Nurses are the real heroes of the medical profession. They work tirelessly to assist doctors, surgeons, and others who work in medicine, focusing their time and energy on helping patients. It's an admirable job, but it isn't an easy one. And it's actually one that many celebrities held prior to becoming known faces and even, in some cases, during and after.
No, we're not talking about actors who played nurses on television, but ones who actually earned nursing degrees and were practicing nurses before hitting it big in the entertainment business. They all left the profession once their careers took off and they became celebrities. But whether for a short or long period of time, these actors, musicians, and reality stars all worked in hospitals before appearing on screen.
Bonnie Hunt
Known for appearing in massive movie hits like Rain Man, Jumanji, Jerry Maguire (as Laurel Boyd, Dorothy's overprotective sister), The Green Mile, and Cheaper By the Dozen (and its sequel), along with voice work in a number of animated movies like Zootopia and Monsters, Inc., acting wasn't Hunt's first career.
In the early 80s, Hunt worked as an oncology nurse at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. Interestingly, she reportedly auditioned for her role in Rain Man while on her lunch break at work!
Dame Julie Walters
This English actor has been in the business for decades, but her most notable role of late was as Molly Weasley in the Harry Potter movies. She was also in recent hit movies, like Mamma Mia! and Mary Poppins Returns.
Made an official Dame (DBE) in 2017, Walters trained as a student nurse when she was just 18 years old, then worked in the areas of ophthalmic, casualty, and coronary care for a year-and-a-half. She eventually left nursing to pursue her studies in theater, which led to her successful career in acting.
Sonya Eddy
A licensed vocational nurse (LVN), Eddy will always have a career to fall back on should this acting thing not work out. But, so far, it has been going brilliantly for the 53-year-old, who gained fame for her long-running role as Epiphany Johnson on ABC's daytime soap opera General Hospital, one of the longest-running shows ever. On the show, she, ironically, plays a nurse.
Eddy earned the role in 2006 and has been playing the character ever since. She was also a regular cast member on the short-lived prime-time spin-off series General Hospital: Night Shift, which aired from 2007 to 2008.
Adrian Holmes
Originally from Wales, this Welsh-Canadian actor gained fame for appearing in the Bravo series 19-2. But he has had appearances on many series, like Smallville, Arrow, and True Justice, as well as in movies like Red Riding Hood, Elysium, and The Cabin in the Woods.
Holmes attended Langara College in Vancouver, Canada, where he studied nursing. He only did so to appease his mother, who wanted him to have a back-up career plan. He worked in obstetrics, pediatrics, orthopedics, and the spine unit of a local hospital. But it was short-lived, as Holmes knew what his real passion was in life and pursued it. His career in acting took off just as he was finishing his nursing studies.
Jennifer Stone
In addition to acting in various kids' projects, like Wizards of Waverly Place and Harriet the Spy: Blog Wars, Stone was busy studying to become a nurse as well. At 27, she is now both an actor and a registered nurse, confirming that she completed her studies and was given the title back in April 2020, just in time to start helping on the front lines with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Stone, who says she still gets recognized while working as a nurse, reportedly decided to study nursing to help better understand diabetes, a disease that she has herself.
Kate Gosselin
It's tough to imagine Gosselin as anything but the loudmouth mother of sextuplets and twins who became a reality TV sensation in the early 2000s with the series Jon & Kate Plus 8, but she is actually also a registered nurse, who completed her studies in Reading, Pennsylvania, and worked as a labor and delivery nurse.
Gosselin worked for a short time as a labor and delivery nurse in the state. Her ex, Jon Gosselin, recently slammed Kate for not stepping up to help during the COVID-19 pandemic given her training as a nurse, though it's entirely possible that her nursing license has expired, so she would have to re-train in order to do so.
Kim Zolciak-Biermann
One of the original Real Housewives of Atlanta, Zolciak-Biermann, now the wife of football player Kroy Biermann, has made a name for herself in the world of reality TV. In addition to starring in her own spin-off series, Don't Be Tardy for the Wedding, she is also one of many reality stars to have competed on Dancing With the Stars.
She studied nursing at the University of Connecticut and officially got her nursing license in 1999, though it may have lapsed if she never renewed it. Way back in 2010, Zolciak-Biermann demonstrated some of her medical knowledge during an argument on Real Housewives, where she explained why Phaedra could not have been induced at eight months, due to a protein not yet formed in the baby's lungs.
Tina Turner
The recognized Queen of Rock 'n' Roll has many talents in addition to singing, dancing, songwriting, and acting. While her Hollywood career has been long and enduring, she has done other things before that.
When she was a teenager, for example, she worked as a domestic worker. She was a nurse's aide at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and though there are conflicting reports about whether she actually went on to work as a registered nurse as well, whatever her position, she was reportedly working in the hospital during the day and singing in local clubs in St. Louis at night, early on in her career.
Naomi Judd
Judd and her talented daughter Wynonna became famous as The Judds, who had a unique country music styling. But while raising Wynonna and her younger daughter Ashley, who herself went on to become a movie star, Naomi was attending nursing school - all while also being a single mom.
She worked as an ICU nurse before following her true calling and becoming a country singing duo with Wynonna.
Robin Quivers
For many years, Quivers has been going toe-to-toe with the Shock Jock himself, Howard Stern, on The Howard Stern Show. But before this, the radio personality, author, and actor worked in a trauma facility as a nurse. She graduated from the University of Maryland School of Nursing and then worked for an emergency medical services system, taking care of patients in intensive care. She then went on to use those skills in the United States Air Force, where she worked as a military nurse.
After returning to Baltimore, Quivers studied broadcasting, while also working in a hospital, before leaving that career behind to pursue one exclusively in entertainment.