George Clooney and Julia Roberts have been working in Hollywood for over three decades — but the stars of "Ticket to Paradise" and longtime friends can still recall the excitement of receiving their first paychecks like it was yesterday.
Roberts, 55, celebrated her first big payday by buying a boombox, she told POPSUGAR during a recent joint interview with Clooney.
"Oh, that's great," Clooney said of Roberts' big purchase.
The Oscar-winning actress didn't reveal which job the check came from, but Roberts once shared on "The Ellen DeGeneres" show that one of her earliest jobs before acting was at ShowBiz Pizza, a local pizza parlor in Smyrna, Georgia, where she grew up.
Get New England news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NECN newsletters.
"I wore a bear costume and brought out the birthday cakes," she said.
Roberts moved to New York after graduating high school and landed her first role in 1987, starring as Tracy, a sexual assault survivor, in one episode of the NBC series "Crime Story."
Clooney, 61, spent his first paycheck on a present for someone else: his friend's grandmother.
Money Report
"I was living in a closet of my buddy's apartment with his grandmother," he told POPSUGAR. "I bought her a TV with a remote because she would always have to get up and go and change the channel … So with my first check, I bought her a TV."
"Living in a closet, getting a remote for grandma … not even his grandma!" Roberts teased.
The Oscar-winning actor held a series of odd jobs before landing his first major acting role in 1984 in the short-lived CBS sitcom "E/R" — not to be confused with "ER," the hit show Clooney starred in for five seasons as Dr. Doug Ross.
Clooney cut tobacco, sold door-to-door insurance and even worked in a shoe shop in his younger years.
"Ticket to Paradise," in which Clooney and Roberts play a divorced couple scheming to sabotage their daughter's wedding, is already proving to be box office gold, passing $100 million in global ticket sales since its Oct. 21 release, Variety reports.
Roberts and Clooney have worked on six films together before: "Ocean's Eleven," "Ocean's Twelve," "Money Monster," "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" and "August: Osage County."
Check out:
Issa Rae's best career advice: Don't be afraid of being labeled a 'difficult' person to work with
Ryan Reynolds reveals the No. 1 skill that's helped him succeed: 'It really changed my life'
Sign up now: Get smarter about your money and career with our weekly newsletter
