15 Celebs Who Didn't Make It Until Later In Life

In 2017, we're obsessed with obtaining perfection. People today suffer serious stress if they don't have the perfect job, the perfect partner, the perfect body, and the perfect lifestyle, preferably before they turn 25. But we all know that perfection isn't possible, and if it were, it certainly wouldn't be possible to achieve in the first quarter of your life!

Success, on the other hand, is achievable, but it often takes hard work and persistence to get. So there's really no need to freak out if you're still finding your way in your 20s and 30s, or even your 40s and 50s. Unless you've stumbled upon some fairy dust, results take time! And nobody knows that better than the following 15 stars.

These celebrities are majorly successful today, but their 25-year-old selves wouldn't have believed that! Check out their stories and remember to stop stressing about not having your life in order yet: there's really no rush.

15 Amy Poehler: Hilarious At Any Age

Amy Poehler's big break came when she became a regular cast member on Saturday Night Live for the 2001-2002 season. At this time, she was 30 years old. Before that, she appeared in various sketches on Late Night with Conan O'Brien and other television shows throughout her 20s, but it wasn't until SNL that things got really exciting for her. After that, she appeared in Parks and Recreation in 2008, playing Leslie Knope, in addition to appearing in various comedy films-who could forget her in Blades of Glory? And of course, the world is still quoting Mrs. George from Mean Girls, so we'd say Poehler has done pretty well. Today, her and BFF Tina Fey, who also began doing sketches on the show when she was 30 years old, are cementing their places as positive role models for women. With their comedic talents and dedication to sending important messages to young girls, these two are all-around bosses!

14 Vera Wang: Fairytale Gowns

Brides everywhere dream of Vera Wang. With dresses so trendy and famous that most people wouldn't even hope to wear one, this brand has cast a shadow over the rest of the fashion industry. So who is the woman behind the name? Vera Wang actually took quite a bit of time to figure out where her true passions lay. At first, she focused all her attention on figure skating. When she was rejected from the US Olympic team, she explored other options, eventually becoming an editor at Vogue. Unfortunately, she also failed to land the role of editor-in-chief. So at the age of 40, she decided to try her luck designing wedding gowns. We all know how that ended up! Now at the age of 68, Wang is a millionaire who's left a legacy on the world of fashion. She's a reminder that it's never too late to try something new.

13 Nicki Minaj: Slaying a Male-Dominated Industry

Rapper Nicki Minaj actually got her big break at a relatively young age, compared to the others on this list! But in today's society, which makes people feel like they need to have everything figured out by the time they leave college, you could argue that Minaj didn't make it until later on. In her early 20s, she was an underground rapper who supported herself with waitressing jobs. She was signed to Dirty Money Entertainment in 2007, at the age of 25, and released a number of mixtapes over the next two years. Though she was advancing in her career and gaining the attention of industry professionals, she was still mostly unknown to the public until late 2009, when she started featuring on other artists' songs at the age of 27. It wasn't until 2010, at the age of 28, that she released her own record and 2011/2012 when she was nearing 30, that she achieved global fame.

12 J.K. Rowling: Magic

Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling didn't have the sort of 20s that we all dream about. Rather than working a job that all her friends were jealous of and going on fantastic vacations to Europe and dating guys that you might hashtag #goals, she was a struggling single mother on welfare. After dealing with issues brought about by her ex-husband, trying to support her daughter and living in poverty, she even started to suffer from depression, prompting her to create her Dementor characters in the series. When she was 32, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" was published. You know how that one worked out, don't you? Rowling isn't just a reminder that blessings can come later in life, but that misfortune can sometimes fuel the work you have to do in order to win those blessings. If she wasn't desperate, who knows whether she would have gotten around to writing Harry Potter on those napkins?

11 Melissa McCarthy: The Bridesmaid

Most of us came to know Melissa McCarthy after she starred alongside Kristen Wiig in Bridesmaids, right? As it turns out, she started acting a long time before that and even appeared on Gilmore Girls at the age of 30, where she played Sookie St. James. Even though she had this success at 30, it was nothing compared to the popularity and fame that followed Bridesmaids. And how old was McCarthy when she played the role of fellow bridesmaid Megan? When the film was released in 2011, she was 41. And since then, she has made a name for herself in the world of comedy and has starred in several other major films including Spy, The Heat, The Boss, and Ghostbusters. Similarly, Kristen Wiig didn't get into acting until after college, and after trying to survive on odd jobs, didn't become a full-time Saturday Night Live cast member until she was 32 in 2006.

10 Pharrell Williams: Age Is A Number

We know the running joke is that Pharrell Williams looks like he never ages, but he's actually older than everybody thinks. Born in Virginia in 1973, Williams is currently 44 years old, and though he's been impacting the music industry from behind-the-scenes for many years, he didn't achieve global recognition until relatively recently. As a singer, he became a household name when he came out with “Happy” since it was one of the biggest songs of the decade. At the time, he was 40 (though totally did NOT look it). He did have a successful career as a producer before that, producing songs like “I'm A Slave 4 U” by Britney Spears, but in terms of his own singing career and celebrity status, none of it came until his 40s. And speaking of producing, he didn't make it in that area until his late 20s/early 30s, which seems like a nightmare to college grads who feel bad for not being on top already!

9 Alan Rickman: Too Much Talent

The late Alan Rickman had a raw talent for acting that came through at an early age. But it wasn't until he was nearly 30 that he began studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London. He performed in plays for 10 years, and also had a few minor roles in TV shows and TV miniseries. Eventually, he landed a role in Les Liaisons Dangereuses in the early 1980s. The play ended up on Broadway, and Rickman earned a Tony Award for it, at age 41. The role that rose him to fame was Hans Gruber in Die Hard, alongside Bruce Willis, which he played in 1988 when he was 46. His talent perfected projects like Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves in 1991 and Sense and Sensibility in 1995, but we all know that his career turned into pure magic when he took on the role of Hogwarts professor Severus Snape in the Harry Potter series in 2001.

8 Jane Lynch: Uphill After 30

Like many actresses, Jane Lynch briefly appeared in some major movies in the 1990s, but that didn't mean that she had made it. She can be seen in The Fugitive, Fatal Instinct and even everyone's favorite sleepover film, Sleepover. Heck, she even appeared on Friends! She was one of those actresses that you've seen everywhere but can't name, until she turned 49 and was cast as Sue Sylvester on Glee. Though she had had bigger roles in movies like Best In Show, this was the first time she had broken through to popular culture and mainstream audiences. In other words, after seeing her as Sue, we realized that we love her unconditionally! Today, Lynch still appears in heaps of major productions and has even extended her talent to Broadway, where she's starred in Annie. Tell that to the next person who says it's all downhill after you turn 30!

7 Ty Burrell: Older And Grateful

You probably didn't realize this, but Ty Burrell was actually acting professionally for nearly a decade before he made it the way he wanted to. Starting at the beginning of 2000, he appeared in a number of projects but always ended up getting fired or written out. It wasn't until 2009 that he scored the role of a lifetime: Phil Dunphy on Modern Family. Since starring on the show, a world of opportunities has opened up for Burrell, who now knows what it's like to live with international fame and legions of adoring fans. Interestingly enough, he is grateful that he didn't become a TV superstar until much later than he was planning to. “I was not a mature young man and would probably have gone off the rails,” he stated. Don't forget that with age also comes wisdom! Look at it like that the next time something takes a little longer to work out properly.

6 Kathy Bates: Who Knew Horror Could Be So Good?

Katy Bates is now known as one of the greatest and most versatile actresses in the industry. Though she had a number of roles and minor successes early on in her career, it wasn't until much later that she really made it. First appearing on television in 1963, she had roles in TV shows and movies throughout the 70s and 80s, including All My Children, Two of a Kind, and Signs of Life. But in 1990, she became a household name when she starred as Annie Wilkes in the classic thriller Misery. At the time she won the role, Bates was 42. Sure, she didn't have her dream job to brag about on social media in her 20s and 30s, but it didn't matter so much when she was winning her Academy Award. She's gone on to star in major films like Titanic, About Schmidt, P.S. I Love You, and The Blind Side.

5 Jay-Z: More Than Money

Like Nicki Minaj, Jay-Z broke into the music industry in his late 20s. When he was 28, he had his first hit, and since then has been building himself up to become arguably the most successful rapper in the industry. Today, he's sold a casual 100 million records and received a measly 21 Grammy Awards, making him pretty successful. We wonder what would have happened if he had told his 22-year-old self what his future consisted of? Think about that the next time you feel like you feel bleak about your future because there's not much going on in your present! And even though he was 28 when he had his first hit (which is kind of late when you think about some musicians who get their start at 15), he didn't marry Beyoncé until he was 38 years old. In other words, he didn't make it until he was 38 years old.

4 Ricky Gervais: The 9-5 That Became A Dream

When would you say Ricky Gervais first rose to prominence? We definitely took note of him when he appeared alongside Ben Stiller in Night at the Museum in 2006, but maybe hardcore fans knew his name in 1998 when he first appeared on TV. At that time, he was in his mid-30s, and it was still another eight or so years before he garnered international attention and came closer to becoming the star that he is today. In his 20s and the first half of his 30s, Gervais worked at radio stations. And no, he didn't do fun stuff, but boring office stuff that inspired him to create The Office. He had no passion for the work he was forced to do to support himself and was constantly getting fired. Gervais is another one who's probably glad that he stuck it out and kept pursuing his dreams instead of giving up. Inspirational!

3 Lucille Ball: Proving Them Wrong

This isn't the '50s anymore, but Lucy is still an icon. Lucille Ball brought laughter and joy to generations of fans, and she became so popular at the height of her career that many people forgot that it took her a while to actually get there. Attending the same drama school as Bette Davis, Ball was told that she probably wasn't going to make it in the entertainment industry. Ha! She began acting professionally as a young woman in 1933, appearing briefly on shows like The Three Stooges. Though she appeared in a few well-known movies, she was yet to achieve global fame or iconic status. That all changed after she'd turned 40 in 1951, and she began starring as Lucy on I Love Lucy, the show she developed with her husband. So it wasn't until she was in her 40s that Ball left her mark on the world and achieved what she was born to do.

2 Andrea Bocelli: From Law School To Pavarotti

Born in Italy in 1959, Andrea Bocelli is a living legend. As a baby, music was the only thing that would bring him comfort, according to his mother. He started piano lessons when he was just six years old, and later learned many other instruments. By age seven he was imitating famous tenors and won his first singing competition when he was 14. But even with all that promise, it would still be a while before he truly made it. After high school, he studied law, and though he supported himself by singing in piano bars at night, he eventually took a job as a lawyer for one year. Of course, that didn't last! In 1992, he recorded the song “Miserere” and sent the demo to famous Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti. Naturally, Pavarotti was impressed, and the two recorded a duet together, which broke Europe more than Kim K broke the internet. At the time, Bocelli was in his mid-30s.

1 Rachel Platten: Fighting For Years

It's perhaps more common for actors and actresses to get their start later in life than it is for singers-particularly female pop singers who are usually under insane pressure to look and act a certain way. A lot of the big names in the music industry started selling records before they even hit 18! One singer who stands out from the crowd is Rachel Platten, who came out with the smash hit Fight Song when she was 34 in 2015. She did have music out well before 2015 too; her debut album was released in 2003 and her second in 2011. By age 5 she was playing classical piano, and she started learning guitar and showing a serious interest in music when she reached high school. So she was doing what she loved for a fair few years before she achieved what she wanted to. Platten's story is such an inspiration!