Jennifer Lawrence
At age 14, she convinced her parents to take her to New York to find an agent. She finished high school, with excellent grades, at Kammerer Middle School before making her acting debut, aged 16, on the series 'The Bill Engvall Show'. She has no higher education and never needed to take classes as an actress.
Tom Cruise
He grew up in a humble family in the shadow of an alcoholic and abusive father. He went through 15 different schools in his first 14 years of life. Despite his current status as head of the Church of Scientology, as a teenager he entered a seminary with the goal of becoming a Catholic priest.
His first role in the cinema, already 28 years old, was in 1981, in the film 'Amor sin fin', by Franco Zeffirelli.
Brad Pitt
Two weeks after graduating as a Journalist at the University of Missouri, he left everything and with $325 in his pocket, he took the car and went to try his luck in Hollywood. The first job he found was at a McDonald's, but he soon answered an ad to work as an extra in a movie. He was lucky, and there began his career as an actor.
Joaquin phoenix
Together with his four brothers, he spent his childhood singing and playing instruments in the streets, and in various talent shows, to get food and money for his family. When his mother started working as a secretary at NBC, one of Hollywood's top agents, Iris Burton, discovered the talent of the kids, who began to appear in various commercials and television programs.
His first jobs as an actor were under the auspices of his brother River Phoenix and under the name of Leaf Phoenix in the early 1980s. His death in 1993 kept him out of the limelight.
Christian Bale
A somewhat stormy childhood caused him to abandon his studies at the age of 16. He lived in Wales, England and Portugal before making his acting debut in an advertisement for Lenor fabric softener in 1982, at the age of 8. Two years later he worked in his first theatrical performance, alongside Rowan Atkinson, in a performance of Larry Shue's 'The Nerd'.
