14 one-hit-wonder celebrities who ended up with entirely different careers

http://ift.tt/2yJLeHn

Paramount Pictures

Fame can be quite fleeting.

As Heidi Klum would say, "One minute you’re in, and the next minute you’re out."

And the pressure of working in the competitive business can have an adverse effect, especially on child stars, USA Today reported.

The plight of Hollywood stars who achieved success, only to fall from grace due to drug use or erratic behavior, are well-documented.

So it’s not surprising that some former celebrities simply moved on to other things after their brush with fame.

Some ex-stars who switched gigs stuck around the entertainment business and just gravitated toward behind-the-scenes jobs. Others went back to school to tackle a role in an entirely new industry.

Here’s a look at some former stars who ended up in completely different careers:

Jeffrey Allen "Skunk" Baxter — Guitarist for Steely Dan, The Doobie Brothers, and Spirit

Wikimedia Commons and InnoTown Conference/Youtube

Claim to fame: Baxter was a founding member of Steely Dan and later joined the Doobie Brothers. The guitarist has led quite a lengthy career in rock and roll, working with acts and artists like Dolly Parton, Ringo Starr, Rod Stewart, Eric Clapton, and others as a session guitarist.

What he does now: The storied guitar-for-hire now has top security clearances. In the 1980s, his interest in recording technology prompted him to research and become fascinated with military software and hardware. The Wall Street Journal reported that a paper Baxter wrote on missile defense attracted the attention of Congressman Dana Rohrabacher. He became a defense consultant for the US Department of Defense and other defense entities, Guitar Player reported.

Jeff Cohen — Lawrence ‘Chunk’ Cohen from ‘The Goonies’

Warner Bros. and The Morning Show

Claim to fame: Cohen shot to fame for his turn as clumsy, bad-luck-prone Chunk in the classic 1985 adventure film "The Goonies."

What he does now: Growing up, he was able to use his stint as a child actor to land roles at movie studios, according to the ABA Journal. He decided to go into law, earning his J.D. from UCLA after attending Berkeley. Cohen went on to cofound the entertainment-oriented law firm Gardner Cohen LLP.

Crystal McKellar — Becky Slater from ‘The Wonder Years’

ABC and Danica McKellar / Youtube

Claim to fame: McKellar acted alongside her sister Danica in the television series "The Wonder Years." Both sisters had been considered for the main role of Winnie, but Danica won out, and Crystal was brought on to play Becky Slater instead.

What she does now: During their time in show business, education was always a priority for the McKellars, according to Biography.com. McKellar went on to study at Yale and Oxford, and earned her J.D. at Harvard. Today, she’s the managing director and legal counsel for Mithril Capital Management.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

business

via Business Insider http://ift.tt/eKERsB