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Sylvester Stallone -

Part of his early education saw Sylvester Stallone attend the American College of Switzerland. While studying, he taught gym class to earn a little extra cash.

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Sting -

It was while teaching at St Paul's First School at Cramlington in northern England that Police front man Gordon Sumner fully embraced his nickname "Sting"—a reference to the yellow and black striped sweaters he often wore as a kid.

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Steve Wozniak -

Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, in fact took up teaching after he'd left Apple in the early 1980s. He ended up imparting his unique knowledge of computers to elementary students. He even taught other teachers.

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Liam Neeson -

Liam Neeson attended a teacher training course for two years at St Mary's College in Fenham, Newcastle, with the idea of a career in the classroom. That was before he punched a student for misbehaving! His lesson learned, Neeson instead turned to acting.

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Jon Hamm -

After graduating, 'Mad Men' actor Jon Hamm accepted a teaching job at the high school he once attended, the John Burroughs School in St. Louis, Missouri. He taught drama. Remarkably, one of his students herself became a future celebrity—Ellie Kemper! The two went on to star together in 'Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.'

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Jesse Williams -

Actor Jesse Williams, who played Dr. Jackson Avery on the ABC medical drama 'Grey's Anatomy' (2009–22), taught American Studies, African Studies, and English for six years in the Philadelphia public school system, believing he'd found his vocation. In 2005, however, he began to study acting and left the classroom for stardom.

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Barack Obama -

Prior to politics, Barack Obama spent 12 years teaching constitutional law and race theory at the University of Chicago Law School. He was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017.

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Sheryl Crow -

In 1984, armed with a B.S.Ed. degree in music education from the University of Missouri, Cheryl Crow began running music classes for children with special needs. She taught for two years before relocating to LA and finding fame.

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Billy Crystal -

Actor and comedian Billy Crystal's first audience was a classroom of students at a school in Long Island. He worked as a substitute teacher to earn money while pursuing a career on a different stage.

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Jimmy Carter -

Jimmy Carter, the 39th president of the United States, actually took up teaching Sunday school at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia, after he left the Oval Office.

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Lin-Manuel Miranda -

Early on in his career, Lin-Manuel Miranda taught English at his old high school, Hunter College High School. It was here that Miranda wrote an early draft of the Broadway musical 'In the Heights.' It was nominated for 13 Tony Awards and won four, including Best Musical.

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Alexander Graham Bell -

The Scottish-born inventor was inspired to create the telephone after working as a teacher for the deaf at various schools and institutions.

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Andy Griffith -

Before becoming a household name in American television entertainment in the 1950s and '60s, actor Andy Griffith taught music and drama at Goldsboro High School in North Carolina.

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Lyndon B. Johnson -

For nine months, from 1928 to 1929, Lyndon B. Johnson paused his studies at Southwest Texas State Teachers College to teach Mexican–American children at the segregated Welhausen School in Cotulla, south of San Antonio. Johnson later became the 36th president of the United States.

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John Adams -

John Adams, who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801, was a teacher at the Central School of Worcester, before boredom set in and a career either as a lawyer or as a minister beckoned. The American Revolution, though, changed everything.

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Dan Brown -

'The Da Vinci Code' author once had ideas on becoming a musician. To support himself, he taught English at his alma mater Phillips Exeter, and gave Spanish classes to sixth, seventh, and eighth graders at Lincoln Akerman School in Hampton Falls.

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Kris Kristofferson -

While in the US Army, Kris Kristofferson was given an assignment to teach English literature at the prestigious West Point military academy. He barely made it into the classroom before turning the position down, and in fact leaving the Army to pursue songwriting. 

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Art Garfunkel -

Few realize that Art Garfunkel is an accomplished mathematician (he holds an MA in mathematics education from Teachers College, Columbia University). Even at the height of Simon & Garfunkel's success, he found time to teach math and was in fact doing just that, at the Litchfield Preparatory School in Connecticut, when 'Bridge Over Troubled Water' topped the charts in 1970.

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Mayim Bialik -

Known for playing neuroscientist Amy Farrah Fowler on the CBS sitcom 'The Big Bang Theory' (2007–2019), Mayim Bialik actually holds a Bachelor of Science degree in neuroscience. She taught college-level biology, chemistry, and neuroscience classes during a break from acting. She stepped away from the small screen a second time to earn her Doctor of Philosophy degree in neuroscience from UCLA.

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Gene Simmons -

Gene Simmons of Kiss is unlikely teacher material. But the rocker once taught general studies to sixth grade kids at a middle school in Harlem.

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Mr. T -

Laurence Tureaud, better known as Mr. T, once worked as a gym teacher at the Paul Laurence Dunbar Vocational Career Academy in Chicago. But he ultimately found success as a professional wrestler and actor in the 1980s.

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George Orwell -

Long before 'Animal Farm' (1945) and 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' (1949), Eric Arthur Blair, better known by his pen name George Orwell, was a teacher at Hawthorns High School for boys in Hayes, West London. During his tenure Blair wrote 'A Scullion's Diary,' his famous record of his experiences in the late 1920s when he lived among the tramps and plongeurs of London and Paris (published in 1933 as 'Down and Out in Paris and London').

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Stephen King -

In 1971 while teaching at Hampden Academy in Hampden, Maine, Stephen King began contributing short stories to magazines and worked on ideas for novels. King's 1973 novel 'Carrie' was the first to be published, though it was not the first he'd written.

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Brian May -

Brian May holds a PhD in astrophysics from Imperial College London. In early life, he taught math at Stockwell Manor School in Brixton during the day, while at he night appeared on stage with his band Smile, which also featured drummer Roger Taylor. Both went on to become founding members of Queen.

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Gabriel Byrne -

Before becoming an actor, Irishman Gabriel Byrne had several jobs, among them as a Spanish and history school teacher at Ardscoil Éanna in Crumlin.

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Hilary Clinton -

In the mid-1970s, Hilary Rodham taught criminal law at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. She'd ended up in Fayetteville after following her future husband, Bill Clinton, there.

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Maya Angelou -

Best known for her 1969 autobiography 'I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,' American memoirist, poet, and civil rights activist Maya Angelou taught a variety of subjects including philosophy, ethics, theology, science, theater, and writing at Wake Forest University in North Carolina from 1982 to 2011.

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J.K. Rowling -

J.K. Rowling was teaching English as a foreign language at a school in Porto, Portugal, when the idea of a young wizard called Harry Potter started to overwhelm her imagination. Early drafts of 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone' were scribbled down on notepaper during coffee breaks between lessons.

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Robert Frost -

During his early literary career, celebrated American poet Robert Frost taught English at the Pinkerton Academy in Derry, New Hampshire, and later at the New Hampshire Normal School (now Plymouth State University) in Plymouth.

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Roberta Flack -

Critically acclaimed singer and songwriter Roberta Flack, best known for hits such as 'The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,' and 'Killing Me Softly with His Song,' once taught English and music in Farmville, North Carolina.

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Sir William Golding -

British novelist, playwright, and Nobel laureate William Golding, especially known for his 1954 novel 'Lord of the Flies,' previously taught English and philosophy in Salisbury, England.

Sources: (Teach For America)

See also: Surprising facts about all 46 US presidents

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