15 Little-Known Underdog Stories (Of Celebs)
So let's hope Hollywood doesn't touch the following celebrity biographies, because these underdog tales are dramatic enough.
![15 Little-Known Underdog Stories (Of Celebs)](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/4/2/7/762427_320x180.jpg)
Hollywood has a terrible tendency to take true stories and embellish them until all that's left is a sad husk of truth stuffed with too much questionable artistic license.
So let's hope Hollywood doesn't touch the following celebrity biographies, because these underdog tales are dramatic enough.
![Nicki Minaj CRACKEDcO Nicki Minaj, real name Onika Tanya Maraj, was born into a family of 15 in Trinidad and lived in a three-room house. Al five, she](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/4/1/7/762417.jpg)
Source: Washington Post
![Wiliam Shatner CRACKED.COM Shatner hit his poverty low point AFTER Slar Trek. After the series was canceled, having to support an ex-wife and three ki](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/4/2/2/762422.jpg)
Source: AARP
![Chris Pratt Chris Pratt lived in a van in Hawaii. It wasn't until a chance encounter with actress-director Rae Dawn Chong at his job as a waiter for B](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/8/1/762681.jpg)
Source: CNBC
![Danny Trejo His uncle got him into marijuana at eight, and since then, he was in and out of prison over taking drugs. And dealing drugs. And committin](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/4/2/9/762429.jpg)
Source: BBC
![Leighton Meester CRACKED cO Leighton Meester was born in prison to a mother who was a drug smugGLEr, as were the rest of her immediate family. In fact](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/4/2/6/762426.jpg)
Source: New York magazine
![Louis Armstrong Louis was arrested- for running cocaine, said the police when he was nine years old. He'd be arrested again three years later and sent](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/4/2/5/762425.jpg)
Source: The Times-Picayune
![Colonel Sanders Fried Fried Fried Patecky Fnied Farky Fried fodedty Cuckem Chicken Fried Fried Fried dacky fatacky urky Fried Chickex Fecky Fiied eate](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/7/7/762677.jpg)
Source: Smithsonian
![Michael Caine or England Here.. World: L4G The Co Largest Ft Feening FIRE Sele ALARMS CRACKED CON Before his fame, Caine was unable to support his wif](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/4/3/1/762431.jpg)
Source: The Times
![Dr. Phil WILL GIVE BAD ADVICE FOR RATINGS CRACKEDO COM Dr. Phil was homeless. Al 12, McGraw lived out of a car with his father before securing a $5 a](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/8/0/762680.jpg)
Source: Parade
![Jack Ma CRACKEDCON lack Ma, the founder of Alibaba Group, flunked his college examinations thrice. He applied for 30 jobs, including working for KFC,](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/4/2/4/762424.jpg)
Source: CNBC
![Tom Cruise Quite a few celebrities are dyslexic, actually. Tom Cruise was diagnosed at seven and graduated high school as a functional illiterate. Dur](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/4/2/1/762421.jpg)
Source: Washington Post
![Ingvar Kamprad CRACKEDOON IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad managed to get good grades in school despite being dyslexic. The iconic swedish- sounding names](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/4/2/0/762420.jpg)
Source: The Independent
![Drew Carey ERCY FOR ANIMALS CRACKED.CO Drew Carey tried killing himself twice. The first time, he was 18 and tried overdosing on pills. Then he went i](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/4/1/9/762419.jpg)
Source: Voice of America
![Demi Moore CRACKEDcO Demi Moore's real father abandoned her family before she was born, and the man she thought was her father left her mother then ki](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/4/1/4/762414.jpg)
Source: The Guardian
![Billie Holiday CRACKED .COM She was 10 when a neighbor tried to rape her. At 11, she dropped OUT of school. At 12, she was running errands for a broth](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/4/3/2/762432.jpg)
Source: Time