10 celebrities turned entrepreneur

It’s not that Hollywood celebrities turned entrepreneur such as Gwyneth Paltrow, Robert De Niro and Ryan Reynolds exactly need a side hustle to bolster their flagging careers. One of De Niro’s most recent movies, The Irishman, was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar, while Reynolds stars in the blockbuster Deadpool superhero franchise.

But it maybe that just saying other people’s lines gets tedious and they need something more challenging to occupy their busy minds – a lot of acting involves waiting around for movie projects to get going, which is why so many actors spend a lot of time on the golf course.

And the amounts of money these stars have made through their business ventures is staggering. Actress Jessica Alba was called AMERICA’S RICHEST SELF-MADE WOMAN by Forbes magazine and her The Honest Company infant products company was valued at $1.4bn when it floated in New York this year

Gwyneth Paltrow has built her wellness brand Goop into a business reportedly worth $250m by early 2020

Rapper 50 Cent was estimated to have personally made $60-100m after Coca-Cola bought the Vitaminwater brand he invested in for $4.1bn

Drinks giant Diageo bought the Ryan Reynolds-backed Aviation Gin for $610m with Reynolds agreeing to stay on as the face of the gin brand.

Most of the stars listed here have become entrepreneurs in food and drink, such as Michael Caine co-owning in-crowd restaurant Langan’s Brasserie in the Eighties or fellow British actress Jane Asher opening her eponymous cake bakery in the Nineties.

The trailblazer for actors getting into the food business was Paul Newman, whose Newman’s Own range of salad dressings are famously not for profit, and whose posthumous business has laudably donated over $566m to charity to date.

The outliers in our list are R&B sensation Rihanna, whose Fenty lines of cosmetics and saucy underwear may eventually eclipse her singing career, and Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch, who’s been known to sprinkle seed money in start-ups.

Aspiring actors are often told, “Don’t give up the day job.” For the stars turned entrepreneur listed here, you could turn that advice on its head.