Channing Tatum with his wife Jenna Dewan pose with his Trailblazer award backstage at the 2014 MTV Movie Awards in Los Angeles
Actor Channing Tatum with his wife Jenna Dewan pose with his Trailblazer award backstage at the 2014 MTV Movie Awards in Los Angeles, California April 13, 2014. Reuters/Danny Moloshok

Channing Tatum may be a big name in Hollywood now, but he has seen some hard days in his past. In fact, the Magic Mike star has actually worked as a real life stripper before achieving his current status.

The star used to work as a stripper when he was 18 years old in a club in Florida under the stage name 'Chan Crawford'. The firsthand experience of being a real life stripper was a very valuable one to the actor, as told by the star in an exclusive interview to New York Times.

"Being a stripper exposed me to a lot of people I might never have met, and that has turned out to be a gift", shared Tatum to the reporter.

As told by Hollywood Reporter, Tatum dropped out of college and worked as an exotic dancer in male revues in Florida during the late 90s. He got his first break from the same place when he was spotted and asked to be part of the cast in a music video.The opportunity gradually paved the to his successful career as a leading actor in Hollywood.

The actor is humble enough to never hide or cover-up this phase of his life. Moreover, the actor shared the struggles he went through in his early years. His dad had been a roofer while his mom performed different errands to earn a few extra case. Hence, Tatum knew of the challenges in life at quite an early age.

The actor also admitted frankly that he suffered badly due to dyslexia and ADHD, which caused him to cornered in the classroom public school. A father of a one-year-old girl, the actor claimed that the education system is not apt enough to adjust and groom kids with his condition.

His parents never had any creative outlet, so Tatum observed and learnt a lot from other people instead. During his college days, he even tried his luck in soccer, but failed miserably.

In his upcoming movie 'Foxcatcher', he plays the role of Olympic wrestler Mark Schulz. The film is a biopic about the sportsman and the ups and downs in his life. As per the actor's friends, he has prepared and done lots of hard work to prepare for the role.

Since the movie is yet to be released, US Weekly shared this vintage one of a kind video of Channing Tatum performing the strip tease act in the club in 1999. Enjoy!