5 Hollywood Handymen

Whether it was a part-time job in between auditions for Hollywood movies or a passion indulged once the millions began to roll in, many of TV and Movies' biggest stars have a history of home improvement. Check out the five stars below, and what home-improvement activities they're known for--or have managed to keep unknown for most of their careers. For even more DIY-minded actors, check out thisoldhouse.com

• 1. Tim Allen

  

  When it comes to Hollywood and handymen, the first name to leap to mind is Tim Allen. Well, okay, it's actually Allen's character, Tim Taylor, the host of "Tool Time," the television show within a television show on the long-running hit, Home Improvement. In real life, Allen's first love is cars, but he takes his home improvement tools very seriously. His favorite class in high school was shop, and it was the whole male obsession with home improvement that built the foundation of his stand-up persona, which led to the television show Home Improvement. From there, it made sense that Allen, who saved a tool set that his grandfather had given him when he was a kid, created Tim Allen Signature Tools by Ryobi in the late '90s, and Tim Allen Signature Stuff, which offered building projects for kids and their parents (with profits going to charity). Maybe instead of Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story, Allen should have played Woody. MORE:Celebrity Homes for Sale

• 2. Harrison Ford

  

  As Hollywood stories go it doesn’t get much better than this: a struggling actor finds such success in his day job as a carpenter that he is dubbed "carpenter to the stars." That access leads to reading for roles, and then the roles themselves. Ford took books out of the library to learn his craft and eventually built a recording studio for Sergio Mendes and was doing work for Francis Ford Coppola, who gave him a bit part in The Conversation. While working at Coppola’s office, Ford ran into George Lucas who had given him a small role in American Graffiti. According to lore, Lucas asked Ford to read lines and help him audition other actors for a role in a new movie. The movie was Star Wars. The role was Han Solo. The rest is history. MORE:Home Lessons We Learned at the Movies

• 3. William H. Macy

  

  William H. Macy first became famous in Fargo, and it was while working on that Coen brothers classic that Macy discovered woodworking. No, not the kind of woodworking as in the scene in which Steve Buscemi’s character is fed into a wood chipper--Macy pursued the real deal. In fact, he became so accomplished in his new vocation of woodturning that he earned himself a cover story on Woodturning Basics magazine (from the editors of Fine Woodworking). Discussing that feature on "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson," Macy, in typically modest fashion, called his most recent creation a "butt-ugly bowl," adding that "it didn’t know if it was bowl or a plate. It was a plowl." MORE:Preotect Your Home in a Zombie Invasion

• 4. Courtney Cox

  

  Courteney Cox's most famous home was a fictional Manhattan apartment that she lived in for years as Monica on Friends. That place reflected not her tastes but those ascribed to Monica and her roommates, Phoebe and Rachel, by the show's creators. Cox does, however, have well-defined tastes when it comes to houses. In the last two decades she has repeatedly bought houses in the Los Angeles area, then designed and overseen their renovation before re-selling them. Her specific likes and dislikes—and their sharp contrast with those of her husband, David Arquette—even led the couple to executive produce a show on WE called Mix It Up, in which couples tried to find design solutions that would work for both partners upon moving in together. MORE:Celebrity Homes for Sale

• 5. Brad Pitt

  

  Brad Pitt has long been fascinated by architecture. And he has loved the city of New Orleans for years. So, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Pitt, understanding the frustration of residents still without homes, found a way to combine his passions, his fame, and his money. Pitt put up $5 million in seed money and founded Make It Right, commissioning architects to find ways to build affordable, earth-friendly homes in New Orleans. Make It Right is building 150 sustainable homes in the devastated Lower Ninth Ward, with an emphasis on finding designs that can be easily replicated throughout the city. That should indeed help make things right in New Orleans. (To contribute, go to makeitrightnola.org) MORE:Brad Pitt Helps NOLA Rebuild