No. 3: J.K. Rowling

J.K. Rowling was always a storyteller. When she was 5 years old she wrote her first tale and remembers telling it to her sister. "She fell down a rabbit hole and was fed strawberries by the rabbit family," recalls Rowling.

She was a secretary in London in 1990 when, during a four-hour train delay, came up with the idea of Harry Potter. (Lesson: transportation delays can be inspiring.)

As soon as she made it home, she began to write.

But it wasn't happily ever after quite yet. Soon after this, her mother died, and after moving in with her sister, Rowling was diagnosed with depression. By 1994 she was a single mother living on welfare.

She contemplated suicide. But she also spent hours a day in a nearby coffee shop penning her novel. Sometimes our bottoms are firm ground. From this foundation, Rowling poured out her creativity introducing the world to Harry Potter.

Our next celebrity went from the trailer park to the red carpet ...

No. 2: Hilary Swank

Swank's story is reminiscent of her Oscar-winning role in "Million Dollar Baby" -- a woman waiting tables while training to become a champion boxer, a goal that she will not let not happen.