15 Celebrities You Didn’t Know Were Handy
Updated: Nov. 15, 2022Bet you didn't know these celebrities can actually build stuff.
Taylor Swift
So, she’s not running around with a reciprocating saw cutting out drywall, but TSwift is a bit of a DIYer. She’s known for homemade jam, embroidery she made for Ed Sheeran and a baker of cookies. She’s a delightful follow around the holidays with crafty creations like snowglobes and Christmas cards. Check out some of the Christmas decor ideas we’ve culled.
Nick Offerman
Parks and Recreation fans certainly know of Ron Swanson’s appreciation for woodworking but Nick Offerman, who played Swanson on the show, holds a true affinity for woodworking. He’s opened his own shop, the Offerman Woodshop in East Los Angeles. Offerman supplemented his acting career early on by building sets and later when he moved to Los Angeles, he built decks and cabins. Get inspired by Offerman’s creations and try out these 40 woodworking projects for beginners.
Amy Sedaris
Sedaris, the star of Comedy Central’s Strangers With Candy has appeared on several shows to detail her crafting and she even has a show, At Home With Amy Sedaris on truTV that got renewed for a second season. She’s written books, including Simple Times: Crafts for Poor People, which is a guide to simple crafting, like coloring a piece of sandpaper to make it look like a wooly rug in a dollhouse. Other crafts include a donut squirrel feeder, rock rings and a shoe scraper made from bottle caps. With a little imagination like that you can repurpose a lot of things around the house, like these 80 items fantastically fit for repurposing.
Pippa Middleton
Middleton is known to make homemade Christmas cards for friends and family. She’s considered crafty for her love of hosting parties, cooking and making things by hand. Her book Celebrate has been panned for their obvious advice like planning a Christmas-themed meal and serving a turkey because it’s big. Try out these less obvious Christmas storage tricks.
Daniel Day-Lewis
Day-Lewis is well known for his intense method acting approach to films so it should come as no surprise that as he prepare for his role of a dressmaker in The Phantom Thread he created a dress from scratch. He studied woodworking and almost became a cabinetmaker. He reportedly still makes furniture. Learn the secrets to furniture making here.
William H. Macy
William H. Macy, the star of the Showtime series Shameless, the film Fargo and many others discovered woodworking while filming Fargo. Macy began turning bowls and was featured in Fine Woodworking. Though he’s into turning bowls, we bet he’d be into these 15 awesome woodworking projects to try.
Harrison Ford
Ford’s rise to stardom has been famously told many times before but it goes that he worked mostly full-time as a carpenter and stood in for screen tests for George Lucas. Francis Ford Coppola hired Ford to help expand his office and later gave Ford small roles in The Conversation and Apocalypse Now. Check out the best carpentry tips and advice we’ve accumulated through the years.
Terrence Howard
Before becoming an actor and singer/songwriter, Howard honed his chops as a carpenter. The Hustle & Flow actor and Empire star said in a 2008 interview with NPR that he was teaching his son, Hunter, carpentry and home renovation.
Adam Carolla
Carolla worked as a carpenter before making it in Hollywood and he showcased his skills with a television show on TLC. Carolla did home renovation projects on The Adam Carolla Project. In the show he worked on his childhood home. Check out 32 ways to save on a remodel.
Ed Begley, Jr.
Ed Begley, Jr. has appeared in a million roles on television and film. Off camera, he’s long been a supporter of green initiatives. He showed some of them with the 2007 show on HGTV Living With Ed. Begley and his wife displayed ways to live more eco-friendly like capturing rain in rain barrels or cooking in a solar oven and cleaning up with eco-cleaning supplies. Begley’s work has often involved showing how older houses can be retrofitted to use solar energy.
Martina Navratilova
Navratilova’s interests range far outside the tennis world, which she dominated for many years. She branched out to woodworking because she wanted to be an architect or a builder, she said in an interview with Medium. She said she’s made some tables in the past. Check out these 10 tables you can build quickly to test your own skills.
David Lynch
David Lynch above all creates. Be it film, paintings, television or furniture he likes to take on projects that interest him at the time. He presented a furniture collection in 1997 but he’s been designing furniture for longer than that. You can see some of it here.
Kevin Jonas
It was a bit of a surreal moment when Kevin Jonas appeared on The Real Housewives of New Jersey as a contractor brought on for a project of one of the families. But since his time as a member of The Jonas Brothers band, Kevin has moved on to become a contractor. He founded a real-estate development and construction company and is also the co-CEO of communications company. There might not be a Jonas brother contractor in your neck of the woods but here’s what you need to know about hiring a contractor.
Amy Poehler
Amy Poehler has teamed with Nick Offerman to produce Making It, a competition-based crafting show on NBC. Episodes have included making snack stadiums, handmade forts and toys, and loads of other creative contraptions. Poehler described herself as a DIY know-nothing and an admirer of all things handmade in an interview with Vanity Fair about the show. We think she’d enjoy these 50 incredible DIY home projects.
Jon Bon Jovi
It’s hard to quantify his level of handiness but Jon Bon Jovi has gone out of his way to support Habitat for Humanity in Philadelphia. He staged a music video on a build site and sponsored six homes. He was seen screwing in a screw on a mirror in the video. You can remodel a small bathroom on your own.