Most creative experts reach their peak in their 20s. Mathematicians, Musicians, Comedians, Chess Players.
Let’s say you peak at 27. This is actually a bit after the peak when many creatives supposedly die. See the 27 Club (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/27_Club)
Adults live to be in their 80s and 90s. Let’s say they retire at 68 though. That gives them 2.5 tries at 27.
If they don’t make anything of themselves or switch careers at 30. They can try again and see where they get at 57.
There’s a myth that kids learn language better than adults. If an adult spent as many as hours as a kid did learning- which is is typically 24/7 from birth to when they speak quite fluently around 5. But honestly if you have heard a 5 year old talk, I wouldn’t be impressed if an adult spoke like that. Probably closer to 13 or so. 13 years of non stop practice.
Typically when adults learn a new language they don’t immerse themselves the same way. They go to class and study and then talk to their friends and family in their original language each day. They just don’t attempt it with the same effort.
I believe the same happens as people get older. Life gets in the way. But still, it doesn’t mean older people don’t reach any level of success with their creativity. While these are typically globally famous people, there is an even larger list with people “making it” in their 90s who are more locally famous.
I’ll keep a running list here:
Mid to Late 30s
Reid Hoffman – Age 35
Founded Linkedin
Harrison Ford – Age 35
Actor
Erik Cassel – Age 36
Co-founder of Roblox.
James Gandolfini – Age 38
Magician and skeptic
Ken Jeong – Age 38
Doctor turned comedian and actor.
Stan Lee – Age 39
Creator of Marvel.
George Boole – Age 39
George invented Boolean logic, used in Math and Computer Science.
40s
Liam Neeson – Age 40
Actor
Donald Fischer – Age 40
Created the GAP clothing store chain.
Vera Wang – Age 40
Fashion Designer.
Gary Heavin – Age 40
Opened national gym chain Curves.
Toni Morrison – Age 40
Wrote her first novel. Later won a Pulitzer Prize at 56 and a Nobel Prize in Literature at 62.
Philip Glass – Age 41
Composer of tons of famous of movie scores. “And eventually, by the time I was 41, 42, I was actually making a living playing music.” He was a plumber and taxi cab driver, among other things, until his music scores could pay for his life.
“I had gone to install a dishwasher in a loft in SoHo,” he says. “While working, I suddenly heard a noise and looked up to find Robert Hughes, the art critic of Time magazine, staring at me in disbelief. ‘But you’re Philip Glass! What are you doing here?’ It was obvious that I was installing his dishwasher and I told him I would soon be finished. ‘But you are an artist,’ he protested. I explained that I was an artist but that I was sometimes a plumber as well and that he should go away and let me finish.”
‘Glass understood that he had finally arrived as a composer when a woman tapped on the side of his cab and told him “you have the same name as a very famous composer.”‘
Eric Yuan – Age 41
Founder of Zoom.
David Baszucki – Age 41
Co-founder of Roblox.
Melissa McCarthy – Age 41
Comedy actress in Bridesmaids.
Martha Stewart – After Age 41
She had several careers. As a model, a stockbroker, and finally writer, cook, businesswoman. It’s not clear when she “made it” but her first book came out when she was 41 so it was a few years after that.
Danny Trejo – Age 41
Actor
Billy Bob Thornton – Age 41
Actor.
Bob Ross – Age 41
Television personality and painter
Laverne Cox – Age 41
Emmy award winning actress.
John Warnock – Age 42
Adobe and PDFs.
Robin Chase – Age 42
Started Zipcar.
Steve Carrell – Age 42
Starred in The Office.
Ian Fleming – Age 44
Writer of James Bond
Sam Walton – Age 44
Opened the first Walmart.
Alan Rickman – Age 44
Got his role in Die Hard.
Bryan Cranston – Age 44
Actor
J. R. R. Tolkien – Age 45
Writer of Lord of the Rings
Henry Ford – Age 45
Came out with the Model T car.
Jack Weil – Age 45
Jack founded Rockmount Ranch Wear, the most popular cowboy fashion brand.
Grace hopper – Age 46
After attempting and failing to join the Navy at 34 for being too old, she managed at the age of 46 to pioneer the first compiler and is one of the “fathers” of computer science.
Rodney Dangerfield – Age 46
After decades of failing to become a comedian, Rodney finally started getting recognition at 46.
Samuel L. Jackson – Age 46
He starred in Pulp Fiction and went on to be the second highest-grossing actor of all time.
Abraham Lincoln – Age 47
Joined the new Republican party and started gaining prominence that led to his presidency.
Susan Boyle – Age 47
Singer
Harvey Pekar – Age 47
Graphic Novelist. One of the first “life bloggers”
Momofuku Ando – Age 48
Inventor of Instant Ramen.
Charles Bukowski – Age 49
Quit his job at US Post office to finally become a full time writer.
50s
Charles Darwin – Age 50
Published the Origin of Species.
Jack Cover – Age 50
Formed the TASER company that invented Tasers.
Morgan Freeman – Age 50
Actor
Karl Lagerfeld – Age 50
Creative Director of Chanel
Taikichiro Mori – Age 51
Started real estate investing and became a billionaire.
Julia Child – Age 51
Became a Celebrity Chef.
Betty White – Age 51
Famous actress.
Tim and Nina Zagat – Both Age 51
Created the Zagat Restaurant rating.
Ray Kroc – Age 52
Started franchising Mcdonalds.
Kris Jenner – Age 52
Pitched the Kardashians reality show.
Christoph Waltz – Age 53
Actor.
Ronald Reagan – Age 53
Became a serious contender for President.
Arianna Huffington – Age 55
Started the digital publication Huffington Post.
Richard Adams – Age 56
Finally got a publisher to agree to Watership Down.
Wally Blume – Age 57
Created the Denali Flavors Ice Cream Company with nearly 100 million in revenue.
Miguel de Cervantes – Age 58
Published Don Quixote.
Yitang Zhang – Age 58
Mathematician with a breakthrough paper in the gaps between primes.
60s
Colonel Sanders – Age 65
The KFC Guy.
Laura Ingalls Wilder – Age 65
Author whose stories eventually were used for the hit show “Little House on the Prairie.”
Anna Mary Robertson Moses – Age 78
Grandma Moses was a painter, one of her paintings “Sugaring Off” sold for over 1 million dollars.
Harry Bernstein – Age 98
Author’s first memoir of three that got published by Random House.