What Did Steve Carell Do Before He Was Famous?

For over three decades, Steve Carell has made a name for himself as a performer who excels on stage, in films, and on TV. A comedic actor who crosses easily into more dramatic roles, Carell has enjoyed the kind of career of which most performers can only dream. But before he starred in movies and sitcoms, Carell was just another college student in love with comedy, with dreams of making it big.

Carell started his acting career at Denison University in Granville, Ohio, where he improvised as a member of Burpee's Seedy Theatrical Company. After graduating in 1984, Carell took on the now-surprising job of being a mailman. While Carell could deliver a line, he struggled to deliver a letter, and his postal career did not flourish.

After his brief stint with the post office, Carell moved to Chicago in the late '80s, where he enrolled in The Second City training center. In 1989, he was hired to join The Second City Touring Company. A year later, he was cast on the theater's e.t.c stage in the revue "Northwest by North Wells." Carell spent 10 years developing his comedic skills in Chicago's comedy scene, working as a teacher at The Second City's training center and writing and performing in multiple mainstage revues. Carell was in good company during his Chicago years — his fellow cast members included Amy Sedaris, Jackie Hoffman, and Stephen Colbert.

Steve Carell didn't just discover his comedic voice during his time at The Second City — he also met his wife. Like Carell, Nancy Walls is originally from Massachusetts and moved to Chicago to study comedy at The Second City. While in Chicago, she met Carell while taking classes and was later hired to perform in the theater's Touring Company. Walls and Carell married in 1995, the same year Walls was hired as a performer on "Saturday Night Live."

One of Carell's breakout movie roles was playing weatherman Brick Tamland in Adam McKay's — another of The Second City's many alumni — 2004 comedic blockbuster, "Anchorman." However, before his big star turn, Carell jump-started his career with a series of fake reporter roles. Carell served as a correspondent on the Jon Stewart version of "The Daily Show" for six years, where he had a segment debating his former SC castmate, Stephen Colbert. In 2003, he was cast in his first major movie, "Bruce Almighty" as Evan Baxter, a news reporter, and Bruce Nolan's (Jim Carrey) chief rival.

While Carell's performing career has taken up most of his adult life, as a child, he considered a career as a professional ice hockey player. Carell told ESPN he started playing when he was 8 years old and had a "Mighty Ducks" moment when his team won the National Championships in the "Squirt" level. In high school, Carell debated training for a spot in a Division I college, but ultimately decided to attend Denison, an NCAA Division III school, where he could play for fun.