Hollywood Artists Turned Entrepreneurs

The most famous movie industry in the entire world, Hollywood, was founded in the early 20th century.  Considered the oldest film industry, Hollywood produces over 700 movies a year. With a history spanning more than a century, this industry has created many famous artists.  In this plethora of artists, there are a few who took their career into their own hands and built a business empire with their creativity and hard work.

Let’s check out some artists turned entrepreneurs who set an example for all of us by growing their career in their own way.

1)Ashton Kutcher (Co founder, A Plus)

Known for his roles in That ’70s Show, Dude, Where’s My Car? and Two and a Half Men, this American actor is also the Chairman of the Board at A Plus, a digital media company.  Co founded by Kutcher along with Evan Beard and Kendall Dabaghi, the Company produces original social content, with a focus on positive journalism.  With an Alexa ranking of 26,655 the site gets approximately 50 million monthly visitors. Along with A Plus, Kutcher also invested in many high technology startups like ResearchGate and Zenreach.

2)Melisa McCarthy (Founder, Seven7)

This Academy Award nominee actress and comedian is also a business owner.  Using her degree in textiles and interest in fashion, she launched her own fashion line called Seven7 in 2015.  Started with an intention to include clothing for all, including plus size women, the collection ranges from size 4 to 28 and is currently available at stores like Macy’s and Nordstrom.  Apart from owning a fashion line, Melissa McCarthy also founded a production house with her husband Ben Falcone.

3)Dr. Dre (Co founder, Beats Electronics)

This American rapper is well known for his music as well as for creating headphones which took the world by storm.  Dr. Dre is the founder and CEO of Beats Electronics, which creates brightly colored headphones that caught on as a worldwide trend.  Named Beats By Dr. Dre, the Company’s main focus is on headphones and speakers. After the massive success of the headphones, Dr. Dre, along with co founder Jimmy Lovine, sold Beats to Apple for a whopping 3 billion USD.

4)Jessica Alba (Co founder, The Honest Company)

Jessica Alba became a successful businesswoman after founding The Honest Company.  The startup’s main focus is on creating products in an organic way and it produces over 100 non toxic products, ranging from diapers and shampoos to makeup.  In 2017, the Company was valued at 1.7 billion USD, with 250 million USD sales. With Alba’s net worth valued at 350 million USD, it is safe to say, the Company is a massive success.

5)Rainn Wilson (Founder, SoulPancake)

Actor Rainn Wilson, notably known for his role of Dwight in the massively hit sitcom The Office, founded a Los Angeles based media company called SoulPancake. With over 2 million subscribers and 700 million video views, the tagline of the Company is “We make stuff that matters.”  The Company was listed in Fast Company’s “10 Most Innovative Companies in Video” in 2015. With a vision to create better content, SoulPancake is constantly growing, with a net worth of 1.9 million USD in July 2019.

As the artists in this selection show, there are a lot of ways to build your own business and the world is filled with lots of ideas to get you started.  With the right decisions and hard work, you can grow to become an entrepreneur.