Before ‘Mean Girls’ and ‘Spamalot,’ this was Jonathan Bennett’s first NYC job

Before Hollywood came knocking on his door, he was holding one.

Jonathan Bennett moved to New York at 19 in hopes of landing a role on Broadway — but the first gig he got was working as a doorman at a fashion boutique.

“Because I had no experience doing anything and I was like, ‘Well, I can stand here and open the door’ and they were hiring, so I did that job for like four months,” Bennett, 42, told The Post of the now-shuttered Meatpacking District designer clothing store, Jeffrey.

The Ohio native’s first job in the Big Apple was working as a doorman at a designer clothing store in the Meatpacking District. Michael Nagle

“And then I realized it was too boring. I couldn’t do it.”

He then worked at the Mercer Hotel in SoHo as a bellboy “for a hot second.”

“And then I booked my first commercial, which was a Playtex tampon commercial, and I shot it on Coney Island on the roller coaster,” said Bennett, who now stars in Broadway’s “Spamalot,” which runs until April 7 at the St. James Theatre.

The Rossford, Ohio native dropped out of college to pursue acting — and his breakthrough came in the 2004 cult classic “Mean Girls,” playing Lindsay Lohan’s crush, Aaron Samuels.

He still keeps in touch with Lohan, and sent his former co-star well wishes after the birth of her son last year.

“I check in with Lindsay every once in a while,” he said. “I congratulated her on her baby. Yeah, we stay in touch here and there.”

Bennett’s breakout role was playing Aaron Samuels in “Mean Girls,” opposite Lindsay Lohan. ©Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection

The actor said the “Mean Girls” cast, which included Rachel McAdams and Amanda Seyfried, could have never imagined how popular the film — which inspired a Broadway musical of the same name and a second film — would one day become.

“We were a bunch of kids in Canada shooting a movie … we didn’t realize what we were filming at the time,” he said.

“We knew it was funny, but we didn’t realize what it was going to be.”

The actor made his Broadway debut in January as Sir Robin in “Spamalot.” Michael Nagle

Although he made a career on screen, Bennett never got to fulfill his lifelong dream of being on Broadway until this January, when he landed the part of Sir Robin in the musical based on the 1975 classic comedy “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.”

The emotional video of the actor breaking the news to his husband, reality TV star and actor Jaymes Vaughan, received 1.7 million views on Bennett’s TikTok page — but Bennett said it was originally meant for their eyes only.

“I was like, ‘You know what? I’m going to record this so I have it for our memories’ . . . because I knew he was going to be excited,” he said.

“I didn’t anticipate what his reaction was going to be … and because it was so fun and so beautiful, I was like, ‘Let’s just share it, because hopefully it will inspire other people to go after their dreams.'”

His Broadway debut got the stamp of approval from former thespian Whoopi Goldberg, who saw the show last week.

“And it was funny because I came backstage to see her and she looked at me and was like, ‘Great job,’ and smiled, but I thought she was talking to someone behind me, so I didn’t really react,” he said.

“And I turn and no one was there and I was like, ‘Me?’ and she’s like, ‘Yes, you.’ And I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, thank you so much.'”

Bennett’s former co-star Steve Martin, who played his father-in-law in the 2005 family comedy “Cheaper by the Dozen 2,” lent his voice — the voice of God — to the “Spamalot” production.

The card that Martin gave him close to 20 years ago, when the film wrapped, still holds a meaningful place in his heart.

“It just said ‘Jonathan. Nice acting. Exclamation point. Love, Steve,'” he recalled.

“And I was like, ‘I’ll take it.'”