World Teachers’ Day: 10 famous stars who once taught in the classroom

Before he was The Greatest Showman, Australian actor Hugh Jackman worked as a PE teacher at Uppingham School in the East Midlands during a gap year in 1987. Following his stint, he moved to Sydney and graduated with a BA in Communications in 1991, initially only taking a drama course to make up additional credit – but thankfully, he developed a taste for it.

In a now-viral clip from 2013, Hugh bumped into his former student Rollo Ross on the Zurich Film Festival red carpet, who was now working as a reporter. “Did I set you up for life?” Hugh joked, instantly recognising him; when asked by Rollo what made him angry like his iconic character Wolverine, the actor playfully responded, “the kind of student that doesn’t bring their kit”.

Country music singer Sheryl Crow’s passion for music was honed in the classroom – the star studied music education at the University of Missouri before becoming a music teacher at Kellison Elementary School. She taught for two years while singing with local bands and even recording advertising jingles, before moving to Los Angeles to pursue a solo career.

Still a staunch supporter of the professional, Sheryl returned to her old high school in 2016 to donate $600 checks to every teacher on behalf of Adopt-A-Classroom, a nonprofit that provides funding for school supplies. “When I got out of school, I went into teaching”, she told the Today Show, speaking about her role as a national spokesperson for the charity. “I loved it, but I had this burning desire to get my music heard”. 

Shortly before he became the frontman for The Police and made rock music history, musician Sting worked as a teacher for two years at St. Paul’s First School in Cramlington, Northumberland. While he did impart his musical wisdom on students, he also taught subjects like English, maths, and football – and no, he was not “Mr. Sting” but Mr Gordon Sumner back then. 

“I would sit and play music to them…I enjoyed that more than anything”, the singer told BBC Radio 4’s This Cultural Life programme. After deciding he wanted to try music full-time, he quit and started performing with The Police around a year later. “I went to the headmistress and said, ‘I need to resign at the end of the school year’”, Sting recalled. “She said, ‘Well, you know you’ll lose your pension right?’ And she was right”. 

Before his big move to Hollywood and his breakout role in Mad Men, Jon Hamm worked as an 8th-grade (year 9) acting teacher at his old high school in St. Louis, Missouri. Despite not wishing to pursue the career long-term, Jon proved to be a fantastic teacher, as noted by a famous former pupil of his.

Ellie Kemper, the now-star of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, was in fact a former pupil of Jon’s, who reflected fondly on his teaching skills. The actors shared a sweet exchange for Entertainment Weekly in 2013, with Jon saying, “I remember you being very good”. “That’s very generous of you”, Ellie replied. “I don’t remember being very good, but I remember enjoying it a lot – and I’m not trying to kiss up to you”. 

He has a very special set of skills, and you may be surprised to learn that one of them is teaching. Liam Neeson trained as a teacher at St. Mary’s Teaching College in Newcastle and undertook a work placement at a nearby college, which didn’t end so well.

During an interview with ESPN, Liam revealed that he had to punch a 15-year-old pupil who was armed with a knife, which resulted in him getting fired. While it wasn’t the career for him, he added: “I have two sisters who have just retired after 34 and 35 years of teaching. I have so much admiration for them”, adding that the profession is “really, really difficult”.

Between performing with Queen in the band’s early days and completing his PhD in astrophysics, guitarist Brian May also worked as a part-time maths teacher at Stockwell Manor Comprehensive School in London. The star only taught for three months to supplement his student grant, and has described the experience as “challenging” but something he "really enjoyed".

“You couldn’t get the children to attend unless they were incredibly interested”, Brian told the Daily Mirror in 1999. “I had an advantage because I was young and could speak to them in their own language”. Apparently, there was also an incident involving students cutting out shapes from paper…”blood and paper everywhere”, the guitarist recalled. 

Before securing the role of Jackson Avery, Grey’s Anatomy star Jesse Williams pursued a career as a teacher in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for six years. The star took inspiration from his father, who had previously been a history teacher, and taught a range of creative subjects from American and African Studies to English.

During an appearance on the Today Show in 2025, Jesse reflected fondly on his time in the profession, saying “Teaching was the best job I ever had”, adding that he’d “love to go back to school. I love being in a classroom”. Surely he’s qualified to teach health sciences now?

Prior to becoming one of Britain’s most recognisable comedians and presenters, Romesh Ranganathan earned a mathematics degree from Birkbeck, University of London, and later taught the subject to high school students for nearly a decade. Romesh excelled in his career and was even promoted to head of sixth form.

“I really thought I’d found what I was going to do for the rest of my life,” he told news outlet Teachwire. “I’d like to think I was good at engaging kids and dealing with parents – but when it came to having a long-term overview of where the sixth form was going, I really was dreadful.” The comedian also joked that he’s “never had a day in my entire comedy career that was anything like as stressful as teaching”. 

Can you imagine walking into PE on a Monday morning and having Rocky Balboa as your teacher? Acting mogul Sylvester Stallone studied at the American College of Switzerland in the ‘60s and took on a job as a PE teacher at the school to earn some extra money.

The actor didn’t pursue the discipline after returning to the US, instead getting into acting while studying at the University of Miami, but no doubt keeping teenagers in line perfectly set him up to play a boxer.

Hamilton writer Lin-Manuel Miranda worked as a supply teacher at his old high school in Manhattan, teaching primarily English – he even worked on developing his first musical, In the Heights, while working there. While he held a theatre degree, Lin-Manuel reflected on teaching fondly as a stepping stone to his eventual success in the industry.

“I invariably found the more I listened, the less I spoke, the more effective I was as a teacher,” he told the American Federation of Teachers. “And I found that the magic of teaching really is introducing an idea.” Lin-Manuel has also spoken openly about investing in arts education – both from a teacher and pupil’s perspective – referring to his time teaching as “one of the most rewarding jobs I’ve ever had”.