# What job would Jeff Goldblum be doing if he wasn't an actor? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 13, 2019, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-job-would-jeff-goldblum-be-doing-if-he-wasnt-an-actor/840173 "2019-09-13T16:17:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2019, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-job-would-jeff-goldblum-be-doing-if-he-wasnt-an-actor/840173/1 "2019-09-13T16:17:24Z")
I saw a comment on Reddit yesterday with the (slightly) facetious thought that when Jeff Goldblum plays the eccentric character “The Grandmaster” in Thor Ragnarok, he is essentially just playing Jeff Goldblum. This is not an entirely original idea, that Jeff, in so many words, is a pretty weird guy and that he is not too different from the characters he plays. That made me think. If Jeff was not an actor, and was just a normal guy, what 9-5 day job do you see him in? ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2019, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-job-would-jeff-goldblum-be-doing-if-he-wasnt-an-actor/840173/2 "2019-09-13T16:30:04Z")
Maybe [a musician](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pYC_Pw3VQg). ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2019, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-job-would-jeff-goldblum-be-doing-if-he-wasnt-an-actor/840173/3 "2019-09-13T16:40:11Z")
He’s pretty adaptable, as for making a life for himself? he’d find a way. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2019, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-job-would-jeff-goldblum-be-doing-if-he-wasnt-an-actor/840173/4 "2019-09-13T16:40:36Z")
> [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](#): > > Maybe [a musician](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pYC_Pw3VQg). As quoted in [this NPR article](https://www.npr.org/2014/05/25/312857631/jeff-goldblum-plays-a-jazz-show-almost-every-week-no-really) about him, and his jazz piano side career: > [@](#): > > “I’m from Pittsburgh, and I played piano when I was a kid,” Goldblum says before a recent performance. “I got the idea to play out and about in cocktail lounges when I was, like, 15, and got a job or two.” Also, I agree with the OP that, no matter what character he’s playing on screen Jeff Goldblum pretty much just plays Jeff Goldblum (or, at least, the public Jeff Goldblum persona) these days. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2019, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-job-would-jeff-goldblum-be-doing-if-he-wasnt-an-actor/840173/5 "2019-09-13T16:42:03Z")
Realtor ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2019, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-job-would-jeff-goldblum-be-doing-if-he-wasnt-an-actor/840173/6 "2019-09-13T16:42:58Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > He’s pretty adaptable, as for making a life for himself? he’d find a way. Funny. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2019, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-job-would-jeff-goldblum-be-doing-if-he-wasnt-an-actor/840173/7 "2019-09-13T16:43:47Z")
He’d definitely be in sales. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2019, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-job-would-jeff-goldblum-be-doing-if-he-wasnt-an-actor/840173/8 "2019-09-13T16:47:40Z")
He’d be managing his wife Geena’s professional archery career. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2019, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-job-would-jeff-goldblum-be-doing-if-he-wasnt-an-actor/840173/9 "2019-09-13T16:51:25Z")
Entomology? ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2019, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-job-would-jeff-goldblum-be-doing-if-he-wasnt-an-actor/840173/10 "2019-09-13T16:51:49Z")
The thing that makes me weird (yeah, the one and only thing) is that I’ve thought about this in the past. I see him as a college professor. Philosophy or Dead Language Teacher. He’s also kinda pervy with the female students but a lot of them dig it. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2019, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-job-would-jeff-goldblum-be-doing-if-he-wasnt-an-actor/840173/11 "2019-09-13T16:53:25Z")
Yeah, he’d be that HS teacher who thought of himself as cool and with it, and the students knew him as that weird perv who teaches biology. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2019, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-job-would-jeff-goldblum-be-doing-if-he-wasnt-an-actor/840173/12 "2019-09-13T17:42:01Z")
Hard to say. He moved to New York at 17 to become an actor, so he never really trained to do anything else. I could see him in radio. His mother was a radio broadcaster in the 60s I think. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2019, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-job-would-jeff-goldblum-be-doing-if-he-wasnt-an-actor/840173/13 "2019-09-13T17:58:40Z")
Fashion designer. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2019, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-job-would-jeff-goldblum-be-doing-if-he-wasnt-an-actor/840173/14 "2019-09-13T19:24:38Z")
Aerospace engineer. ---
**Author:** ![Rough\_Draft](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/76d3ee/32.png) [@Rough\_Draft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rough_Draft)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2019, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-job-would-jeff-goldblum-be-doing-if-he-wasnt-an-actor/840173/15 "2019-09-13T19:30:43Z")
I’m sure he would have tried to become a professional musician, although I don’t really know how talented he is. If not that: Educator Salesman Some kind of agent (literary/showbiz/who knows?) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2019, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-job-would-jeff-goldblum-be-doing-if-he-wasnt-an-actor/840173/16 "2019-09-13T20:13:28Z")
He’s played piano on several shows (as well as in **Earth Girls are Easy** ). He appears to be pretty good. and, of course, he’s comfortable as an actor, so he’d be a good entertainer. How successful he’d be, I have no idea – it’s a competitive world out there. ---
**Author:** ![Trancephalic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trancephalic/32/380_2.png) [@Trancephalic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trancephalic)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2019, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-job-would-jeff-goldblum-be-doing-if-he-wasnt-an-actor/840173/17 "2019-09-13T20:15:51Z")
[Life coach](https://youtu.be/Nj_7-zLBfnE) ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2019, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-job-would-jeff-goldblum-be-doing-if-he-wasnt-an-actor/840173/18 "2019-09-13T22:24:12Z")
I’m thinking Jeff G emanates a very strong but ill-defined, bit-of-money’s-coming-in-but-do-we -really-want-to-know-where vibe, essentially like Kramer. I’m not sure which I’d prefer rooting through my cereal cupboard. On the retail sale front, he did a fantastic turn in [Portlandia](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfLu7GRMR7g) selling gift wares. I could see him building on that. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2019, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-job-would-jeff-goldblum-be-doing-if-he-wasnt-an-actor/840173/19 "2019-09-14T05:34:50Z")
Fashion designer. Check out his instagram for some…interesting fashion statements, ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2019, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-job-would-jeff-goldblum-be-doing-if-he-wasnt-an-actor/840173/20 "2019-09-14T06:45:59Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > He’d be managing his wife Geena’s professional archery career. Yes. Well. Yes…uhm. Yes…well ex. yes ex wife…uhh.several wives ago. Yes in fact. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-job-would-jeff-goldblum-be-doing-if-he-wasnt-an-actor/840173.md?page=2)