Several actresses and singers worked in restaurants while pursuing entertainment careers, but their jobs were not all the same: the accounts include waitressing, cocktail service, and serving at a named fast-food venue. Here are ten women whose reported food-service work is supported by the sources, with the role and evidence kept clear.
Ten celebrities and the restaurant jobs they held
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Jennifer Aniston — waitress
Aniston has spoken about waiting tables and described herself as an imperfect but personable server. In a recollection quoted by Us Weekly, she said, “I wasn’t a good waitress, but I was told that I was very nice and charming, so people liked me anyway.” In a separate Q&A transcript, she said she enjoyed interacting with customers and liked food. The interview transcript preserves that account.
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Julianne Moore — waitress
Moore described herself as a good waitress in a recollection reported by Us Weekly: “I’m a worker, I was a good waitress, because if you ask me to do a job, I’ll do it, no matter what it is.” The Daily Meal also reports that she waitressed while auditioning, but does not establish a specific venue or precise dates.
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Nicki Minaj — Red Lobster waitress
Minaj has recounted working at Red Lobster and being fired. Us Weekly reports her account and quotes her saying that customer service was not a good fit. The anecdote identifies the restaurant, but the available account does not supply a detailed timeline.
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Sandra Bullock — cocktail waitress
Bullock is reported to have worked as a cocktail waitress. The clearest role distinction comes from fellow actress Jennifer Coolidge, who recalled working at the same restaurant: “She was actually the hostess and I was the cocktail waitress. She ended up getting my shifts because I had such bad attendance.” Us Weekly reports Coolidge’s recollection; The Daily Meal also describes Bullock’s restaurant work.
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Eva Mendes — server at Hot Dog on a Stick
Us Weekly identifies Mendes as a server at Hot Dog on a Stick. “Server” is the supported description; the cited account does not specify that she waited tables in the narrower sense.
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Kristen Wiig — waitress at the Universal Studios refectory
Wiig worked as a waitress in the Universal Studios refectory. The Guardian’s profile recounts that she served Cobb salad to actors she later encountered in her career. As Us Weekly reproduces her memory: “And then I’ll remember: oh yeah, I used to serve you Cobb salad,”
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Mariah Carey — waitress in New York
Carey worked as a waitress after moving to New York while writing songs, according to Us Weekly, which attributes the recollection to her reality series. Carey described that period this way: “I lived like on a mattress on the floor, and I was writing my songs and being a horrible waitress,”
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Naya Rivera — Hooters employee
Rivera discussed working at Hooters and her feelings about wearing the restaurant’s uniform in an interview with Allure. The interview supports that she worked there, but does not establish her exact service duties, so “Hooters employee” is more precise than assigning her a specific waiting role.
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Marisa Tomei — reported waitress at Tony Roma’s
The Daily Meal reports that Tomei waited tables at a Tony Roma’s location in Brooklyn. That venue detail comes from a secondary roundup rather than a first-person recollection in the sources cited here.
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Renée Zellweger — reported cocktail waitress
The Daily Meal describes Zellweger as a cocktail waitress in Austin. The cited roundup does not establish exact dates or a specific venue.
Why the job titles matter
“Waitress” is not a catch-all for every restaurant job. Bullock’s reported cocktail-waitress work is distinct from Coolidge’s hostess role; Mendes is described as a server; Rivera’s interview establishes work at Hooters without spelling out her duties. Those distinctions make the list more accurate than treating every food-service job as waiting tables.
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Two often-mentioned names do not fit the list on the available evidence. Us Weekly quotes Coolidge as saying she was a hostess, not a waitress. Madonna’s reported job at Dunkin’ Donuts was behind the counter, according to The Daily Meal and The Economic Times; that does not establish waitressing.
What these accounts establish—and what they do not
The strongest personal detail comes from people describing their own work or from a colleague’s direct recollection. Other entries rely on secondary roundups, which support a reported job but provide less detail. The accounts do not give a uniform timeline for all ten, so “before they were famous” should be read as a description of these early or pre-recognition jobs where the source supports it—not as a precise, documented date for every career.
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