Celebrities You May Not Have Known Trained as Nurses

Every year, a Gallup Poll asks people to rank 15 occupations in terms of which professions are considered to have the most ethical and honest members. Since 1999, the poll has included nurses as one of the professions.

Nurses have topped the chart every year except in 2001. They are viewed by 89 percent of survey participants to be either high or very high in their ethics and honesty. Nurses are considered to be the most trustworthy of all professions. The only time they came in second was in 2001 when first place was taken over by firefighters who risked their lives on 9/11.

Some famous actors and actresses have also, incidentally, gone to university for their nursing degree or license in practical nursing. These folks are popular due to their acting history, not because of their nursing backgrounds. Being famous and also being a nurse is distinct from those who are famous nurses. Historically famous nurses are those who dedicate their lives to nursing and are well-known because of their nursing careers and contributions to the nursing profession. Examples of historically famous nurses are Florence Nightingale, who is considered the founder of modern nursing, and Clara Barton, founder of the Red Cross.

Famous People with Nursing Backgrounds

Some well-known celebrities in TV, movies, and entertainment are also nurses or have nursing experience. Unlike Nightingale and Barton, who are well-known for their contribution to nursing, these celebrity nurses are famous for their involvement in entertainment, and nursing is only incidental to their careers.

Agatha Christie

According to her official web page, Agatha Christie is the best-selling novelist of all time. She wrote 66 detective novels and 12 volumes of short stories, selling more than one billion copies in English and one billion in translated versions.

Her website pegs her as a mother, surfer, world traveler, and playwright. And, by the way, she also logged in thousands of hours as a nurse during World War I. She cared for the wounded, assisted in operations, including amputations, and cleaned up afterward.

This is when she became fascinated with medicine, and in the Red Cross’s official records of that time, it is noted that she dispensed medications. She earned her license to be an apothecary’s assistant, and it is in this role that she learned about poisons and their effects on the body, whether they are easily detected, and more. She used this knowledge to write the detective books for which she is famous.

Tina Turner

Before finding success as a singer, Tina Turner’s first job fresh out of high school was as a nurse’s aide. She had just given birth to her first child, and this was how she supported herself and her son. She enjoyed the job and planned on continuing her nursing career by becoming a practical nurse.

Meanwhile, she was also singing in clubs, but that came with an uncertain future. Then, fate stepped in. Ike Turner heard her sing and asked her to join him and his band. The two spent 16 years in a tumultuous marriage, all the while catapulting to the top of the charts in the music world.

A few years after their divorce, Tina found tremendous success as a solo singing artist. She never returned to her nursing roots.

Julie Walters

Perhaps best known for her role as Molly Weasley in the Harry Potter films, Julie Walters went to nursing school as a young woman at the behest of her mother. Partway through her program, the woman that would one day bring an end to Bellatrix Lestrange’s reign of terror realized nursing wasn’t the right career for her. She made the switch to drama and went on to star in movies such as Billy Elliot, Mama Mia!, and Paddington.

Jennifer Stone

For four seasons, Jennifer Stone was one of the starring actresses in the television series, Wizards of Waverly Place. In 2013, after the series ended, she was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.

At the time of this diagnosis, she was studying psychology. The shock of the diagnosis led her to change her major and study nursing. She earned her BSN in 2020 from Azusa Pacific University and currently works in the E.R. of a prominent hospital located in Burbank, CA.

She hasn’t given up her penchant for acting and is currently combining her love of nursing with an active call schedule for acting possibilities.

Adrian Holmes

Adrian Holmes is a Canadian actor who has starred in numerous television shows and big-screen movies, like Elysium, Arrow, and Letterkenny. He won a Canadian Screen Award in 2017 for Best Actor in a Continuing Leading Dramatic Role for his turn as Nick Barron in the police procedural 19-2. He also has a diploma in nursing and briefly worked at Vancouver General Hospital.

His main focus has been on his acting. His mother is a nurse, and he primarily went to nursing school at her urging so he would have something to “fall back on” if his acting career didn’t take off. Ironically, he says that “as soon as I graduated from nursing, my acting career really took off.”

Naomi Judd

Before she became famous with her daughter Wynona as the country-singing duo “The Judds,” Naomi Judd supported herself and her two daughters, Wynona and Ashley, by working as a registered nurse in the intensive care unit of hospitals in Nashville, Tennessee. She loved her work in the ICU.

Kate Gosselin

Way before becoming a TV star in the reality show “Jon and Kate Plus 8,” Kate Gosselin was a registered nurse working in the labor and delivery unit. She left that position when her twins were born, and after the birth of her sextuplets, she never returned to nursing. The most recent reports are that even though she has not pursued a nursing career, her Pennsylvania nursing license is current.

Bonnie Hunt

Bonnie Hunt is known for her roles in a number of well-received movies, including Rain Man, Jumanji, and The Green Mile. It had always been her goal to succeed in the entertainment business, but first, at the urging of her father, she went to nursing school.

Hunt worked for five years as an oncology nurse at Northwestern University Hospital. During this period, she made time for performing in the Second City improv troupe. She finally quit her job and moved to California to seek fame and fortune; she found both.

In addition to her numerous movie roles, she is the voice of some Disney animated characters and is also known for her biting comedic wit.

Walt Whitman

Almost everyone knows about author and poet Walt Whitman who lived from 1819 to 1892. He self-published his book of 12 poems, Leaves of Grass, in 1855. He continued editing it and issuing new editions. Beginning with the 1867 edition, the volume included his famous poem, O Captain, My Captain, in which he laments over the death of Abraham Lincoln.

A less well-known fact is that Whitman was a nurse who spent his time during the civil war tending to the wounded. He began this career taking care of his wounded brother. His view of the suffering of those around him inspired him to try and make their lives better.

Whitman described his time as a nurse in his poem, The Wound Dresser. It is one of the most famous poems about nursing and forces the reader to question the common belief that medical professionals should develop a sense of detachment from their patients.

How Nursing Prepared Them for Anything

Celebrities mentioned here seem to all have benefited from their nursing preparation and medical knowledge. Some, like Naomi Judd and Bonnie Hunt, worked as registered nurses for many years before “making it big” in the entertainment world.

Others worked more in their TV, movie, or music business careers than they did in their nursing careers. But, as some have noted, their nursing achievements were points of pride and laid the foundation for future achievements!

Start Your Journey Toward a Career in Nursing Today

Bryant & Stratton College has a program that will work for you whether you are interested in earning your Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN) or are looking for a program leading to a diploma as a Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN). If you are already an RN but want to earn your BSN, Bryant & Stratton College has a nursing degree that will work for you. To learn more about our school, our mission, and how we can help you find all the nursing and other healthcare programs we have to offer, request more information.