Ellen Degeneres was an oyster shucker, Rachel McAdams worked at McDonalds and Sylvester Stallone cleaned lion cages: The stars who made extreme career changes

Whether it's flipping burgers to pay your way through college or waiting tables right out of school, most of us will have worked jobs that weren't exactly on our planned career paths.

And this goes for celebrities too. Big names such as Megan Fox, David Letterman and Whoopi Goldberg have taken on roles that include dressing up as a banana and presenting the weather to putting makeup on dead people.

Here, we take a look at the celebrities who made some of the most interesting and surprising of these extreme career changes.

Ellen DeGeneres: Oyster shucker

She's one of America's most loved talk show hosts, but before Ellen DeGeneres found success as a comedian she worked a number of menial jobs, including a stint as an oyster shucker.

While living in New Orleans after graduating high school in the 1980s, the Emmy-award winner, now 57, brought in cash by breaking open oyster shells with a knife.

Odd jobs: Talk show host Ellen DeGeneres, pictured at the Rockefeller Center in New York in September, worked in various low-paid roles after graduating high school, including a stint as an oyster shucker

In Lisa Iannucci's book Ellen DeGeneres: A Biography, the comedian is quoted as saying: 'When you live in New Orleans, you're bound to be an oyster shucker, aren't ya?'

Around the same time, DeGeneres also worked other low-paid jobs such as painting houses, selling vacuum cleaners and serving food at TGI Fridays.

But after her big break when she was invited to appear on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show in 1986, the comedian went on to star in the popular sitcom Ellen and host her own talk show, as well as hosting the Academy Awards, Grammys, and the Primetime Emmys .

Sylvester Stallone: Lion cage cleaner

While trying to make it as an actor in New York City, Sylvester Stallone took on a variety of odd jobs including a spell as a lion cage cleaner at Central Park Zoo.

The famous tough guy, now 69, had a difficult start in life, and during a troubled childhood he was expelled from numerous schools as he was shifted between various homes.

Tough guy: Sylvester Stallone, pictured during Comic-Con International 2013 in San Diego, earned international recognition playing Rocky, but he once earned money working at Central Park Zoo

Stallone landed the odd role on stage after moving to Manhattan, but he was forced to take on various menial jobs to pay his way. As well as the stint cleaning lion cages, he is reported to have worked as an usher and even made an appearance in an adult movie.

But after playing the title role in his own screenplay Rocky, which won the Academy Award in 1976 for Best Picture, Stallone went on to take Hollywood by storm, earning worldwide recognition as an actor, writer and director. 

Whoopi Goldberg: Mortuary beautician

Before she became an Oscar-winning actress, Whoopi Goldberg brought in a wage as a mortuary beautician.

'I did hair and makeup on dead people,' she said on Oprah's Master Class. 'There was an ad in the paper. And I'm a licensed beautician as well, because I went to beauty school.

Spooky: Before she was famous, Oscar-winning actress Whoopi Goldberg, pictured at Variety's Power of Women Luncheon in New York earlier this year, worked as a beautician putting makeup on dead people

'It's a rough gig I think. You have to be a certain kind of person. And you have to love people in order to make them worthy of a great send-off.'

And the job definitely came with a few quirks. Goldberg, now 60, relates a creepy incident in which her boss played a terrifying prank on her.

She describes how she heard a creaking from one of the drawers as she waited in the chilly room where she worked. 

'As I start to look around, I see that one of the drawers is moving - and it's moving out, it's opening,' she said.

It was her boss in the drawer who sat up and said hello, but not before Goldberg had run from the room, knocking herself out on the door in the process.

Goldberg, who said the incident actually helped her to adapt to life in the spooky workplace, added: 'He said, "Now, the worst thing that you could imagine has happened. That's it. That's the worst thing that can happen. It's already happened... You still want to work?"'

Hugh Jackman: Party clown

Long before he starred as Wolverine in X-Men, Hugh Jackman worked as a birthday party clown – but he wasn't a very good one.

'I am really bad at magic. I, in fact, used to be a clown at kid's parties,' Jackman confessed to In The News, as reported by The Daily Beast.

Funny: Hugh Jackman, pictured prior to his star ceremony on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2013 (left), once worked as a party clown and posted a picture of himself doing this job on Twitter (right) on August 20 this year

'I was Coco the Clown and I had no magic tricks, and I remember a six-year-old standing up at a party saying, "Mummy this clown is terrible, he doesn't know any tricks" - and he was right.'

Luckily for Jackman, the job was short-lived. The Australian hunk, now 49, went on to enjoy a long-running role in the X-Men series, as well starring in movies including Van Helsing, Australia, Les Misérables and Prisoners.

And the star was given a second chance at proving his magic skills when he took on the role of celebrated magician Robert Angier in the 2006 Christopher Nolan film The Prestige.

Rachel McAdams: McDonald's server

She's now an international movie star with starring roles in films including The Notebook, Mean Girls and Wedding Crashers. But back when she was 16, Rachel McAdams made her money serving burgers and fries at McDonald's.

In a 2003 interview with Glamour, the Canadian actress, now 37, revealed that she worked at the fast food chain in her hometown of St. Thomas, Ontario, for three years while directing kids' theater

Fast food: Rachel McAdams, pictured during the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival in September, revealed that her first job was working at a McDonald's in her hometown of St. Thomas, Ontario

She told the magazine that it was 'a great place to work', before adding that she wasn't the best employee and once broke the orange juice machine.

McAdams also told the magazine that she had 'a little bit of an OCD thing with hand washing and just didn't have time'.

She added: 'They were like, "Hey, the drive-through's backing up. Stop washing your hands!"' 

Harrison Ford: Carpenter

Before rising to fame as swashbuckling hero Han Solo in the Star Wars franchise, Harrison Ford had already forged a successful career making cabinets.

A behind-the-scenes book revealed how Ford was employed full-time as a carpenter when the 1977 American epic was cast - and only got his big break when he arrived at the film studio to fix a door.

Day job: Harrison Ford, pictured in Los Angeles earlier this month, was employed full-time as a carpenter when the first Star Wars was cast - and only got his big break when he arrived at the film studio to fix a door

How Star Wars Conquered the Universe explains how George Lucas initially chose Ford for the part, but changed his mind and plumped for Oscar-winning actor Christopher Walken instead.

Harrison went back to working his day job as a carpenter, but when he returned to the studio with tools in hand Lucas decided that he was the right person for the part.

Harrison went on to Hollywood stardom as Han Solo, as well as the title character of the Indiana Jones film saga, and roles in movies including Blade Runner, Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger. 

Megan Fox: Banana mascot

In 2012, Megan Fox revealed to the Ellen Show that before she became an actress and model her only 'real job' was working in a small smoothie shop in Florida, where she would sometimes dress up as a banana.

Although Fox usually worked behind the cash register, once a week one of the members of staff would dress up as a piece of fruit and stand by the highway – and when it was Fox's turn she would dress as a giant banana.

Dress up: Actress and model Megan Fox, pictured at the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles New York premiere last year, once worked at a smoothie shop in Florida where she sometimes wore a banana costume

She told Ellen: 'It was weird and what was bad about it was that your face wasn't hidden. There was a thing cut out for where your face [was].'

Fortunately for Fox, now 29, her time as a banana mascot was limited, and the actress went on to carve a successful Hollywood career, with roles in hits including Transformers, Friends with Kids and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

David Letterman: Weatherman

Legendary talk show host David Letterman began his on-camera career at an Indianapolis television station where he worked as a weathercaster and anchor from the age of 28.

The former Late Night and Late Show host, now 68, made a name for himself during his time at the WLWI station (now called WTHR) thanks to his unpredictable comedic antics on-air.

Comic: David Letterman, pictured at the Little Kids Rock Benefit in New York in October, made a name for himself during his time as a weatherman thanks to his unpredictable antics on-air

These included citing fictional cities in his forecasts, congratulating a tropical storm for being upgraded to a hurricane, and predicting that an impending storm could potentially produce hailstones 'the size of canned hams'.

But in 1975, Letterman moved to Los Angeles to write for sitcoms and made his big break appearing on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, before being offered his own daytime show in 1980.

The David Letterman Show lasted just three months, but this was enough to convince NBC to give the comedian a late-night show, where he stayed until moving to CBS in 1993.