Actors Who Were in the Military

Prior to transitioning to stage and screen, many actors have served in the military, taking discipline and other skills from their experience to inform their acting. Here are four actors whose military paths preceded their Hollywood ambitions.

Adam Driver

Before starring in the Star Wars sequel trilogy and Ferrari, Adam Driver was in the Marines for just under three years. He joined the United States Marine Corps after the September 11 attacks. “In the military, I felt this sense of community,” he said during a Ted Talk.

After injuring his sternum while mountain biking, he was unable to fulfill his duties and had to leave his fellow soldiers. Discharged with the rank of Lance Corporal, he found himself struggling to adjust back into the civilian world. He said, “How often in the civilian world are you put in a life-or-death situation with your closest friends, and they constantly demonstrate that they’re not going to abandon you?”

After being accepted into Juilliard, his eyes were opened to the world of acting and the wealth of “playwrights and characters and plays that had nothing to do with the military but were somehow describing my military experience in a way that before, to me, was indescribable.”

At first, his classmates considered him volatile. Once he started adjusting to his new life, Driver “felt myself feeling less aggressive as I was able to put words to feelings for the first time.” From 2006 to 2023, Driver and his wife, Joanne Tucker, co-founded and ran the now-defunct Arts in the Armed Forces, a nonprofit organization that brought high-quality theater arts productions to active-duty service members, veterans, military support staff and their families free of charge.

Morgan Freeman

Despite being offered a scholarship for drama from Jackson State University, Morgan Freeman instead joined the U.S. Air Force in 1955. At first, he felt right at home in the military, but when he was able to train as a fighter pilot, the reality of the job began to take its toll. Freeman described the feeling to AARP magazine as “sitting in the nose of a bomb.”

“I had this very clear epiphany… You are not in love with this; you are in love with the idea of this,” Freeman said. No longer wanting to be in the military, he left the Air Force after nearly four years.

Over two decades, Freeman moved from theater work to being cast in the TV shows Another World and The Electric Company. Now, Freeman is widely celebrated for his performances in films that include The Shawshank Redemption, Million Dollar Baby, Driving Miss Daisy, Seven and Unforgiven.

Ice-T

Ice-T was struggling to support his girlfriend and newborn daughter. He was also concerned that his lifestyle of selling cannabis and stealing car stereos would land him in jail. In pursuit of a better life and financial stability, he joined the Army in 1977, serving four years in the 25th Infantry Division.

While deployed in Hawaii, Ice-T served as a squad leader. His memoir Ice: A Memoir of Gangster Life and Redemption-from South Central to Hollywood recounts how he purchased stereo equipment, a mixer, turntables and large speakers at this point in time. Inspired by hip hop music, he worked on rapping and mixing beats.

Ice-T went on to receive an honorable discharge because he was a single father, but back in civilian life, he went through a period of robbing banks before his career as a rap artist took off.

Eventually, Ice-T crossed over from the music world to Hollywood, ironically best known for portraying NYPD Detective Odafin Tutuola on the NBC police drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

Clint Eastwood

Clint Eastwood was drafted into the Army during the Korean War, serving as a soldier and swim instructor. Eastwood was discharged in 1953, attending Los Angeles City College and studying drama thanks to the GI Bill. The Dirty Harry star began shining for his roles in The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, The Bridges of Madison County and Escape From Alcatraz. Eastwood eventually became an Academy Award-winning director for Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby.

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