Kaleido Star comes to mind. Lots of training and striving as a performer.
In
Skip Beat! the protag works to become an actress/idol.
I haven't really watched it, but there's
Glass no Kamen.
As for manga...
Ashita no Ousama is the first to come to mind (didn't see you were looking for manga as well, would have listed more to begin with... but I'm done lol).