10 Successful Famous People Who Failed Before Their Big Break

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It’s hard to believe that the undisputed talk show queen was once told that she wasn’t meant to be on TV. Winfrey was fired from her news anchor job at the age of 22 because she was “too emotionally involved with the stories” (she would often be seen crying while reporting tragic news). She landed on her feet and went on to do morning TV, which led to an offer for her own show, and you know the rest. The Oprah Winfrey Show ended in 2011 after 25 years on the air, but Winfrey couldn’t stay away from entertainment. She developed her “OWN” channel, where she continues to call the shots, in addition to acting, running O, The Oprah Magazine, and other endeavors. 

Getting rejected by your dream school is heartbreaking, but getting rejected by the same school three times is just plain cruel, as was the case with Spielberg, the three-time Academy Award-winning director responsible for blockbusters like Jaws and E.T. The University of Southern California turned him away from its film school because of his “poor” C average. Didn’t they know that C’s get degrees? Eventually, Spielberg made nice with the university and received an honorary degree. He also has a building named after him at the university, so he got the last laugh. 

Before getting to where she is today, J.K. Rowling quite literally started from the bottom. She was a divorced single mother living on welfare when she penned the first Harry Potter, a book that would kick-start one of the world’s biggest pop culture phenomena of recent decades. Now that Rowling has finished the Harry Potter series, she’s gone on to write other books, occasionally treating fans by revisiting the world of Harry Potter and writing short stories. 

Queen Bey wasn’t always the perfect human being that she is today, as she let everyone know in her “Flawless” video. It shows Bey and her group, Girl’s Tyme, on “Star Search” (the American Idol of those days) losing in ’93 to a group called Skeleton Crew. She didn’t let failing on national television end her musical ambitions though, and she eventually went on to form one of the biggest girl groups of its time, Destiny’s Child, before launching her own successful solo career. Needless to say she has solidified herself as one of the greatest entertainers of all time.

Steve Jobs may have co-founded Apple, but that didn’t stop him from being fired from his own company in 1985 after some turmoil with company executives. Call him the comeback kid, because when Jobs returned to the company years later, he brought a new creative zest that led to Apple’s biggest products, including the iPod, iPhone, and iPad. One could argue that Jobs single-handedly changed life as we know it. Jobs passed away in 2011 from pancreatic cancer, leaving a legacy that will be remembered for generations to come.

Even if you’re not a sports fan you still know who Michael Jordan is. Jordan has been lauded as one of the most talented athletes ever, and arguably the greatest basketball player of all time. He rightfully earned this praise by winning six championship titles with the Chicago Bulls. And yet, in high school, Jordan was cut from the varsity basketball team. It is important to note, however, that this unfathomable decision was debunked a few years ago when the coach who had “cut” the then sophomore Jordan came out and said he wasn’t actually cut, but merely demoted to JV, where it would be much more likely for an underclassman to play. Still, it makes for a good origin story. 

Fashion designer Vera Wang owes her career to figure skating. You see, Wang was a professional figure skater in her youth, but at the age of 19 she failed to make the U.S. Olympic figure skating team. It was then that she turned to fashion. Wang went from working at an Yves Saint Laurent store to working for Vogue as an assistant. She then quickly became Senior Fashion Editor. Wang suffered another setback when she didn’t get the Editor-in-chief position, which made her leave for Ralph Lauren. Two years after that she decided to design wedding gowns, expanding her brand over time. Looks like, in Wang’s case, you can say that it took two failures before she could come out on top.

Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft and the richest man in the world (currently valued at $76 billion) also flopped before he struck it big. Gates’ first business venture was with Traf-O-Data, a product that read and processed the data in traffic tapes, which was a bust. The product didn’t work when Gates and his partner, Paul Allen, went to sell it. The two men learned from the experience and were savvier when it came to founding Microsoft. The software company has slipped some, but continues to dominate certain sectors of the market even today. 

The word “Einstein” has become synonymous with genius, making it all the more surprising that Albert Einstein seemed far from that at a young age. He was slow to start speaking, and as he grew older, he often found himself at odds with school administrators. It wouldn’t be until much later on in his life that Einstein would formulate the theory of general relativity and go on to win the prestigious Nobel Prize. 

Babe Ruth is one of the most mythologized figures in America’s favorite pastime, but he came with the goods to back it up. His wasn’t a story of failure followed by success so much as a combination of both. Ruth started his baseball career with the Boston Red Sox as a pitcher, winning three World Series with them over five years before he was infamously traded to a rival team, the New York Yankees. Ruth’s star only grew brighter when he came to New York, where he broke several batting records and won four World Series titles at the peak of his career. So how exactly did he fail? Despite setting records as a home run hitter, he also led the American League in strikeouts five different times in his career. He believed that every strike meant that he was one step closer to a home run, exemplifying the idea of trial and error.