IRL Professionals Spill Which TV + Movie Characters Influenced Their Careers

You know when you’re still in school and working out what you want to BE for the rest of your life and it seems really far off and abstract so anything is possible? It’s a time during which your latest binge-watching sesh can have a very real influence on your life / career choices, even if reality sets in at some point further down the road.

Personally, I was SO certain after falling in love with Scrubs that I should be a doctor. You guys, I cannot handle gross things. Blood? No thanks. Vomit? Dear god no. You know what, let’s just include everything that could go wrong with the human body under this umbrella so I don’t keep listing things.

Then it was on to Boston Legal and thinking I could be a lawyer. Good thing I changed my mind about that because my friend who did study law informed me that the first speech her lecturer gave was why everyone there because of Boston Legal should probably just leave.

So I’m probably way too easily influenced, but because I was sure it couldn’t be just me, I asked around to make myself feel better and *spoiler* there’s a lot of Sex & The City references.

I’m 90% sure the only reason I did a Public Relations degree because I was obsessed with Sex & The City in high school and wanted to be Samantha Jones. 
– Kath

I used to be obsessed with Nip-Tuck so I 100% wanted to be a plastic surgeon, then realised I didn’t have the stomach for it!
-Blake

After watching Gladiator, I was determined to make that my profession until I later found out that it was no longer a plausible career path/ I would almost certainly die immediately. It was a fun pipe dream while it lasted though. Also, I was only 8 or 9 years old, for those of you assuming I went to the uni career counselor and demanded that they tell me which course would help me fight to the death in an arena.
-Louis

Grey’s Anatomy convinced me to enroll in and study for the GAMSAT (Graduate Australian Medical School Admissions Test). I didn’t end up actually sitting it because I realised I did NOT want to be a doctor.

Then The Newsroom reignited my love of the news and I spent a solid two years training in broadcast as well as print. If I’m super honest Jessica Jones still has me wanting to be a private investigator/vigilante, though with a lack of discernible superpowers it’s not looking great for me.
-Steph

Hate to say it, but I’m fairly certain I’m in my current job as a result of watching Absolutely Fabulous’ Eddie and Patsy mess around in PR and publishing on loop as a kid.
-James

Legally Blonde definitely made me want to be a lawyer. I think it was a really important movie for a lot of young girls who were ‘girly’ but also liked the idea of being in court. I didn’t pursue this career, but my sister did, and I reckon she’d say something similar.
-Lucinda

I am obsessed with SVU and wanted to be in the Special Victims Unit. I even took my high school subjects for it and now here I am in advertising.
-Jaimee

How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days and The Devil Wears Prada made me want to get into fashion and lifestyle magazine work. Which I did! And to be honest, a lot of the glossy fun vibes of those films turned out to be legit. I did and still do get to try out heaps of beauty products and write fun stories based around my life, there are a LOT of fancy events, and so on.

But there was 100% less bitchiness. No scary bosses who made you order them steak dinners or track down Harry Potter books that don’t even exist yet and no one in their right mind would think you could write about war in the Middle East as a ‘how-to’ story in a women’s lifestyle magazine. A feature, sure. Depending on the title you worked for. Basically, I have no regrets!
-Mel

In year 10 our career advisor made us think of a career we wanted to pursue and find work experience in that field. I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do but being ~obsessed~ with Charmed, I decided I’d roll with journalism as I’d always admired Phoebe Halliwell’s lifestyle including her job as a columnist for a newspaper. 

She was beloved, had her own office the size of my apartment, worked from home all the damn time and was allowed to frequently take time off to fight the forces of evil – not to mention could afford all those sick clothes on a writer’s salary. Alas, life in the media is absolutely nothing like that, but when I’m at my desk typing away, I like to think of myself as Ask Phoebe, spinning spicy yarns for the nation.
-Matt

So there we have it, I’m not the only person who is sometimes tricked into thinking TV could be real life.