13 Stars That You Didn’t Know Were Strippers

Back when he was bumming around Hawaii, Chris Pratt worked as a dancer for bachelorette parties. It’s hard to imagine anything more fun than having Andy Dwyer step in the door with a big grin to get the party started. Of course, he gave it up before meeting his wife Anna Faris, but it’s only a matter of time before he busts out some moves on the red carpet. We hope.

The “Bad Romance” singer has dabbled in every other type of performance, so why not add her to the list? Despite coming from a wealthy family, she was drawn to the job, and she’s gone on record as saying, ““My act was pretty wild. I’d wear black leather and dance to Black Sabbath, Guns N’ Roses and Faith No More. Very rock ‘n’ roll.”

Another poorly-kept secret was that the Magic Mike star had some firsthand experience with the film’s subject matter. And while that doesn’t make him stand out on this list, what does is that there’s actual footage of him stripping. Here it is.

Considering Amber Rose has made a career out of being provocative with her body, this seems logical. But starting at the young age of 15 in the Bronx? That’s pretty creepy.

The domestic dad and box office megastar put his looks to use back in his college days. ALLEGEDLY, he was a member of a male dance troupe called the “Dancing Bares,” which is a terrific name for a group of strippers. He hasn’t spoken much about his dancing past, but he has spoken openly about his work driving strippers to and from gigs before getting his break, so it’s not THAT big a leap to imagine him getting onstage.

Yup. Before (way before) he got his huge break as sociopathic killer Anton Chigurh in No Country For Old Men, Bardem rode the pole to make some extra cash. The star’s dalliance with stripping lasted only for ten minutes, and his mom was in the crowd, which is a little weird. But it got him to where he is today, and even at the time, “She was so proud.”

Another acting icon makes the list. Zeta-Jones hasn’t said much of her time dancing, but she has admitted she performed for a very “Hollywood” cause: to pay for a nose job. It would be cliche if it wasn’t true.

Diablo Cody’s past a stripper was pretty well covered as the big human interest story of the 80th Academy Awards, back in 2008. Before she rose to fame with her Oscar-winning Juno script, Diablo Cody worked as a “feminist stripper” in Minneapolis after trying her hand on an amateur striptease night. She had fun doing it, and it turned into more than a hobby to finance her writing.

No huge surprise here! Carmen Electra, who now licenses her name to strip aerobics gear, took to the pole before getting her break in 1997 on Baywatch. In fact, back in 1991, stripping is what caused a young Tara Leigh Patrick to adopt the much more evocative name Carmen Electra.

It probably won’t surprise many that a reality star or two used to take their clothes off for money. And it will probably surprise NO ONE that one such star was the Jersey Shore’s oft-shirtless Mike Sorentino, better known as The Situation. He was a member of the All American Male dance crew back in 2004 before getting the call to MTV.

He might be married to Kelly Ripa now, but soap star Mark Consuelos has a much wilder past than you would believe. The actor did it to pay bills in Hollywood while looking for his break. And Kelly’s made her peace with it, saying, “A lot of hot guys in Hollywood have done that.” If she’s cool with it, we’re not ones to judge.

Duh. Did anyone think otherwise? She’s a porn star now, so she seems to be getting more risque with her increasing “celebrity.”

The Hole singer and Kurt Cobain widow worked as a stripper to save up enough money to start Hole. I suppose that was a pretty good investment of her time given how things have worked out.