In 2018, a customer secretly photographed Geoffrey Owens best known for playing Elvin on the Cosby Show working at a Trader Joe's in Clifton, New Jersey, and the images were published online in an attempt to "job-shame" him. Instead, he was able to get more work as an actor because of it.

[u/AdSpecialist6598]

He went on to explain that most actors and indeed most entertainers are gig workers. For every a-lister many other actors work gig to gig and having steady work and a steady income that pays well is really hard because the field is so unpredictable. And many actors including many well know actors and artists have to have a secondary source of regular income between gigs and for most working entertainers it means getting a regular job and taking whatever roles you can get.

[u/polygraph-net]

There's a reason so many actors and entertainers are on Cameo - they need the money.

There's nothing wrong with working at Trader Joe's. I'd even go as far as saying it's honourable - the guy is willing to do whatever he needs to do to make money for himself and his family.

Shame on whatever evil person tried to make a fool of him.

[u/enkidook → u/polygraph-net]

And why a lot of them that had a brief moment in the limelight live on the Con circuit.

I know a lot of active voice actors basically sustain themselves from doing Cons because being the voice actor for a very popular/recognizable character doesn't pay as much as people think.