10 creators who made it big later in life

Not all those who wander are lost. — J.R.R. Tolkien

J. K. Rowling, 32

Before J. K. Rowling wrote Harry Potter she has struggled with depression, poverty and as a single mom needed to provide for her child. Freshly divorced, she moved from Portugal, where she was teaching English, to Edinburgh. She signed up for government-assisted welfare and began working on THE idea that occurred to her on a train to London a few years prior.

She finished her manuscript for “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s stone” in 1995, but every publisher rejected it. A year later a small publishing house accepted it and paid her £1,500. The book was then published in 1997 with only 1000 copies, but as we know, everything took a rather unexpected turn.

“You control your own life. Your own will is extremely powerful”
— J.K. Rowling

Bryan Cranston, 44

Cranston kept bouncing around different single-appearance television roles, including doing voice dubbing for Power Rangers.