By the time I was in the fifth grade, I knew I either wanted to be a nun or a movie star

Madonna applies for an acting job in 1979

Madonna early-1979 in a dressing room in NYC, where she had recently moved to study dance. (Photo by Michael McDonnell/Archive Photos/Getty Images)

When she wrote to Stephen Lewicki in 1979, keen for a role in his upcoming independent movie, aspiring actor Madonna Cicconi was virtually unknown in the world of showbiz, but the future-Queen of Pop’s distin…