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Long before he became an icon with his roles as Indiana Jones and Han Solo, Harrison Ford spent his days with a hammer and a saw, working as a carpenter. “Acting was not yet paying the bills,” he said in a commencement speech at Arizona State University in May 2026.
During the 1960s and 1970s, Ford was landing only small or uncredited roles in film and TV. To make ends meet, he taught himself carpentry. “I was supporting my growing family with carpentry jobs. Another way to put food on the table,” he told the graduates.
How did Harrison Ford go from a carpenter to a Hollywood actor
“I loved making things. And I only took acting jobs when the parts challenged me,” Ford emphasized.
That balance lasted about 15 years. During that time, Ford said he landed only “four or five” acting jobs, according to Fortune. One of them was a small part in George Lucas’ second film, American Grafitti (1973).
The carpenter job that changed his life
When Lucas began casting Star Wars, he had made it clear he wanted new faces and not actors that already worked with him in American Graffiti.
But in 1975, Ford was installing a door at the offices of Francis Ford Coppola’s production company, where Lucas was holding auditions.
The director asked him to help by reading lines with the actors who were trying out for Solo’s role. Producer Fred Roos, who had worked with Ford before, was also pushing for him to play Han Solo.
“I read with about 300 actors,” Ford recalled. “Weeks or months later, they asked me if I wanted to play Han Solo.”
The myth behind the real story
Over the years, a popular version of the story claimed Ford was building cabinets at George Lucas’ home. In 2017, when Lucas repeated that version on stage, Ford corrected him and added that he had never done carpentry work for Lucas.
From a salary of $1,000 a week to $25 million in earnings
Ford told Good Morning America in 2015 he was paid $1,000 a week for his role in the first Star Wars film. Decades later, he reportedly earned $25 million to return as Han Solo in The Force Awakens (2015).
Today, at 84 years old, he has a strong message for young people who are still looking for their opportunity. “When opportunity presents, recognize it,” he said in his speech. “This is your time. Own it.”