imaginable.

When brooding folk-rocker James Taylor appeared on The Simpsons, they jokingly referred to him as the “Mild Man of Rock”. Well, when it comes to his personal life, you might wanna grab a glass of milk because it’s burn-your-face-off spicy. In 1980, Taylor and John Lennon were almost Manhattan neighbors. Just the day before Lennon’s demise, Taylor had a spine-chilling encounter with the man who would assassinate his dear friend.