Sometimes in the fickle world of entertainment, even celebrities have to look for other work from time to time.

Sure, we’ve all heard of the celebrity who scraped by waiting tables before they made it big, but what about if the work dries up and you need to find another way to make a living?

What better way to get a listing from a vendor or wrap up a sale from a prospective buyer than to dazzle them with your celebrity status. Here is a list of celebs who made a career out of real estate.

Read more: Real estate terms explained: The jargon you need to know

Joseph Baena

His name may not be recognisable off the bat, but his face and Hollywood pedigree certainly are.

Joseph Baena is the 24-year-old son of Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Hollywood actor’s former housekeeper Mildred Baena.

Baena lived the first 14 years of his life unaware who his famous father was and went on to develop a close bond with his dad, even taking up bodybuilding and acting.

Late last year he added real estate agent to his list of occupations, and this week celebrated the sale of his first home.

“SOLD!!!” Baena wrote in an Instagram post featuring an photo of himself beside a real estate sign. “Congratulations to my clients for trusting myself and @aria_properties to sell their beautiful Santa Monica Property!”

In an Instagram story, he shared a photo of himself celebrating the sale, along with the words “Closing day”.

Shelley Craft

She made a name for herself as a TV host, most notably on Nine’s The Block, but Shelley Craft is no slouch herself when it comes to real estate.

The bubbly blonde had previously bought and sold a number of properties she had renovated herself, most recently in the Byron Bay area, and also decided to study for her real estate licence two years ago.

It also meant she was joining the ‘family business’, as her former cameraman husband also became a real estate agent not long before her.

The mother of two got a licence to sell real estate in NSW, and is thinking of doing a bridging course so she can practice in Victoria one day.

Tom Williams

TV and radio presenter Tom Williams spent years on our airways, first on the radio then on a series of TV shows.

But it was a brief career change in 2019 that saw him working as a real estate agent.

He took up a position at a real estate agency on Sydney’s north shore, and said the time time, “Property – and real estate is my thing. It always has been, but most people haven’t known about it – until now.”

Sadly it wasn’t to last, with Williams quitting the role just six months later and returning to our screens with stints on I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! and Dancing with the Stars: All Stars last year.

However he has kept a hand in property. Since 2020, he has been a partner in Australian property technology company Asset Reports.

Elizabeth Banks

Hollywood heavyweight Elizabeth Banks is best known as an actor producer and director. Famous for her roles in a little movie franchise known as The Hunger Games trilogy, she also starred in, produced and directed movies in the Pitch Perfect franchise.

But it was her foray into the world of real estate that saw her make our list.

While she didn’t switch careers and become an agent, she did become a spokesperson for the US real estate listing website Realtor.com back in 2015 — a pretty major coup for the company.

Banks announced the deal on her Twitter account at the time and in an interview with Realtor, she praised the site for helping her search for a new home.

“My husband and I email each other houses to look at,” she said.

“I’m sort of house-obsessed. I love getting … inspired by other people’s homes. I think that’s what’s so interesting about looking for a home in general is you’re really imagining a whole life.”

She also touched on the “joy and anxiety” that came with buying a home.

“It’s, for nearly everyone, the biggest purchase of their entire life,” she said.

She even appeared in an ad campaign for Realtor that poked fun at the emotional process of buying a house.

“I think [the ads] poke fun at the fact it can be a stressful process and that it can be a process that involves a lot of emotional wrestling,” she said.

“While it’s exciting and certainly thrilling, there’s a lot of distressing parts and maybe tedious parts to buying a home. And I think if we can address all the aspects of buying a home with humour, I think people can kind of laugh at their own experiences … but also not be so afraid of what lies ahead.”