4 Inspirational Stories In Show Business

​Here are a few inspirational stories from people in show business. This is including actors, singers, and other famous people. Hopefully, these will brighten your day. Keep chasing after your dreams, and don't give up on yourself. These people have experienced great success from their perseverance.

​1. J.K. Rowling
Before she became a billionaire with Harry Potter, she was divorced and receiving government aid. She could barely afford to keep her young daughter fed. When she was shopping out the first Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone, she couldn't afford the fees to have it photocopied so many times. For each publisher, she typed the entire book over again and sent that to them. The book got rejected dozens of times until it was picked up by small London publisher Bloombury. The publishing company's CEO's eight-year-old daughter loved it, and that's how it got published.
During the time she was struggling to make it, she was battling depression and suicidal thoughts. She had a hard time adjusting to the worldwide attention. She explained depression very accurately. She said it's not sadness, it is a "hollowed-out" feeling. Depression can cause you to lose interest in things you used to like. She describes it as an entirely different kind of pain. She wrote the Dementors in the books to represent depression. That's why the spell to get rid of them involves thinking of a happy memory. It might also explain why chocolate is the cure to get rid of them.

2. Stephen King
King also started out broke when trying to write. He was living in a trailer with his wife. They both worked multiple jobs to support their family. They had to borrow clothes for their wedding, and they didn't even have a telephone because it was so expensive. His first novel, Carrie, didn't do that well at first. When Signet Books signed on for the paperback rights, King got a nice $200,000.
He got his degree in English in 1970 from the University of Maine at Orono. He was trying to find a teacher job in the area, but he had no luck. He worked in laundry until he finally got a teaching gig at Hampden Academy. He also married his wife, Tabitha, that year. 
In his book, On Writing, he said he wrote as a child. He had a nail in his wall for the rejection letters he got. The nail was so full that it couldn't support the weight of the papers. His first short story, "The Glass Floor," sold for $35. Now, his books have sold over 350 million copies and they have been made into numerous movies, miniseries, and television shows.

3. Sarah Jessica Parker
The Sex and the City actress was born in a poor coal-mining town in Ohio. She was the youngest of four children, and her parents divorced when she was two-years-old. She took up singing and dancing at a very young age to supplement her mother and stepfather's incomes. Her mom encouraged her to pursue her interests in the arts. They moved to Cincinnati, where Parker went to an arts school. She student ballet, music, and theater. She went to New York at the age of 11 to audition for a Broadway play. Her brother and she were both cast in the play. The entire family relocated to New York. She kept working to earn roles. Her biggest role was the main character in the hugely successful HBO show, Sex and the City. 
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​4. Oprah Winfrey
The successful talk-show star has been through a lot in her life. She has gotten criticism of her weight and racism, and intrusive questions about her sexuality, among other incidents. She grew up the victim of sexual abuse. She was repeatedly molested by her cousin, her uncle, and a family friend. She had a child at the age of 14 who died two weeks later.
She persevered through all of this adversity. She finished high school as an honor's student. She won a full scholarship to college. She worked her way up through the ranks of television. She started at a local news station in Nashville. She now has risen to superstar status, and she owns her own broadcasting network. 

Sources: The Muse.com; The Mighty; Biography.com