5 Celebrities You Didn’t Know Were Entrepreneurs

Ashton Kutcher

Ashton Kutcher was the first person on Twitter to receive 1 million followers. Best known for his role in That 70′s Show and MTV’s Punk’d, Ashton Kutcher is an entrepreneur with deep interests in social media and internet startups. Ashton founded Katalyst Media with his friend Jason Goldberg which was behind Punk’d and several other TV shows and movies. Ashton’s first venture into online entrepreneurship was Blah Girls, an animated web series.  Ashton later invested $1 million+ in several startups like Blekko, Optimizely, Flipboard, and Nowmov. Ashton sits on the board as an advisor for a handful of other companies as well.

First Look at Ashton Kutcher as Steve Jobs Ashton Kutcher's star vehicle 'jOBS' debuts at Sundance 2013.Scott Austin and Simon Constable discuss early reaction to the Steve Jobs biopic. Photo: Glenn Wilson

Sandra Bullock

Sandra Bullock is actually an entrepreneur at heart. Her major business is her film production company, Fortis Films which has produced over nine films, one being Miss Congeniality.  Sandra owns Bess Bistro, a restaurant in Austin. She also founded Walton’s Fancy and Staple, a bakery and florist shop that also does event planning. Let’s not forget shes an executive producer for the George Lopez show where she will earn over $10 million in syndication rights. Not bad for a girl that’s won an Oscar and Academy Award.  Bullock was awarded a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress, a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role, and the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role as Leigh Anne Tuohy in The Blind Side.  She is listed in the 2012 edition of the Guinness Book Of World Records as the highest-paid actress, with $56 million.

Justin Timberlake

Justin Timberlake is more than just a singer. His interests in startups actually exists in real life and can be seen through his investments in Miso Media, an application development company and Stipple, an online photo labeling tool.  Together with his former assistant turned business partner,Eytan Sugarman and Trace Ayala launched Southern Hospitality BBQ restaurant in New York. Southern Hospitality Development Corp., which opened its first franchised location in Denver earlier this year, has received approval to change the parent company name to Smokin Concepts Development Corp. He has also launched his own record label, Tennman Records and co founded a clothing line sold exclusively through Bloomingdales.

 

Jackie Chan

Jackie Chan has been acting since the 1960s and has appeared in over 150 films. Jackie Chan has never completed proper education which did not stop him from successfully being casted in role after role in movies and found more success in the United States.   Jackie Chan,born Chan Kong-sang, 陳港生; 7 April 1954) is a Hong Kong actor, action choreographer, comedian, director, producer, martial artist, screenwriter, entrepreneur, singer, and stunt performer. In his movies, he is known for his acrobatic fighting style, comic timing, use of improvised weapons, and innovative stunts.  In parallel to his acting success, Jackie has launched and co-founded several businesses. Jackie has his own film and distribution company ,three other production companies and his own line of clothing.His sushi restaurant chain, Jackie's Kitchen, has outlets throughout Hong Kong, as well as seven in South Korea and one in Hawaii, with plans to open another in Las Vegas. Jackie Chan's Cafe has outlets in Beijing, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and the Philippines. Each and every single one of his business donates a percentage of their profits to his Jackie Chan Charitable Foundation.   He is one of the few actors to have performed all of his film stunts.

Will Ferrel

Hollywood’s kid at heart funny man Will Ferrel, founded Funny or Die when he wanted to watch only comedy videos online.  Funny or Die is like Youtube except all the content is comedy based and users can vote on which videos are funny, if not then they obviously die. With Will Ferrell running the show, he has had no problem getting other celebrities like Lindsay Lohan and Jerry Seinfield on board to submit their videos. Funny or Die’s first video was The Landlord which went viral and has over 75 million views. Funny or Die’s network has since expanded to Shred or Die and Pwn or Die. They also founded Kung Fu Todd and Eat Drink Die but both were considered a failure. Funny or Die is being touted as the first successful collaboration between Hollywood and Silicon Valley, the first time top-tier Hollywood talent (Ferrell, McKay) has been paired with comparable engineering know-how (the site loads as fast as YouTube) and shrewd investment muscle (Sequoia). Will Ferrell is one of the most successful actors in Hollywood today. The Saturday Night Live alumnus has starred in a bunch of hit comedies in the last few years - 'Old School, 'Elf', Talladega Nights', just to name a few.