Chance is a word that refers to the concept of randomness in outcome generation. In short, it is another way of talking about result unpredictability, which most people use in a positive connotation, often associating it with things like divine intervention. In science, it is nothing more than a quantifiable measure of likelihood. However, for most, it has a much broader meaning than this. Hence, given that chance is a part of everyday life, people like to link various meanings when things go in or against their favor, as randomness can influence lives in novel ways. That is why so many turn to gambling luck calendars when partaking in games of chance, hoping their good fortune has gotten outlined in the stars, that their zodiac signs hold the secret to attaining chance-based riches.
Gambling aside, it goes without saying that many individuals have experienced strokes of stunning luck that have propelled their careers in miraculous ways or have sent them into new ones where they have prospered. Thus, below, we dive into rattling off a few celebrities who have entered the mainstream spotlight by sheer randomness. These are persons whose names or faces many know and whose fame might have been sizably different if they were not in the good graces of Lady Luck.
Danny Trejo
Danny Trejo is an actor some people may not know by name but who virtually everyone who watches movies recognizes. He epitomizes the American Dream, a true story of rag to riches. Though many may think his rise to fame is owed to his second cousin, renowned Texas director Robert Rodriguez, putting him in his movies, Trejo had a successful acting career before appearing in Rodriquez’s 1994 hit Desperado.
Danny made his film debut in Runaway Train, whose set he walked onto by accident, as he got called upon to visit it to help a teenage drug addict deal with a cocaine problem. During his initial stay on the lot, Trejo was spotted by the movie’s casting director because of his unique look. Who instantly offered him an extra job in a few prison scenes. Then, his role was expanded when the film’s director, Andrei Konchalovsky, took a shine to Danny and gave him a small speaking part. He did so after learning of Trejo’s prison history, thinking that he would add a sense of authenticity to the movie, which he did. The break led to Danny getting type-casted for the next decade in criminal roles.
Harrison Ford
Harrison Ford is now a cultural icon, having been a part of some of Hollywood’s most iconic franchises. He first graced the silver screen in a significant acting part in a 1966 little-known film named Merry-Go-Round. Nevertheless, his breakthrough role came seven years later, in George Lucas’s American Graffiti, where he played the character of Bob Falfa.
What is interesting about how Ford got the part of Falfa is that it was not through an audition but by working on Lucas’ house as a carpenter. The creator of the Star Wars franchise took a liking to Ford and offered him a minor role in his upcoming film, which led to the legendary part of the space outlaw Han Solo in A New Hope.
Johnny Depp
Over the past three decades,Johnny Depp has become a somewhat controversial figure, primarily due to his off-screen personal life shenanigans. The Kentucky-born actor attained global fame through the Pirate of the Caribbean film series, though he had a wildly successful career before landing the role of Jack Sparrow.
Few know that Depp dreamed of becoming a rock musician and dropped out of high school at sixteen to chase this dream, playing in a band titled The Kids. Nonetheless, he needed help to catch a break in the music sphere. One day, his friend, Nicolas Coppola, better known under his stage name – Nicholas Cage, urged him to pursue acting and got him an audition for the initial part in the now-famous horror franchise A Nightmare on Elm Street, which Depp landed, playing the role of the boyfriend of one of the main characters.
Pamela Anderson
Pamela Anderson is, without question, one of the sex symbols of the 1990s, a model that has appeared on multiple Playboy covers and an actress that has left millions of men breathless when parading in her iconic red swimsuit in the TV show Baywatch.
In 1988, at twenty-one, Anderson moved to Canada and began working as a fitness instructor in Vancouver. One day in 1989, she decided to attend a football game at the city’s BC Place Stadium and got shown on the jumbotron wearing a Labatt’s Beer shirt during the Canadian Football League contest. The incident led to Pamela getting a gig as the company’s spokesmodel, with this event acting as the thing that put her on the fast track in the modeling arena.
Toni Braxton
American R&B singer Toni Michele Braxton is the perfect example of – right place, right time. People can have all the talent in the world. But some do not get the opportunity to show it. And for others, it falls in their lap when they least expect it.
Such is the case with Braxton, who, one day, while pumping gas, was singing to herself. A record executive pumping next to her overheard her singing. Wowed by her voice, he engaged her in conversation, eventually signing her to a contract. The rest is history.