Harrison Ford is one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, but the actor has never forgotten his early days of struggle — or the lesson his time as a young actor taught him.
“I’m still a working actor. I was not an overnight success,” the INDIANA JONES star said during an acceptance speech for his SAG Lifetime Achievement Award. “I struggled for about 15 years going from acting job to carpentry and back to acting until I finally got a part in a wildly successful film.”
Ford then shared that lesson those 15 years as a struggling actor taught him: “The only thing that I have done that is not mitigated by luck…is that I persisted, and other people gave up.”
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Ford discovered his love of acting in college where, he told Variety in 2025, “I hadn’t made a success of my academic career.”
While looking for an easy course that would help him get his grade point average up, Ford “came across drama,” and “quickly recognized that I loved telling stories. I liked dressing up and pretending to be somebody else. And the people that I met had a similar bent, people that I might have overlooked. They’re people that probably hadn’t been really seen before, for who they are, for what they were — and they were storytellers.”
The STAR WARS actor has spoken about his time as an aspiring actor, sharing that he was told he had “no future” in Hollywood, which frustrated him so much, he decided to start working as a professional carpenter in order to provide for his family.
“Through carpentry, I fed my family and began to pick and choose from among the roles offered. I could afford to hold out until something better came along. But I never gave up my ambition to be an actor. I was frustrated but never felt defeated by my frustration,” he said, via GeekTyrant.
In a 2023 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Ford reflected on his decades as an actor.
“I think it’s the place I feel most useful. It’s what I know the most about,” he explained. “I lost my chops as a carpenter. I haven’t ever played fiddle. But I feel comfortable wrestling with how to make behavior out of words on a page and tell a story, and I’m still excited about the prospect of telling a story. I think this is a service occupation — telling stories. We need it. Whether it’s drawing on caves or religious tenets, we love telling stories.”
Ford’s Hollywood career is a testament to what can happen when you work hard and never give up.
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