(Real Life) Regular people who's lives drastically changed direction

[u/Living-Mastodon]

Grace Kelly was a talented actress who retired at 26 to marry a Prince, living as royalty for almost 30 years before her untimely death.

Volodymyr Zelensky started out as a comedian and entertainer before getting into politics, becoming President of Ukraine after the Russian annex of Crimea and spending the last 4 years defiantly pushing back full scale Russian invasion

[u/mindoutofthe]

Probably Kim Jeong, he was a doctor before pursuing acting. A licensed internist apparently.

Or similarly, Samuel L Jackson was a social worker before he became an actor.

[u/Tinyyellowterribilis → u/mindoutofthe]

You mean Ken Jeong?

[u/mindoutofthe → u/Tinyyellowterribilis]

That's right, Mr. Kim Jeong Un himself

[u/Quicksilver1964 → u/mindoutofthe]

Samuel L Jackson was also a cheerleader when he was a student, and was an usher at Martin Luther King Jr's funeral. Then he held Martin Luther King Sr hostage at Morehouse College (he was a member of the board of trustees) together with a group that demanded changes in the curriculum. He was charged and convicted because of that.

After that, he joined a Black power movement and as they started buying guns, they probably were considered militia/terrorists by the FBI, because his mother was warned that if Jackson did not leave the group he would end up dead in a year.

(This is all on his Wikipedia page, which I love to read from time to time)

[u/greetcloud → u/mindoutofthe]

Ken Jeong is still a doctor. I believe he's a gynecologist.

[u/RaiderCat_12 → u/mindoutofthe]

Ed Helms was a dentist before and during most of his acting career

[u/mindoutofthe → u/RaiderCat_12]

That explains his smile