7 Celebrities Who Once Worked at a Disney Park
Disney parks aren't just some of the happiest places on Earth, they're also where a handful of Hollywood stars got their start in the entertainment business.
From playing a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle to suiting up in a Tigger costume, these future Oscar winners and Grammy nominees cut their teeth working at Disneyland or Disney World, and we've got the photos to prove it.
Scroll down to see and read about their fun experiences for yourself!
Kevin Richardson
Later known for being one of the founding members of the Backstreet Boys, Kevin Richardson used to be a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle at Disneyland, and, as you can see from the epic photo below, sometimes played the role of Aladdin as well.
@AmyK_Richardson Aw, let Aladdin comfort you pic.twitter.com/bw6OSK6g35
— Kevin Richardson (@kevinrichardson) February 18, 2015
Taye Diggs
Before making it big in Broadway productions like Rent and in movies such as How Stella Got Her Groove Back, actor Taye Diggs had a role in a cabaret show called Sebastian's Caribbean Carnival at Tokyo Disneyland.
"I went over there and had amazing experiences, made really great friends, saved a bunch of money, and had a really great time," he said of the experience in 2006. "Sebastian's Caribbean Carnival was pretty hilarious. There were costumes and a number of Japanese dancers, puppets, characters, and the whole bit. It was what everybody did there, so nobody really felt that stupid."
Wayne Brady
Before he was making viewers laugh on Whose Line Is It Anyway?, Wayne Brady got his start in the entertainment biz by playing a well-known character at Disney World.
"I worked at Disney when I was 16 as a character. I was Tigger," he said in a 2011 interview, noting that after his stint as Pooh's striped pal, he went on to do theater and improv in Orlando before making the jump to Hollywood.
Steve Martin
In 1955, when actor Steve Martin was just 10 years old, he sold guidebooks at the newly-opened Disneyland on the weekends. The Pink Panther actor also twirled lassos in Frontierland and demonstrated magic tricks and balloon animal-making for the following three years at the old Merlin's Magic Shop in Fantasyland.
"I knew every nook and cranny of the shop," he has said.
Steve Martin's first job was at Disneyland, selling guidebooks on weekends and full-time during the school's summer break. That lasted for three years (1955–1958).#SteveMartin #Disneyland @disney @disneyland @SteveMartinToGo pic.twitter.com/AsfpVKEb8W
— Dennis DePew (@DennisDePew) July 2, 2018
Michelle Pfeiffer
The Maleficent 2 actress, who plays Queen Ingrith in the upcoming Disney film, put her blonde hair to good use and played the pivotal role of Alice in Alice in Wonderland in the main street parade at Disneyland back in the mid-'70s.
Teri Garr
Friends fans know Teri Garr as Phoebe Buffay's absent mom, but before she was gifting Pheebs with a fur coat heirloom that belonged to her birth grandmother, Garr played the Statue of Liberty (on roller skates, no less) in Disney's Summer Spectacular show in 1970.
The actress has said of the experience, "I carried a torch that spewed confetti or Ping-Pong balls."
Kevin Costner
The California native worked on the Disneyland Jungle Cruise as a skipper before becoming one of the biggest Hollywood heavyweights of the '80s and '90s. In fact, the Field of Dreams star met his first wife, Cindy Silva, at the Anaheim park when she was working as Snow White.
When a reporter once asked Costner where he found the guts to ask Snow White for a date, he replied, "Easy. I was her Prince Charming."
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