Bobby Sherman was promoted by his lover Sal Mineo and became a very successful pop singer in the 60s, and an actor after that.
After appearing in an episode of TV show Emergency, he got interested in EMT work. He left entertainment and trained as an EMT, eventually becoming the lead EMT Trainer for the Los Angeles Police Department & Sheriff for decades.
Actress Bonnie Hunt was a nurse before her acting career.
Peter Weller earned first a master’s then a PhD in Art History and has worked as a college professor. That was after he had been a successful actor rather than a degree he earned before acting.
Pianist Ignacy Jan Paderewski had a stint as Prime Minister of Poland.
Gene Wolfe, the author, was involved in the development of the process for mass-producing Pringles potato chips.
E. E. “Doc” Smith, author of the Lensmen books, also worked as a food chemist, developing doughnut and pastry mixes.
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, DStJ, PC, FRS, HonFRSC, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. The longest-serving British prime minister of the 20th century, she was the first woman to hold that office.
Before that she was an industrial food scientist, though details of the things she worked on are contrversial.
I would say she counts as a ‘performer’.
Royalty counts as a performer these days, doesn’t it? King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands surprised everyone when he revealed that he flies passengers for KLM. I guess that’s why they call it “Royal Dutch Airlines”.
Speaking of royalty, Grace Kelly retired from acting to become Princess of Monaco.
Given that that’s a family name, I’d be interested in knowing how the mall got that name. I’m guessing because it was built on the site of a horse farm or some such, but a brief online search turned up nothing. I don’t suppose you know?
Best guess: Ocala is horse country – big money horse country; lots of land, some horses went on to become Derby winners (or so I’ve heard). I guess “Paddock” is better than “Horse Apple” Mall? On the other hand, “paddock” is a small field for exercising horses; maybe the owners of the mall had a slightly sardonic attitude towards their shoppers. You’re right, more research is called for, stay tuned.
Small quibble about the technology description: Frequency Hopping is one type of spread spectrum, the other being Direct Sequence .
Jim Belushi now farms pot.
Arthur C Clarke was a mathematician and the Clarke Orbit is named after him.
Lewis Carroll (Charles Dodson) was also a mathematician and wrote several books on the subject.
H. P. Lovecraft was a Real Estate salesman.
No, he was a radar specialist in World War II (and some other things in the Royal Air Force). After the war he got a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and physics. On getting the degree, he became an editor at Physics Abstracts. He spent a lot of time later diving in Sri Lanka. He privately spread the idea of geostationary satellites, although he didn’t invent it. All this time he was also writing various things, and eventually he was able to make his living by writing science fiction:
I can’t find any source for this.
I read it on the internet so it has to be true! 
Do you have any vague memory where you read it?
I note that Robert Heinlein did try making money as a real estate agent (sliver miner, political activist) before he achieved success as a writer.
Also Lovecraft’s uncle was a real estate agent An H.P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia - S. T. Joshi, David E. Schultz - Google Books
Alex James from the Brit-pop band Blur is also a professional cheese-maker.
English musician James Blunt was an officer in the British Army for six years. He served in the Life Guards, including time in Kosovo in a cavalry (tank) unit, and later was in the Queen’s Guards (during that time, he stood guard at the Queen Mother’s coffin as she lay in state).