12. Harry Houdini
Before he was known as the greatest escape artists and magician in the world, Houdini was living and begging on the streets. Houdini knew from a very young age that he wanted to be a magician, and when he did not get the support for it from his family, he ran away from home.
He jumped on a freight car and ran away when he was 12 years old. Over the never several years, Houdini would work on his act while living on the streets and begging for money. He finally ended up moving to New York City, where his father was at the time.
But his father did not have any money either, so he continued panhandling in order to make some money to get by. It’s a good thing that it did not take Houdini a long time to get his act together – he already started performing professionally as a magician at the age of 17.